Tracks is an Australian surf magazine published quarterly, promoting itself as "the surfers' bible." It is published by Nextmedia.
Tracks was established in October 1970 by Alby Falzon, John Witzig, and David Elfick, starting as a kind of counterculture tabloid, printed on newsprint and produced on Sydney's northern beaches. Since then it has grown to be a major surfing publication.
Contents
History
Tracks was originally published by the Tracks Publishing Company.
Tracks published a cartoon series,"Captain Goodvibes", by Australian cartoonist Tony Edwards. The Captain Goodvibes cartoons were first published in May 1973 and appeared regularly until July 1981. The character became an icon of Australian surfing culture.
"Lash Clone" by Australian Author D. C. Greening appeared in the pages of Tracks during the 1980s, with Greening's later works, "Cosmic Surf Wars," appearing more recently.
Some time after 1987 the magazine was acquired by Next Publishing (now known as Nextmedia).
In July 1988 the magazine's title was updated from tracks to tRACKS.
In March 2000 the magazine changed format from the original newsprint size down to a tabloid size.
In January 2001 Tracks magazine was acquired by Tracks Media Pty Ltd from Nextmedia with Peter Stain as CEO and Director, Luke Kennedy as Editor-In-Chief, David Mulham as Director, Greg Copper as Director and Damian Martin as General Manager.
In June 2024 Tracks Media Pty Ltd sold 13.3% of the company via a public share offer through Birchal, an Australian Equity Crowdfunding platform.
Tracks editors
Alby Falzon 1970-1975
John Witzig 1970-1972
David Elfick 1970
Phil Jarratt 1975-1977
Paul Holmes 1978-1981
Kirk Wilcox 1981-1984
Nick Carroll 1984-1986
Jon Ellis 1986-1988
Tim Baker 1989-1991
Gary Dunne 1991-1994
Neil Ridgeway 1994-1997
Wayne Dart 1997-2000
Sean Doherty 2000-2008
Luke Kennedy 2008-
Controversy
In 2014, 13-year-old reader and surfer Olive Bowers wrote an open letter to the magazine pointing out sexism in the print and digital editions of the magazine. She pointed to the absence of female surfers and the presence of scantily-clad women not involved in surfing in the magazine.