Whalebone Classic 2026: Meet James McGhee, the Cottesloe surfing legend who cleans the beach after every event

He surfs Cottesloe’s famous Whalebone Classic every year, then returns the next morning to pick up the rubbish and fill in the holes in the sand — and local surfing legend James McGhee wouldn’t have it any other way. “I love Cottesloe. I think we’re quite fortunate that Cott allows us to have the Whalebone here,” McGhee said. “I love looking after the place for the amount of joy that this gives us surfers, as well as the people that come past and spectate.” McGhee will be among the longboarding faithful descending on Cottesloe from Friday for the 27th Lavan Whalebone Classic, three days of competition at the famed Isolators Reef. One of the longest-running longboard events in Australia, the Whalebone was born in 1998 after Perth surfer Peter Dunn discovered a whale rib while surfing the break. Cottesloe Longboard Club president Megan Tucker said McGhee’s devotion went well beyond the waves. “He is probably our biggest club legend, and he is always out there surfing,” Tucker said. “After the Whalebone, James comes back the day after. He picks up all the rubbish, fills the holes in the sand, he just bends his back for us every single year and never expects anything in return.” New to this year’s event is a Show and Shine exhibition on Friday night, where competitors and locals will showcase their pre-1967 longboards, known as old mals. Tucker said the break itself was unlike any other in the State. “On any given day you’ll be able to see a 12-year-old surfing next to the 70-year-old veterans on the same waves, and Isolators Reef just has this unwritten rule of mutual respect, especially across different generations, which I think you don’t always find,” she said. It is a spirit McGhee said kept the sport alive. “It’s beautiful seeing the young kids surf,” he said. “It’s fun being in a sport and having a lifestyle where you can be sharing it with a whole broad age group of people, and we all relate to it through the common theme of the love of surfing. “You’d rather watch them grow and encourage them to have fun doing it. It’s pretty boring if you’re out there by yourself, you want to see the sport growing. “And then watching them in a couple of years’ time, they’re becoming State champions, or they become really good surfers and just have fun.” Local competitor Jordy Morris said the Whalebone was much more than a competition, calling it an exhibition of WA’s surfing culture and community. “This is the home break for the Cottesloe Longboard Club and I would say the capital for longboarding in Perth by a mile,” Morris said. “It’s probably the one event that attracts everyone across WA that does longboarding. You get people coming down from Exmouth or Geraldton and coming up from Albany, Denmark and Margaret River, all coming into this one spot.” With no storm front forecast, Morris said conditions were shaping up for the best Whalebone in years.