JACK FINLAY
COASTAL AUTHOR AND SURF WRITER

A long time Victorian west coast resident, Jack Finlay is 65, and has been freelancing his writing
for more than four decades. Much of his work has been based on his lifetime involvements with surfing,
sailing, and diving. His articles and stories have appeared over a lengthy period of time in Australian,
US, and European surfing, yachting, and windsurfing magazines.

The March 2009 issue of Australian Longboarding Magazine described him as “one of surfing's finest writers”.

Some of Jack's fiction writing has appeared in short story collections, and his general journalism has been
used by Australian newspapers, and business magazines.

He is also the author of four books, Bass Strait and Beyond; Caught Inside; Fighters: 25 Australian Lives
In and Out of the Ring; and Wind on the Water and other surf stories.

Jack has been a member of Victorian surfing teams, is a former Victorian Veteran's Champion,
and is still an active surfer.
For six years he was the inaugural manager of the Surfworld Surfing Museum. Prior to his recent retirement,
he was a part-time associate editor and feature writer for the business magazine Australasian Textiles & Fashion.

Jack lives in Torquay with his wife Sue, and together they have two adult children, and four grand children.

Books by Jack Finlay

Cyclones and shipwreck, storm force winds and mountainous seas, landfalls at dawn on foreign shores,
coral atolls, trade winds and palm fringed lagoons. Ten Geelong ocean sailors tell their stories from the waters
of Bass Strait and Beyond.

Stormy Weather Publications 1991 Out of print.

Caught Inside

Surf writings and photographs.

Foreword by Wayne Lynch.

When all the colour pictures have faded and the surf contests have come and gone, where are you?
Still and forever.....Caught Inside!

Stormy Weather Publications 1992 Out of print.

Fighters

25 Australian boxers tell their stories, including John Famechon, Tony Mundine, George Bracken, Rocky Gattellari,
Frank Flannery, Barry Michael, Gus Mercurio, and others.
Fighters is about boxing and living – the adrenaline surges, the adulation, the physical and mental challenges
both in and out of the ring. It is about how these demands stack up against the longer ebb and flow of life itself.
It is about the human spirit and courage.

Hardie Grant Books 2001. Out of print.

With photographs by Jon Frank. Foreword by Simon Buttonshaw.

17 timeless surf and ocean swell stories about the true art of surfing; the attitude, imagination, and wider mindset
of the surfer, and the riding of life's waves.
“At the heart of all these tales is nature worship, and it's associated way of life.
Jack Finlay touches on the ineffable, at times echoing Conrad in his sea stories, his prose sparse but evocative.”
The Sunday Age

“Finlay's book will delight anyone who has ever marvelled at the energy, power and mystery of the sea.
His stories embrace more than simply boardriding but the negotiation of all life's ebbs and flows.”
Weekend Gold Coast Bulletin