Tracks is a monthly Australiansurf magazine, promoting itself as "the surfers' bible."[1] 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.
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 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.[1]
