Alex Nean has left his mark on Surfest's Indigenous Classic without ever standing on a surfboard.
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And now after a fifth year as trophy-maker and cultural events organiser for the contest, Nean is bowing out this weekend at Merewether.
"I've loved it but it's getting a bit much for me. I'm not getting any younger," the 68-year-old said.
Nean, of Alex Nean Art, has crafted 20 trophies out camphor laurel timber and commissioned young Indigenous painters to colour them in land and water themes.
The top four competitors across the five divisions - men's, women's, boys', girls' and masters - receive the hand-made creations.
"Because it's my last year, I splurged out and did a big one," Nean said of the men's winners' trophy.
"They liked the [huge ornamental] boomerangs I did last year, and we painted them in water and land themes. This year we've done the same thing on the timber trophies.
"You are all the time meeting different people and they are always, 'wow, look at this, wow, look at that'. It's all a wow factor to them and I get pretty pumped up about it. I love doing it."
Nean, who works in local schools conducting cultural education, is also involved in Saturday morning's event opening, which includes a smoking ceremony, dancing and didgeridoo playing.
"I'm not a surfer at all but I've done life saving with Nobbys and I met [Surfest chief] Warren [Smith] then, and it's kept going from that," he said.
"I love bringing culture together. With the didge players and the dancers, they are all different nationalities. All different cultures who do didge and dance, and that's what it's all about. Bringing the aboriginal and non-aboriginal people together.
"That's what lights me up, parents watching their kids playing the didge and dancing up on stage. It gives me more energy."