The club has a long history, originally encouraged by Charlie and Dale Ryan, owners of the Ocean Shores surf shop at Newport, they formed Newport Plus and had their first season in 1975. Dale Ryan thought up the name to take into account club members like Phillip Motteroz and Brian Bolar, who'd decided to join Newport even though they were from Av. Original members of the club included several set
s of brothers: the Carrolls (Tom and Nick), the Haywards (Mark and Cameron), the Hynds (Rod and Derek, the original club captain), and the Walkers (Alastair, Gordon and Dougall). Other early members included Wayne Bale, Scott Beggs, Stuart Cooper, Greg Fearnside, Sandy Fraser, Rory Gorman, Robert Hale, Andrew Hunter, David Jones, Michael King, Peter Phelps, Steven Seiler, Michael Twemlow, and a year or so down the line, Paul and Scott Lindley, Kevin Long, Glenn Stokes and the Norton brothers (Russell, Stuart and Fraser). DJ was the only member over 20 years of age. English champ Mike Newling joined up soon after arriving from the UK in late 1976 and the club's early nucleus was complete. Newport Plus soon attracted more good surfers from other areas of Sydney, like Richard Cram and George Wales from Bondi, and under Derek's intense rule became a near-irresistible force in club competition, taking over from North Narrabeen as Sydney's top northside club, and fighting some great duels with Maroubra Boardriders,
their southside spiritual brothers. Club members also had some spectacular individual results including Derek's world ranking of seventh, Dougall's one and Nick's two Australian open men's titles, Crammy's Australian junior crown, and Tom's pro junior win and subsequent charge up to the top of the world tour. At one major tour event, the 1980 Coke Surfabout, Newport Plus members made up one fifth of the total main event draw, something most nations can't manage today. The club went from strength to competitive strength through the 1980s, as young surfers like Scott Lindley, Joel Jones (another Aussie champ), Will and Beau Edwards and Marc Connors began shining, and South African migrant Martin Potter joined up. National-level interclub victories included the 1982 2SM Teams Challenge, the 1984 and 85 Mango Teams Challenges at Kirra Point, the 1987 Australian Surf League at Cronulla Point, and the 1989 Billabong Teams Challenge at
Surfers Paradise. But Newport Plus failed to nurture its next generation, and when the original membership began losing interest in the late 80s, the club went into decline. Through the 90s it all but ceased operating, until 1996, when Tom Carroll and Evan Jeffrey took the major part in its resurrection. Today Newport Plus is an energetic and grommet-oriented club run by parents and assisted by some of its original members, with a focus based on fun, inclusion and skill development.
