GRANT BALDOCK
Grant Baldock has been an active and engaged member of Bondi SBLSC for the past 35
years. His passion for the Club is second to none, evident both on and off the beach, as
a lifesaver, competitor and administrator.
Grant joined as a Nipper, gained his Bronze Medallion at Bondi and became one of
the youngest Patrol Captains in the Club’s history at the age of eighteen. He served as
Patrol Captain (1993/94-1995/96) and was awarded Lifesaver of the Year in both the
1993/94 and 1995/96 seasons.
His competition career started with back-to-back gold at the Australian Championships
in the Under 15 R&R event (1989 and 1990) and again, for a third year running, in the
Under 18 R&R in 1991. He has competed for the Club at Branch, Metropolitan, National
and World levels across four decades including being a member of the first Bondi IRB
team to win a medal at the Australian Championships (silver in Tube Rescue 1996), a
finalist in the Open Surf Race at Worlds (2002), Australian Champion in the Masters 110
years Surf Team (2017), and winning silver in the Masters 130 years Surf Team (2023).
He also completed the Coolangatta Gold as an individual competitor in 1995 and
2015.
Grant has represented Bondi SBLSC in 30 Stan Mac Relays, captaining the team
on several occasions including a three-year winning streak in 2010-2012, our most
successful run in the relay since the 1980s.
His competition achievements at the Club level are numerous including winning the
Senior Club Championship five times and Senior Surf Race Champion four times.
He has held the roles of Junior Captain (1993/94 and 1994/95), Vice-Captain Lifesaving
(1995/96), member of the Management Committee (1996/97) and Branch Delegate
(2000/01). He has been a Nippers Age Manager since 2021.
Grant was the first event organiser of an ocean swim hosted by Bondi SBLSC the ‘Surf and
Sand Survival Challenge in 2002 and 2003 and was the event organiser of the Bondi Blue
Water Challenge for three years (2017-19).
Off the beach, Grant was a founding member and continues to be a driving force of the
Legends Lunch Committee which has conducted nine annual fundraising events for the
Club, raising more than $230,000. He is a long-time contributor to Club social events
including volunteer event manager for the reinstated Bondi Surf Club Annual Dinner in
2001 with the three Australian Belt Champions as the guest of honours (Simon Nothling,
Leigh Emery and Brian Hutchings). The replica photo of the evening is still displayed in
the Bondi Surf Club Hall of Champions.
He has made a significant contribution to major Club fundraisers over many years
including the City to Surf and Surf Club Balls.
Grant has been a mentor to a generation of Bondi Surf Club members – as Junior
Captain in the 1990s, as an R&R coach and as the Club’s first ever professional coach.
He launched and delivered the Bondi SBLSC School Surf Survival Program in the 1990’s
which saw over 500 high school students complete a Surf Survival program at the end
of the school year.
Grant continues to contribute to both the Senior and Junior Club on multiple levels in the
Baldock family tradition.
LIFE
MEMBERSHIP
2023/24
14
BONDI SURF BATHERS’ LIFE SAVING CLUB