The Australian Tow Surfing Association ATSA was formed in January 2004 in Torquay, Victoria. With our 90 Initial members we formed the association with three Directors/Representitives namley Paul Garrard, Marc Skelton and Byron Marsh with Ross Clarke-Jones, Tony Ray, Maurice Cole, Glyndon Ringrose, Troy Brooks as some of initial direct Athlete Representation.

The main reason for us forming the association, was to try to form a body who could meet with Government and Parks and Marine Services to allow us to freely and safely continue with our sport of Tow Surfing.

We have had numerous meetings within many Goverment Departments and have had our Rule and Regs passed as Law in NSW and will be shortly a National requirement for all tow surfers in Australian Waters. These Rules and Regs are Mainly for safety reasons for the Tow teams as well as the Paddle surfers and general public. We based our Rules and regs on the hawaiian Rules and regs so it would be easy for the ATSA to aline ourselves with your Association of Professional Towsurfers.

Within One year of our Association forming we have grown to over 300 members from all states and terriories using the same rules and regulations which we all agreed upon and had imput into. The Rules and Regs differ state to state depending on the specific Marine Laws currently used.

We are continually growing and this is now getting recognised by more Goverment officials who are passing on our contacts to Marine rescue departments as back up using our local knowledge and skills.