Tributes flow for Byron Bay surfing legend Max Pendergast, 80

A “true Byron Bay surfing legend” is being mourned by family and the wave-riding community after the “treasure” of the sport “surfed off onto a big perfect wave in the sky”.

Max & wife Von Pendergast. Picture: News Corp Australia.

A “true Byron Bay surfing legend” is being mourned by family and the wave-riding community after the “treasure” of the sport “surfed off onto a big perfect wave in the sky”.

Max Pendergast, 80, known for not only being the township’s “unofficial mayor” but also a towering figure in the Australian surfing world, died on Saturday. It came after a battle with an illness, it is understood.

Mr Pendergast was one of the first to reintroduce longboard riding in a professional capacity in the mid-1980s, after it had fallen out of favour for the aggressive, shortboard revolution of the 1970s.

He co-founded the Byron Bay Malibu Club in the late 1970s.

His daughter, Kirra, shared a heartbreaking social media post on Sunday.

She said her “darling dad Max surfed off onto a big perfect wave in the sky, with the love of his life our mum holding his hand until his very last breath”.

“Our family is very numb but have peace in knowing he slipped away after saying ‘I love you all’,” she wrote.

LEGENDARY: Max Pendergast. Picture: Kirra Pendergast

“Thank you to the incredible team at Byron Bay Hospital for allowing dad to pass peacefully in the place he was born and loved so much.”

Former world champion Nat Young said Mr Pendergast was one of “half a dozen” surfers when he first arrived in Byron Bay in the 1960s.

Former world champion Nat Young called Mr Pendergast a “leading light” of the sport. Picture: News Corp archives.

“Max was dedicated to the whole lifestyle and was a leading light in the sport. A really lovely guy and every encounter I had with him was fantastic,” Mr Young told NewsLocal.

Australian surfing icon and leading shaper Bob McTavish said Mr Pendergast was “undoubtedly the genial host to surfing visitors to Byron all through the sixties”.

“It was when the surfing world was small enough that we all knew each other,” he said.

“I’d visited Byron with my mum and dad in 1956, but when I returned as a wayward surfer in 1961 Max chucked me in his Vauxhall and drove me down a rough track to Broken Head, taking such pride in his local surf breaks.”

Kirra Pendergast a fourth-generation Byron local, said her father has long-documented Byron Bay in photos. Pictured: Cyclone swell damage to Main Beach in 1973. Picture: Max Pendergast

Mr McTavish said “as a draftsman, Max drew up the plans for the first house that my wife and I built on top of Lennox”.

“With his wonderful wife Vonnie (Yvonne) we’d always be stoked to see each other around at Wategos. So sad to see the affects of ageing take another fine human from us but he’s left a fine legacy, fathering surfing in Byron. The best guy in town!”

Australian surfing legend Bob McTavish said Mr Pendergast was “the best guy in town”. McTavish pictured in 1971. Picture: John Witzig

Gold Coast surfing identity and former professional longboarder Andy Mac said Mr Pendergast was single-handedly responsible for bringing longboarding back into the fray in Northern NSW and further afield in the mid 1980s.

“Max was a pioneer,” he said.

“He was the guy in Byron everyone looked up to. A real unofficial mayor of the town.

“Max was a reverend figure. Just this worldly man of wisdom. Everybody loved and respected him.”

There have not yet been funeral details released for Mr Pendergast but a large outpouring of support from both the surfing and wider community is expected on the day.

Got a story tip? Email [e-mail]