Surfer and master shaper Wayne ‘Evergreen’ Deane’s death sends shockwaves around the world
COOLANGATTA is in mourning after the death of one of its most revered custodians in and out of the water — fearless surfer and master board shaper Wayne Deane.
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THE Gold Coast surfing community has been felled by the loss of one of its most revered and respected trailblazers — world longboard champion and master surfboard shaper Wayne Deane.
A fabled member and former president of Snapper Rocks Surfriders Club, Deane passed away early yesterday, age 66, after battling stomach cancer.
The brave, versatile and consummate surfer’s death has devastated his family and friends, plunged Coolangatta into mourning and sent shockwaves around the world.
“Cooly’s sad right now,” Deane’s longtime friend and world champion surfer Wayne ‘Rabbit’ Bartholomew said yesterday.
“Wayne had phenomenal respect in the water. He was the greatest waterman from Coolangatta. He has been a true legend since the 1970s.
“Wayne loved the town. He was one of the custodians, a leader among surfers. He loved the surf break and he really stood up for it.
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“He backed up decade after decade which is why we’re all in such a state of shock.
“We used to refer to him as the Evergreen. That’s why we’re so shaken — everyone in the town.”
A carpenter by trade, Deane was part of surfing’s ‘shortboard revolution’ during the 1960s and went on to become a master surfboard shaper.
“He was a true surfer, good on all surfboards. Most surfers get stuck in one discipline. Wayne was a master of all the disciplines,” Bartholomew said.
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“He was a short board rider as well as a tube rider. He was a 10-time Australian Longboard Champion and in 1990, an ISA World Longboard champion.
“He was the bravest of surfers. He rode the biggest waves. When we had big cyclones, Wayne Deane would be the first one in and the last one to get out.
“He also surfed the big waves in Hawaii. He had a lot of respect from a lot of the Hawaiian families, like Eddie Aikau’s family and the Keaulana family — a very dominant family from Makaha Beach.”
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Deane’s lifelong love of surfing began as a kid in the 1950s when he and brother Robye used to hire “Surfer Planes” from Johnny Charlton’s Surf Hire at Kirra to get around a ban on surfboards from 9am to 4pm.
Deane’s father John Deane, a founder of the ASAQ, now known as Surfing Queensland.
made his sons a finless, plywood shortboard in 1959 before the brothers got their own surfboards for Christmas the next year.
“Robye and Wayne Deane were the two best surfers in Coolangatta going back to the 1960s,” Bartholomew said.
“The Deane family brought respect to the sport of surfing at a time when surfers and surfing was looked upon as a bunch of beach bums.”
Bartholomew was 13 when his mum Betty Bartholomew bought him his first surfboard — the first model fledgling shapers Wayne and Robye Deane ever sold.
“Wayne Deane made my first surfboard, Christmas 1967 — that still is the most joyful day of my childhood — and built my first house,” he said.
“He was a master builder, a master craftsman and master shaper.
“He was inspirational to someone like me. He was a mentor.”
Deane was inducted into the Australian Surfing Hall of Fame in 2003.
His death comes just two months after the loss of another popular local surfing identity — Burleigh Boardriders foundation member Billy Hoogervorst.
Deane and Hoogervorst competed in the Gold Coast’s first documented interclub surfing challenge — hosted by Burleigh Boardriders — alongside Rick and Paul Neilsen and Peter Drouyn on August 22, 1965.
Deane’s beloved Snapper Rocks Surfriders Club only hands out one trophy a year: The Wayne Deane Perpetual Trophy. The coveted prize is awarded to the winner of an annual championship open to all comers — men and women, juniors and seniors, amateurs and professionals — each summer.
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“It’s the one trophy we’ve all tried to get our name on since the 1970s,” Bartholomew said.
“It’s always a celebration. It’s a happy day. A lot of club members come home for this day.
“You can be a grommet and find yourself surfing against Joel Parkinson or Steph Gilmore. There’s only one winner at the end of the day and they get their name on the trophy and Wayne comes and hands the trophy out.
“It will take on even more importance now.”
Deane is survived by his wife Colleen, also a champion longboarder, and the couple’s three sons Shannon, Jimi and freestyle surf star Noa.
The family are yet to announce details of a memorial service.