Coast surfer’s lucky break on The Search

In the early 90s Rip Curl unleashed a new concept known as The Search.

IN the early 90s Rip Curl unleashed a new concept known as The Search.

And it paved the way for a new professional surfer known as the “Free Surfer” to be filmed just to surf.

North End boardrider 23-year-old Luke Hynd got his call-up to join the new millennial version of The Search.

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“I was lucky enough to be on the Rip Curl team when they were initially revitalising The Search campaign,” he said.

“With all of the top guys busy competing on the WCT, Rip Curl needed someone that had a more flexible schedule to be able to jump on last-minute trips. I got a call one day and next minute I was living the dream.”

Luke Hynd at the 2019 Gold Coast Open. Picture: BEN STAGG/SURFING QUEENSLAND

His most memorable Search trip was the first one and is now famously documented on Rip Curls YouTube as “Louie’s Left”.

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“The trip was to a remote atoll in the Pacific,” he said.

“It took about four days of transit to get there with some wild open water crossing in a small boat. When we finally arrived, I surfed a perfect left-hand reef pass by myself all afternoon. The next day the swell died off and we went home.”

Born in Southport, Luke learnt to surf with older brother Harry at 10 years of age when their Dad bought them their first boards for Christmas.

Growing up on the Gold Coast has been a blessing for his surfing development.

“It’s a perfect place to grow up surfing. Access to world-class breaks, consistent swell year-round and warm weather make it pretty easy to lure you into the surfing bug,” he said.

“Being surrounded by a lot of good surfers and waves in competitive line ups definitely helped to push my surfing from an earlier age.”

Luke Hynd at the Siargao Cloud 9 Surfing Cup. Picture: TIM HAIN

Growing up he has looked up to Mick Fanning and Joel Parkinson describing them as the epitome of performance surfing.

“Having the opportunity to see them surfing in person has been pretty special,” he said.

His best contest results include runner-up in a QS1000 at Cabarita last year and third at a QS 3000 in the Caribbean in 2018.

Last month he was selected to compete for his Club North End at the Straddie Assault placing equal second with host club Point Lookout.

“Luke is an integral part of the North End family,” said NE president Damien Healey.

“He’s been a great member for over ten years and he’s won several Open NEB titles, the JA club championships and he had won countless heats for us in big team club events.”

Being a goofy-footer living on the Gold Coast point breaks has honed Hynd’s backhand skills at Burleigh Point.

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“It’s given me a lot of opportunities to practice my backhand Reos. I’m definitely not one of the boys out there but I pretty much know most of the Burleigh crew and knowing who not to snake is a major key out there,” he said.

While he enjoys competitive surfing, he finds it very structured.

“To do well you must surf to a specific judging criteria. When filming for my movies, I don’t need to worry about surfing in front of a judging panel and can surf more organically,” he said.

According to Healey the NE groms really look up to him.

“Louie is one of the most stylish free surfers getting around, he’s completely down to earth and humble and always giving the groms encouragement and support,” he said.