Gold Coast’s Stuart Kennedy leads Aussie charge into Hawaii after last year’s horrors
THERE are ghosts in the reef on the North Shore of Oahu for Australian surfers. Stuart Kennedy is going to battle them.
Surfing
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STUART Kennedy remembers his boardriders club in Lennox Head “stealing” Owen Wright as the 10-year-olds forged careers towards professional surfing.
Wright’s family had just arrived at the sleepy NSW town and he didn’t have a “home”.
“So we stole him (to Le Ba Boardriders),” Kennedy says.
“He’s been stolen back by Culburra (where he was born in southern NSW).”
This weekend Kennedy is in Hawaii looking to continue his stellar run on the professional surfing circuit and exorcise the ghosts that inflicted serious injury on his childhood friend Wright and fellow surfer Bede Durbidge 12 months ago.
In the hunt for the world crown, Wright suffered severe concussion and a brain bleed at Pipeline. He battled memory and function loss and it took him four months to even enter the water again.
Kennedy will compete in the Hawaiian Triple Crown, starting this weekend with the Reef Hawaiian Pro at Haleiwa Ali’i Beach Park. The series concludes with the O’Neill World Cup of Surfing at Sunset Beach and the Billabong Pipeline Masters at the Banzai Pipeline.
“I think for those guys being Australian, obviously none of us wish for those injuries on anyone, but it’s terrible,” Kennedy says of the carnage at Pipeline last year.
“Owen and I grew up surfing and competing together and we’re still pretty close mates so he’s pretty pumped that I got his spot. I’m definitely using it. Hopefully he’s back next year.
“It’s not the competing that matters. I just hope his health is the best thing for him.”
Wright’s injury allowed Kennedy to get back on the world surfing circuit this year and finally rid himself of the labouring jobs he was forced to take up in hard times.
The 27-year-old says he thrives off the “blue-collar surfer” tag, primarily because he has earned it.
The father of two had to shovel concrete and push lawnmowers to keep his dream alive when sponsors walked away.
Before that, he was a poster boy of the junior ranks but found himself on the scrapheap as a number of other juniors like Gabriel Medina came through.
“It definitely wasn’t what I planned in my life, but mentally it made me stronger.” Kennedy says.
“It fired me up to get me going on the tour.”
And he hasn’t let his second coming lapse.
Kennedy has earned $124,000 on the tour to be ranked 18th in the world — easily above the requalification mark of 22nd — and is in a good position to win the Rookie of the Year award with a strong performance in Hawaii.
His year started with his semi-final showing — including that round two win over 11-time world champion Kelly Slater — at the Quiksilver Pro on the Gold Coast in March.
It also has been a benchmark period out of the water with the arrival of his second child, Belle, in September and his National Rugby League team, the Cronulla Sharks, winning their maiden premiership title.
“When I was young I won lots of events but I was just a fired-up 18-year-old,” Kennedy says.
“I’m more mature now. I’m glad I didn’t get on (the tour) when I was 21 years old.
“I was a little smart-a*** when I was younger and (had an attitude) like ‘stuff it, I don’t care’. I’ve still got a little bit of that in me but I think you need it to be a winner.”
Kennedy will be with his wife Ashlee, son Taj, 3, and daughter Belle as he competes in the Triple Crown of Surfing over the next month.
“It can get big and scary,” he says of the waves in Hawaii. “Pipe’s going to be the tricky one but like, if you draw John John you can still beat him,” he says.
John John is John John Florence, the talented Pipeline local and newly crowned world champion.
“Everyone’s beatable,” Kennedy says. “At least I’ve got pressure off me with my (requalification) points. I’m definitely going over there for the Triple Crown. It’s the next thing down from a world title, everyone reckons.”
Kennedy has his sights on finishing in the top five of competition next year.
He argues that by using Durbidge’s secret weapon, consistency, and hi-tech boards shaped by Daniel Thomson, he could one day claim a world title.
“I’ll definitely be pushing for a world title, but I still think that’s going to take a little more time,” he says.
“Look at Bede Durbidge, he’s put himself in that picture as well. His hard work paid off. You’ve got to keep going and going.”
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