Lennox Head’s Stuart Kennedy celebrates biggest surfing win yet
FORMER lawnmower man Stuart Kennedy became one of the most talked about surfers in the world this week, pocketing $33,000 in the Quiky Pro.
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FORMER lawnmower man Stuart Kennedy became one of the most talked about surfers in the world this week, pocketing $33,000 for his semi-final performance in the Quiksilver Pro.
But his biggest win came out of the water with news his teenage sweetheart, Ashlee, is pregnant with their second child.
Kennedy gave up the opportunity to get on the championship tour in 2013 to be around his newborn child, Taj – doing “labouring, gardening, a lot of backbreaking stuff” to help pay the mortgage – and only surfed this week because of injury to other competitors.
“I just always kept telling myself that if you keep going and get a big result you’re going to turn your life around,” the Lennox Head surfer said yesterday.
“I did labouring, gardening, a lot of backbreaking stuff. Really annoying stuff that makes you surf worse.”
Kennedy, who met his wife at a race day at Ballina when 18, knocked off former champions Kelly Slater and Gabriel Medina on his way to the Quiksilver top four, where he was beaten by only 0.03 points yesterday.
Ashlee took time off work as a compliance officer in Ballina to be with her husband of four years.
RAINBOW BAY SURF CAM
On confirmation how much money he had won, Kennedy joked: “She won’t be working any more.”
“It helps,” he said in all seriousness, adding plans to renovate the family home can now go ahead.
“It is good to be able to perform well so there is no money stress. That was the biggest problem worrying about my family.”
Kennedy, 26, 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 the ranks.
Now he is waiting confirmation from the World Surf League on whether he will surf the Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach as an injury replacement for Bede Durbidge and Owen Wright and have the opportunity to make next year’s championship tour.
“Surfing is such a selfish thing and Ash understands how much I have to do, but now the stress is gone,” said Kennedy, considered a “blue-collar talent”.
“Now I want to get the year going strong so I can be there for the birth (in September).
“It will probably be some time on the European leg but Ashlee’s got it in her head that I’m not going to be there, but I want to make sure I can get there.”
“At the same time I’m not going to take this chance lightly, I’ve been training hard.
“You never know when Bede or Owen could come back from injury.”
Support for the blond 70kg surfer grew throughout the Quiksilver Pro – in and out of the water -- with Kennedy receiving some of the loudest cheers from the thousands of spectators who sat through the rain.
His support crew included brother Neil, 28, and dad Craig, 57, who flew to the Gold Coast from Sydney, and mum Vicki -- more than 50 friends and family members who drove 45 minutes up the highway from Lennox Head to support Kennedy, with several telling their bosses they had contracted the “Stu flu”.
“It is definitely the community coming together for him,” said former Le Ba Boardrider president Rod Steeles.
“There is about 50 people here at least – I saw a lot of kids who aren’t in school today.”
And Kelly Slater took to texting Kennedy after his shock win earlier in the week, “giving me advice. He’s a really nice guy and my (board) sponsor now”.
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