Trevor and TJ Hendy combined to take out the open male board rescue at the 2015 Aussies
Like father, like son - the Hendy’s returned to the Aussies podium once more in 2015.
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LIKE father, like son - the Hendy’s returned to the Aussies podium once more in 2015.
Staged at North Kirra beach, ironman legend Trevor Hendy combined with son TJ to produce an open board rescue win for the ages.
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Five months before the 2015 Aussies, a then 20-year-old TJ recalls propositioning his old man about a return to the surf.
“I joked with him a few months before about how funny it would be if we did the board rescue together and how we could win it and we both laughed and then dad was like ‘maybe we should,’” Hendy junior said.
“He hadn’t done much training at that point so I told him if we were going to do it, he needed to be fit so he did eight or so weeks of full training and we started to think we could be a pretty good team.
“We didn’t think we could win but we were keen to give it a good shot.”
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The two managed to progress through the heats and when it finally came to the afternoon, the beach began to “hype up” the pair in hope of an unlikely victory.
The race began and TJ started began his swim out to the cans but dropped off the pace when the ocean intervened.
“I had two waves break on me so I had to go under while others keep swimming which put me back in last place but it was a bit of a blessing in disguise,” Hendy said.
“A lot of things panned out really well after that like dad got the wash out and got sucked right up towards the two paddlers either side of him and then when he turned, we got this magical runner into shore.”
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As three teams all pulled into shore on the same wave, it came down to the final sprint up the beach.
For the past two months leading into the Aussies, TJ had been working furiously to enhance his sprinting ability and technique with Surfers Paradise clubman Shane Pierce.
But the work nearly came undone when Trevor stumbled on the shoreline.
“I was probably 20 to 30 per cent faster up the beach than I’d ever been before but then dad fully almost carked it,” Hendy said.
“We actually had a back strap put on our JM board which was purpose made for the board rescue so the strap actually saved dad from falling and won us the race because he was able to push me across the line.
“A lot of things fell into place for that to happen and we won by 30cm.”
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