"high performance bobby brown
what a talent wasted
talk about ride the pig?"
some weird shit goin on here"
No Doubt! There IS weird shit going on here! LOOK at that!! I goggled Bobby's Name and found this article on surfinfo.com
"Bobby Brown died tragically in a mad moment all those years ago. He was apparently just a great guy, a close friend to so many, none more so than "Blond" Bobby Brown who still surfs and shapes excellent boards by the shores of Lake Myall. The late Bob Brown's surfstyle was well chronicled...Alby Falzon's photos of a quasimodo under a perfect Angourie lip...a body language arch on a tiny wave at Blue Bay.... His other qualities are not so widely known... Midget Farrelly described him to me as: " a Prince of a kid...with everything going for him in the same manner as Kelly Slater." Midget and the young natural became great friends, Midget recognising Bobby's surfing talents and enjoying his company. He still speaks of him with obvious admiration and fondness. My most vivid memory of Bobby Brown was something he pulled off in a NSW State final somewhere 'round '63,'64 I guess. And State Titles were the big event in those days.
I was a young wide eyed grommet in a crowd of hundreds sitting in the natural ampitheatre of North Avalon. It was an outside Rocks day and only Midget and Bob Brown were in the water late in the day. (G&S man Dave Wilson told me recently that the reason for this was that in the six-man final, the judges couldn't split Midget and Bobby. So they sent just the two of them out for possibly the first ever man-on-man. Dave's opinion was that Bobby had done enough in the final and that Midget knew it, even waxing Bobby's board for him. Midget actually has a photo of this but wasn't so sure if they had tied, or if Bobby was just rushing after his semi and he was helping him get ready.) So out they went. My memory was of a big perfect left coming, Midget being in "the spot" but clearly nodding for Bobby to take it. (As a naive youth I had always thought Midget had made a huge error but knowing the before mentioned background, and hearing from Midget that he recalls they were both just having fun out there, puts another slant on it.) Anyway, Bob Brown took off and drove way deep, straight down. As the curl pitched out well over his head, he delayed his backside turn by doing a spinner! A 360 degree spin of his body, not the nine foot whatever board! Then he cranked his bottom turn just before the lip hit him.... I remember everyone going wild, hooting and hollering, I remember Midget, sitting outside, twisting around to shore, obviously trying to figure what Bobby had done to bring the huge crowd jumping to their feet. Bobby was a great talent who proved a forerunner to so many outstanding surfing personalities and athletes who have all, in their own way, put this Surfzone (Cronulla: Sydney's Surf City) well and truly on the world surfing map.
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