‘Beautiful’ final wave
THE GOLD Coast lost a forefather of surfing two weeks ago and it’s something that still brings tears to the eyes of boardriding legends.
Remembered as a custodian of the city’s southernmost pointbreaks John “Kipper” Standing died aged 74 following a heart attack after walking out of the surf at Rainbow Bay on November 11.
Queensland surfing legend Wayne Deane choked back tears farewelling Standing who died after riding a “beautiful wave”.
“He surfed his last wave here at Rainbow Bay, enjoying what he loved. Goodbye John,” said Deane, struggling through the sentence as he remembered his friend who worked over the past decade to help return Kirra Point to some of its former glory.
Yesterday Standing’s ashes were scattered at sea in a ceremonial paddle out and a blessing was performed by Father Phillip Hardie at Rainbow Bay SLSC.
Standing’s wife Danuta said she was in shock after losing an “unbelievably talented” man.
“It was so sudden, everybody loved him,” she said.
Standing moved to the Gold Coast from England in the late 1950s but he was remembered as one of the forefathers of Australian surfing.
Friends said the pull of the waves waylaid a promising engineering career but Standing’s “logical mind” benefited the Kirra Surfriders Club, Rainbow Bay SLSC and a range of other surfing causes.
“I want to say without reservation that I loved John,” said lawyer Colin Greatorix, recalling their time as roommates in the 1960s.
“I was penniless as a young law student and he had a job, he would pick us up in a Kombi van and take me to Byron or Noosa,” he said.
Surfing world champion Wayne Rabbit Bartholomew, who was in the water at Rainbow Bay when Standing collapsed, mourned the loss.
“To leave us with the sand between his toes after riding a beautiful wave at Rainbow, it’s a majestic way to think about John,” Bartholomew said.
Surfing identity Andrew McKinnon said Standing was an “an unsung hero who avoided the limelight”.