Rest in Peace: Shane Herring, Aussie Surf Icon, Has Died

“He best blended the old school power and pure lines with the new school mentality and speed in the 90’s,” Slater remembered. “In the years we spent traveling and surfing together, I always found Shane to be a kindhearted guy and an extremely talented surfer, but he had his demons that limited his time of greatness. He loved the purity in surfing and was uncomfortable with the limelight and notoriety and scrutiny it brought him. He made a bigger mark than he might be known for these days and it hurts to know we won’t get to catch up again. I was really looking forward to seeing and maybe even surfing again in the coming months with Shane, whom I haven’t seen in probably 20+ years. This clip is the first final we each ever made on tour and he won in front of his hometown. Ride on, Shane. We’re thinking of ya.”

Back to Herring’s short-lived, yet explosive, surf career – in the early nineties, he was a prominent Australian representative of the highly-rockered “banana board” movement, which he rode crouched low, zooming between turns in the pocket like a racecar driver, and oozing with style.

Despite the early inklings of a long and successful surf career, however, Herring’s flame burnt bright and fast; he was destined not to be in the spotlight for long, although his impact was never forgotten.

After his win over Slater, per Matt Warshaw’s Encyclopedia of Surfing:

“Eight months later Slater, another banana board devotee, won the 1992 world title, and went on to take another five before the decade was over. Herring never won a contest again, and two years later was off the tour altogether.

“Even before the Coke contest victory, comparisons were being make between Herring and 1970s Gold Coast surf-noir legend Michael Peterson. Both were electrifyingly talented, with charisma to burn, and both were destined to flame out early: Peterson from drug-amplified schizophrenia, Herring from acute alcoholism.”

Rest in peace to a legend of the sport.