Underground South Coast Charger Nathan Bartlett Tragically Passes Away While Surfing Remote Slab
The husband, father, brother, and deeply respected 43yo waterman leaves behind a legacy built far from the spotlight.
Nathan Bartlett, a deeply respected South Coast surfer, father, husband, brother, and one of Australian surfing’s great underground chargers, tragically passed away while surfing in Jervis Bay yesterday.
He was 43.
According to sources, Nathan was surfing on Wednesday, May 27, with his brother Byron Bartlett, an equally gifted and respected waterman, in large swell.
It is believed Nathan suffered a head knock that left him unconscious. According to 7News, Emergency services responded around 1:50pm, but were unable to revive him.
Nathan leaves behind his wife and two young children.
For those outside the South Coast, Nathan’s name may not have carried the bright commercial sheen of professional surfing. But inside the circles that matter most, notably the heavy water, tight-knit coastal community on the South Coast, and lineups beyond it, Bartlett was regarded with rare reverence.
Nathan was brilliant in the juice. Committed and deeply capable in waves most surfers would never dare paddle out in. He stood to gain no commercial upside from his courage in the ocean. His approach was pure, genuine, and built over a lifetime of learning the Tasman sea’s many moods around Manyana’s slab-rich coastline. His passion was something he shared with his peers and children, generously.
His son Taylor is already one of the most barrelled groms on the planet, recently winning the BL’s Blast Off 10 and under division.
Nathan’s relationship with heavy water was not casual. In 2017, he survived a near-fatal wipeout at Desert Point in Indonesia after a late drop gone awry. The impact left his face badly disfigured and his body without a pulse. Thanks to the extraordinary efforts of Brazilian surfers in the lineup, who pulled him from the water and performed life-saving CPR, Nathan survived.
Nathan was far more than the hairy situations he survived, or the beasts he tamed, which feature in several notable South Coast edits, showcasing his remarkable skillset and intimate knowledge of the ocean in some of its most challenging lineups.
He was a husband. A father. A brother. A friend. A South Coast local whose presence in the water and on land was profoundly impactful to those in his orbit.
His passing is an immense loss for his family, the Manyana and South Coast community, and the broader surfing world. His story is a reminder you can earn lasting respect without ever needing to chase the spotlight.
Our deepest condolences go to the entire Bartlett family and his loved ones.
Rest in peace, Nathan.
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