Brent Dorrington, Currumbin, Pre-Andy Irons Snapper Rocks Paddle Out

Andy Irons may have been a Hawaiian, but surfing communities throughout the world came together as one in the days following his death.

In Australia over the weekend, Bells Beach, Snapper Rocks, Newcastle, Maroubra, Avalon and more were all host to paddle-out ceremonies in memory of the champ. The Snapper Rocks ceremony on the Gold Coast, site of the Quiksilver Pro, was early saturday morning. Led by Luke Egan, Mark Occhilupo and Joel Parkinson, thousands paddled out for the ceremony and then shared a few waves together.

I attended the Newcastle paddle-out on Sunday morning, which was organised and led by Matt Hoy. Hoyo ran down the beach with one of Andy’s boards in his right arm and a wreath of flowers in his left. When he caught site of the surprising number of people who turned up for the ceremony, Hoyo screamed “This is what I’m talking about!”. Hoyo’s a proud Novocastrian and was clearly thrilled with the sizeable crowd his hometown had produced in memory of his friend. The vibe during the paddle-out was solemnly respectful, but once beyond the breaking waves the mob began to hoot and cheer, celebrating Andy’s incredible life and remembering all the good things he gave us. A coal ship leaving the harbour let blow a timely drone of its loud horn, engaging the wild-eyed pack even more, prompting another round of banging fists and palms on boards as a dedication.

It’s not a stretch to imagine that most of the ceremonies around Australia were similar.

The above sequence of Brent Dorrington was shot by Simon Muirhead at Currumbin, a few clicks away from Snapper, just before the Gold Coast memorial. Simon said of the morning: “For some reason I didn’t feel the urge to go get photos at the paddle-out. I did consider paddling out with the housing and taking some fisheye shots, but I just didn’t feel like being part of the ‘media scrum’ so I did these beforehand, watched the paddle-out and took a couple of snaps from Greenmount Hill, then cruised at D’Bah for the rest of the day.” – Elliot Struck