An Underground Aussie We Know You’ll Love: Shane Felsinger

Here’s a few minutes of beautifully shot footage from Jimmy Lees, a favorite track from Sonic Youth, and the surfing of blue collar Australian ripper, Shane Felsinger, with whom you’d be forgiven for being unfamiliar.

Let Jimmy Lees, who made the clip above, explain:

“Shane was a Billabong kid. Did all the trips and catalogs. He was always a few years younger than everyone so he was exposed to a lot more shit at a younger age. He went through some heavy family stuff which kinda led to loosing interest in, not just surfing, but a lot of things for a couple of years…

Through out all this we stayed in contact. He was kinda on the move around Australia, out west doing concrete. It’s only been the last couple of years that he’s found that spark again, to save up and do a couple Indo and West Oz trips. The fucker still shreds, just a naturally talented prick! He’s over in West Oz with his girl working at the moment, and surfing a shit load.”

While freesurfing success stories will always capture youthful and naive imaginations, seeing the fruits of a blue collar work ethic and some natural talent is always a reminder to us in the Real World that you don’t need to be getting paid to surf to do your best surfing, nor live your best surfing life.