Small mercies from Derek Hynd's housefire
IMPORTANT: You can still donate to the GoFundMe page supporting Derek Hynd.
Following his housefire last month, the surfing community rallied around Derek Hynd. He and son Lachlan escaped with their lives but everything else they owned had been lost, or so the news went.
However, there is a small ray of light amongst the bleakness. While most of Derek's worldly possessions were lost, some of his surfing memorabilia: surfboards, trophies, t-shirts, shorts, and even some of his documentation, was safely stored away in Victoria at the time of the blaze.
Running from last September to April was 'The Derek Hynd Story' at the Australian National Surf Museum. According to museum curator Craig Baird, the exhibition included, "surfboards that ran from his first ever foamie to his first production model FFFF, lots of experimental craft that were lessons on the way to the more refined FFFF boards". The boards were made by Terry Fitzgerald, Barry Bennett, Skip Frye, Jed Done, and Rod Dahlberg, amongst others, each of them representing a significant stage in Hynd's career.
Some of Derek's boards that survived by virtue of the exhibition
T-shirts, shorts, and trophies
Prior to the exhibition, Derek packed a Tarago to the sunroof and dropped the boards off at the museum. Over the course of the exhibition more boards were included, and since April when the exhibition closed Craig Baird has been organising their return.
Above and below, the boards as they appeared at the Australian National Surf Museum
Craig had planned to do a road trip in the last week of September, delivering them all at Derek's house, however the fire happened before then. If the delivery happened sooner, those boards would've been lost too.
A small mercy from a grim incident.
Comments
Nothing against Derek but I'd be surprised if anyone would give a toss about his 'story'.
Fuckwit comment. Really mate, of all places.
I take your point if you don't know anything about the guy but a bit of research and it does unearth a wealth of info. He is about my age and when I was young he was right up there with TC and part of the same crew and on the tour. Very interesting character and someone who always has an interesting take on surfing. I reckon he is worth a story as it adds depth to OZ surfing.
Judging by the rest of the comments and your idiotic reply I think you're on your own there chump. It really just show's the type of person you happen to be. A fuckwit!
He's just had an exhibition that ran for six months, been the subject of a documentary and 100 page booklet on his post-Litmus life, and still has many surf articles written about his longevity and originality, so there's a surprise for your Monday.
I care. Not only a phenomenal surfer but a very sharp mind, and what he can see in surfing is a level of perspective greater than my own. I'm very thankful for Litmus arriving when it did.
That Fitzy twin-gun looks like a beast!
VJ is that the green one? I reckon he surfed that at Bells in 1981 when it was huge.
Both of them really, the one with the savage pin; and also the one that has the green on underside.
I've always wondered how twin guns would go, but being pretty hit and miss on twins in small waves I've been happy just to wonder...
I do love the TF shape from that time, beef forward, knifey down rails in the tail, full single to double concaves going through a tail vee. We have a 6'5 wing swallow and a little 6'0 pin from the rainbow era. The wing swallow, you end up kicking out 30 to 40m down the line at lowers from where everyone else runs out of speed to ride
Yeah I can imagine they would power along ideal for those long walls. He was taking off with sight in only one eye on that swallow tail one I think in giant bells. No jet ski assist back in those days so you needed paddling power.
Fabulous collection! So interesting.
Good news. Reasons to be cheerful: 1, 2, 3...
Oh yeah this makes me happy.
Never met Derek but came frighteningly close to losing my home in a nasty bush-fire several years back. My sister lost hers a couple of years later in another state. The emotional loss and trauma is considerable. Derek has made a huge and unique contribution to our nation's surf history and I wish him all the best with recovery at a difficult time.
good news story
Wow that's lucky, this is the stuff that you cant replace with any type of money.
The strange trajectory of material possessions : The shallow infatuation of the new , the respect for the reliable item , the offhand dismissal of the superseded , the discarding and then the final rediscovery with the item imbued with the power of emotions from a time passed.
How else do you explain a pair of manky , shitstained boardies gracing the artfully lit hallows of a museum ?
DH ....Shame about the fire . And the other thing.
There is a podcast “Waterpeople” where Derek is interviewed by Dave Rastavich and his partner Lauren Hill. He’s certainly articulate and has a great take on surfing history that takes in the start of pro surfing, where he thinks pro surfing is at and where it could be in the future. There’s board design discussion and the interview highlights the missing component of women and their contribution. Agree or disagree with his thoughts you’ve got to appreciate how much he has and can contribute to surfing.
I'm down with Derek but he owns 4 houses does he really need a go fund me page? Most of us are lucky to own a car built after 1996... 'I've surfed my life away give me money?' Haven't we all??
Firstly, he doesn't own four houses.
Secondly, he didn't start the GoFundMe pages.
Thirdly, from what I've seen he's been very gracious, most recently deferring to Jack McCoy's ill health and requesting people support Jack.
Ever shared the lineup with him? He'll graciously pop up on your inside and take your waves and everyone else's - everytime. Then will proceed to ruin it squat-sliding around on his finless slidey thing.
I have never seen or experienced Derek like that in the surf - has only ever been well mannered.
Agree with Mishad but the only difference is he doesn't bother sliding up the inside he just blatantly drops in on you every time.
Yeah, free speech and all that, but let's face it, it takes a special kind of person to sink the boot when a person is down.
Could've kept it to yourself. Could've recognised it wasn't the best forum for criticism. But why deny yourself the pleasure, hey mate?
Hey Andrew Marsh....with 30 seconds of googling you could've found out for your self who started the crowdfunding pages instead of making false accusations in public. Also, he's lost his house FFS! I'd like to think Aussies help each other when we're down, maybe it might be you who's in need one day?
Now imagine what it would be like if during your lowest hour someone came along and wrote total bullshit about your predicament.
I feel for DH as I can somewhat understand his predicament. I too had my home suffer from disaster of a flood in 2016 east coast low. Seeing my stuff water logged and full of silt was bad. Seeing your things turn to ash would be worse.
I've got to say though. Insurance. As much as it it can be a hard pill to swallow year in, year out. It can be handy too.
To all those standing up for DH. I'd like to know if you would do the same for any other random? Or is it because the bloke is a legend to our surf history and you feel connected to him? (or wish you were)
Be honest with yourselves and tell me you would be quick to defend or support (with your hard earned)any other common bloke in the same way?
That will be the litmus test the person you are.
look anyone keen to help but not so much with their own hard-earned could simply start up their own personal GoFundMe page to bankroll all the donations they'd make to all those other GoFundMe pages if they could afford it.
I checked out some footage of Derek from the Newport days. Good zippy surfing. My first time seeing other than still shots of his early days. I used to think and read that he was advanced back then. The footage suggests that was correct. Nice to see as some magazine heroes from back then have proved stiff and slow on film.
The finless stuff was interesting to watch at first but Jefferies Bay deserves some fins.
Derek turned up to a mates photo exhibition in Syd . He had surfed Bells , jumped in his beat up old Nissan Bluebird , followed the swell having surfed ( can't say where) on the way north , sat around telling yarns , and proceeded to hit the road next morning still following the same pumping swell .
Later that week I spoke to my photog mate and asked where Derek got to . . . Noosa was his final surf of that trip . Dedicated freak is my take on Derek . Best of luck to you Derek .
Was he insured? 30 people at rapville lost houses las week.
55 houses lost in Rapville/Busby's flat fire.
Insurance is not always available if the property has dwellings/sheds that haven't had every I dotted and t crossed by council.
Thats a helluva lot of people living in the bush.
Not everything is brick and tile Legoland.
Also, prohibitively expensive in some cases.
Try and insure a small business in downtown Lismore for eg.
You can do both. Help DH out and the people of Rapville.
They need clothes, stuff etc etc. Lots of people got out with just the clothes on their back.
One of the most interesting personalities in the surfing world. A bit of serendipity about the boards in the exhibition. I hope the free friction ones from the Gnarloo sessions were amongst those spared the fire. Looks like DH did the ole Ben Gazzara again.
I don't get the going finless 24/7, ok for a bit of fun on a small day, but if you can't stand up straight may as well ride a kneeboard. "shrugs"
What is so great about standing up straight ,
instead of a crouch ?
Now waiting breathlessly for Garry Green The Musical. No doubt you'll be the first to buy tickets, derra and thommo? PS thanks for your kind words.
Well I am sure Derek welcomed everybody back at Newport back in the day.
Never could get into his written word stuff but I wish him well.