In 1972, two surfers from Sydney's Northern Beaches, Russ Graham and Gary McKenzie-Smith, decked out an old school bus with sleeping and shaping facilities and hit the highway.

Change Surfboards was their company, the name was painted in letters three-feet high across the sides of the vehicle, topped off by an epigram above the windscreen reading 'Happiness is a warm bus'.

Rather than follow their compatriots to the NSW North Coast where the Age of Aquarius was in full bloom, Russ and Gary zigged south. Gary made it as far as Eden where he got work in the fishing and abalone diving industries, leaving Russ to carry on the venture.

Russ and Gary, and their bus, in the pages of Tracks, 1972

For his part, Russ only made it as far as Torquay; rolling into town in 1974, where early introductions saw him put his roots down for good. It was there he met Barb, his future wife, and the mother of their three children, Leigh, Corey, and Liza.

At the same time, he fell in with Doug Warbrick and Brian Singer of Rip Curl. Russ had left school at 14, and had made boards ever since, developing a name as, not just a great glasser and finisher (he was taught by none other than Midget Farrelly), but a hard worker also.

Claw and Singer installed Russ as production manager at Rip Curl Surfboards where he worked on boards from the likes of Wayne Lynch, Pat Morgan, Don Alcroft, Alan Colk, Doug Rogers, Maurice Cole, Michael Anthony, and many others.

Russ on the squeegee at Rip Curl Surfboards, 1977 (Bob Smith)

Like Jack Reeves in Hawaii, Russ developed a name as a glasser of renown. When Rip Curl shifted their focus to wetsuits alone, Russ continued glassing under the moniker Moonlight Laminating; the rice decal with crescent moon a testament to a board's quality.

At its peak in the 1990s, Moonlight Laminating was glassing and finishing 1,000 boards a week. Russ' role put him somewhere near the centre of Torquay's booming surf industry. He was away from the limelight, his name doesn't appear on any of those boards, yet he was an integral and hugely-respected figure in Australia's most influential surf town.

Russ with son Corey Graham (Bob Smith)

In the water, Russ very much danced to the beat of his own drum. Long-time Torquay local Bob Smith can recall many a time he'd see someone handstanding across the reef at Rincon and not having to peer closer to see who it was. "That's what Russ liked to do," is Bob's breezy explanation.

And while Russ may have trundled into town aboard a tumbledown bus, he developed a taste for speed and the feeling of wind rushing through his hair - not to mention bugs in his teeth. Russ loved his sports cars, chasing the chequered flag in the Victorian circuit, or in his later years spending every Sunday morning taming the Eastern View bends on his way down to Lorne and back.

Surrounded by Torquay's finest, Russ preparing for a Sunday run south (Bob Smith)

In 2008, Russ had a quadruple bypass, yet was back in the factory, and the cockpit, within a few weeks. More recently, Russ' health had again been failing him.

On Wednesday night, Russ Graham passed away peacefully in his sleep.

He's survived by his three children, Leigh, Corey, and Liza, and his grandchildren, while his legacy lives on in the all the workers he taught, mentored, instructed, and inspired.