Shane Herring Passes Away
In sad news, Shane Herring has passed away at his home. Herring had a late-night fall down a set of stairs and was attended to, yet he didn't wake up the next morning. He was pronounced dead shortly afterwards.
In the early-90s, Herring, who's originally from Dee Why, Sydney, was Australia's answer to Kelly Slater. Both surfers rode wildly thin boards - Herring's made by Greg Webber, Slater's by Al Merrick - which also included deep concaves and exagerrated rocker. The combination of curves turbo-charged their surfing and together they created generational change; moving surfing away from a 'pure power' approach towards faster and tighter surfing that also went above the lip.
"The first strike of a new age," Derek Hynd said of Slater and Herring after their famous 1992 Coke Classic duel, which left Herring on top of the ratings. "These two will battle for future championships," Hynd promised.
If they were united in equipment they differed in lifestyles - Slater was a teetotaller while Herring was happy, perhaps too happy, to breast the bar. It was the seed of his downfall.
In 1992, Slater won his first world title, with Herring finishing the year in fourth. The 'future battles' didn't eventuate with Herring's behaviour and his surfing performances becoming erratic. By late-1993, Slater had toned down the extremes of his boards, yet Herring went entirely the other way riding snub-nosed vee bottoms.
His rankings slid: in 1993 he finished 22nd, and in 1994, when Kelly collected his second world title, Herring finished 44th and lost his seedings. The next year he was unrated and barely surfing; the flame that burned so bright almost extinguished.
Shane in his happy place: First Rock, Dee Why Point (Peter Crawford)
Herring's sessions throughout the latter part of 1992, particularly those at Avalon and Dee Why, some of which were shot by Monty Webber and Peter Atchison, remain a high point in surfing. Herring could turn as powerfully as Richard Cram or Occy, burying his board to the stringer, yet he did it in a shorter arc, at higher speed, and with no loss of flow.
Though he turned his back on the design and would ultimately disown it, Herring's role in the development of concaves remains. Thirty years later, concaves remain the bottom contour of choice on all performance shortboards.
Recently, Herring had been working on a new line of boards with shaper Jimmy Young-Whitforde, with input from Greg Webber.
Comments
Damn sad news.
RIP Herro.
So tragic...RIP....this surfing is incredible for early 90's
I always found it weird that Herro and Kelly were criticised for somehow not being 'power surfers'.
Look at the spray he's throwing in the first couple of hacks in this clip.
Hope he finds peace on the other side.
Urgh, news you don't want to hear :(
RIP Shane
RIP, great surfer back in the day. I used to like those water shots of him pulling in at Dee why point in the surf mags…. I remember underground surf did a good article on him about 20-25 years ago… which seemed like 2 years ago… frk. Ha
Shane was at the top of his game when I started surfing and was my first favourite surfer. Was strictly O'neill wetties for me back then. RIP
Sad news - a generational talent, mostly squandered.
'92/'93:
Full throttle surfing. RIP
RIP Shane. Dont all those pics just make you want to drop everything and go surfing
Shared the odd refreshment with Shane at bells 92/93
Such a down to earth good bloke back in the day when everyone was into everything
100 percent could’ve been world champ but too much partying took a lot down
RIP herro
Journey on Shane
Hands down some of the best surfing ever
Terribly sad news. Was always carrying a small flame of hope that he would have some sort of resurgence.
RIP
Sad news indeed. RIP Herro. My sincere condolences to his Mum and Brother.
RIP...... sad.
That was a good surfing Obituary, thanks Stu, as sad as the news is. RIP Shane Herring.
sad news , condolences to all
had that hot tuna cutty poster on my wall as a teenager
Yeah, that Hot Tuna spread had an impact on me, too. Real pure stoke.
Oh man that sucks.... condolences to friends and family.
Whoa! That's terrible news. Very sorry to hear and condolensces to all his friends and family. RIP Herro.
He'll always be a part of my early impressionable surfing memories. Eastlake calling it on Wide World of Sports at the Coke, the O'Neal vids with Michael Rommelse, the Bells tent with Bonython on the wall, the mags and my ultra thin board that helped me bog rails for 20 years. This one feels sad on many levels. Bless your soul Shane.
Rest in Peace.
An insane talent. Paraphrasing but I remember in an interview when talk about progression- "I wanna carve a farking 360 in the tube!".
He probably could have too.
RIP.
Like Davo from Northie, Herro from Dee Why was one of the last Great Hopes for a Sydney Northern Beaches World Champ. But they shone bright and burned hard.
Both gone way too soon.
I remember watching Shane and his brother at long reef (I think early 90s)...simply 3x to 4x as fast as anyone else and turned soo hard. They simply rode rings around everyone. Amazing. May he rest in peace.
RIP legend. Condolences to Brett and family. Back in the day had the pleasure of spending some time with Brett and Shane and they were great lads.
RIP
R.I.P.
Back then “style” was part of judgement. Ugly surfing didn't have a chance. Except Gary Elkerton But the guy was so thick when he attacked a wave that ended up earning points from the judges. Shane Herring was almost like Nicky Wood. It came exploding, and died in the seedling. It was worth it though. It was beautiful to see the happiness on your face. Natural talent, enjoying life as pro surfer on the circuit in the 90's.
And what a lifestyle!! Paid to travel the whole world, for a few years, without any responsibility, surfing during the day and catching cute kittens at night in the most charming and exotic places on the planet.
RIP Shane. condolences to all who loved him. Thanks for the memories.
I had the Insight board and O'Neill wetty.
I was also at Nth Narra for the presentation in 1992.
Such a terrible loss for his community.
Looking forward to reading the upcoming articles @Stu
My sincere condolences also to his mother, brother & family. Some excellent footage in this video, including going blow to blow with Kelly on a long offshore boat trip left.