Ramblings of The Bay's adopted son

words by

Danny Dobin

So now I’m out of the bay, the saying “absence makes the heart grow founder” springs to mind. So I hope you will indulgeme rose coloured look back over my impressions of the people and places I stumbled upon in the bay. People who saw me bring two of my three kids into the world, an helped me raise them. (Some of Georgie’s first words were “Boxy wedges” as coached by Nath and Matt from the backseat).

I’ll start with nath, who along with Bill is pretty much become my best mate. When I moved to the bay, nath had long blonde hair, a car full of absolute shit on the ground, and tried earnestly to convince me that New Found Glory were a good band. (Thank you Danny for opening my eyes to “good” music!). He was loud, always sure he was right, and a crackpot....... pretty much as he is now, really. He also is responsible for the best display of surfing ive seen, when he would pop up right on the wedge of six foot boxy and make amazing barrels on the knee.

Dal was the frothing grommie that lived right around the corner, used to come and bum bodyboard vids from me and gave me the name “Danny”, when he misheared me say “Dobbo” when he asked me my name out Boxy one day. Up until that point the only person that called me” danny” was Paully Moore, my under 13’s footy coach. Pretty amazing to think that he’s now one of the best riders in the world, absolute wave magnet , king of box , and I guy I draw alot of inspiration from with his riding. He’s still a humble, frothing grom at heart.

Despite Russ listening to terrible pop punk music, and being a Dragonball Z fan (WTF?) I’ll make this bold statement. Russ is the most naturally talent guy I’ve seen in the water, was better than Dal as a young guy, and is the guy I enjoy seeing surf the most. Fck the guy was landing 720’S five years ago, does massive airs, and can dropknee like a demon to. Creative genius.

Palmzoid. Matt is a passionate guy. And it’s passion that allows him to succeed. He wasn’t a natural guy in the water, but through dedication, passion and focus he’s built himself into an absolute bullshit rider. Pocket rider like Kingy or Lester, how I want to surf. But Matt’s triumps in the water are vastly overshadowed by his triumphs in life. Through adversity comes strength, the way in which Matt has molded himself into a stand up man and a role model is a triumph.