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Australian surfers and in particular the Gold Coast community are deeply saddened by the passing of Wayne Deane, aged 66. Deane passed away this morning after a battle with stomach cancer. Wayne was the father of eclechtic surfer Noa.
In addition to being a revered surfer, shaper and builder, Wayne was also recognized as one of the most respected voices in Australian surfing. Boasting the look of someone who had been chiselled from granite, Wayne always had an air of graceful dignity about him.
Even though, in his own words, “I was never really a professional surfer in the true sense of the word,” Wayne Deane had an outstanding talent in Kirra, surfing his sand pipes in the shortboard revolution of the late 1960s and decades beyond.
According to Matt Warshaw’s Encyclopedia of Surfing, Deane was a mentor to the 1978 World Champion Wayne “Rabbit” Bartholomew, and was a successful longboarder of the 80s and 90s. In 2003, Deane was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Australian surfing.