Shane advert in Manly Pacific vs Windansea boardriding contest booklet, September 1968, courtesy John Smythe
Absolute pleasure to meet the unstoppable Shane Stedman at his cliff top ‘shack’ this morning, with photog/writer Bruce Usher, for a few yarns about surfing’s mid 60s coming of age, the idea of ‘motion economics’ for filling big department store orders with so-called ‘standards’, his upfront approach to promoting his business and himself, the various up and coming stars (like Anderson and Fitzgerald) that outgrew the Shane stables and rode on the wave of cooldom that in many ways he inspired, his pre-teen aspirations of greatness bagging and selling cow shit and pippies at Crescent Head to buy his first guitar and his band Shane and the Trojans (aka Shame and the Tragics), his SUP workouts and sparklingly positive take on life. A truly ‘bright’ spirit indeed. Looking forward to Bruce Usher’s Shane portrait piece when its published.