Dane Pioli was straight out of
the gates and into some lips,
showing instantly just why he
wins so many competitions
and last memorial - and in winning that last
event, Andrew McKinnon had inadvertently
become the custodian of the memorial
trophy and Bobby’s surfing legacy, going
on to win a world title and to a life of surfing
greatness.
Andy has now enlisted the producers
of the Sons of Beaches exhibition and
documentary about the 1972 era prior to
pro tour surfing - Glen Blight and Geoff
Charters - to add a documentary film to the
book on Bobby. Andy, who had to direct
this chapter of the film from a hospital bed
with degenerative discs and lower back
pain, told LiQUiFY, “When we interviewed
Paul Witzig about those sensational sixties
and his first movie Hot Generation, I got this
idea from Paul to put two really talented
surfers together like he had done with Bobby
and Kevin Brennan in Hot Generation, and
again later on with Tom Carroll and Danny
Wills in All Down The Line.
“I loved that concept and thought I’d do
the same with Heith Norrish and Dane Pioli,
who are well known on the Goldy and are
two of the best longboarders in the nation.
“We wanted to add a dreamy background
to the future segment in the Bobby Brown
doco,” said Andy, while relying on the
Fingal Dreamtime Team who were up for
the golden sunrise session - equipped with
cameras on land, in the water and high
above attached to a drone rig.
“I was laid out at the Tugun John Flynn
Hospital and had to leave it up to Glen,
Geoff and my youngest son Lachlan,
who works for Surfing Australia’s MySurf.
tv, doing the water shots. A last-minute
call to Luke Sorensen from LiQUiFY to shoot
stills and suddenly we had the right mix for
the perfect early morning shoot at Fingal.
Afterwards Luke also went down like a
sack of spuds with some kind of influenza,