PETER TROY PASSES AWAY
AUSTRALIAN SURFING LEGEND PETER TROY PASSES
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September 30, 2008 -- Legendary Australian surfer Peter Troy passed away at 9:30am on Tuesday September 30th, from complications of a blood clot, according to news reports coming out of Australia. Troy was 70 years old.
Troy's accomplishments in the surf world were many and far-ranging.
Troy was one of the first surfers to ride waves at Torquay's famous Bells Beach and he co-founded the Bells Beach Boardriders Club in 1958. In 1962, along with club co-founder Vic Tantau, Troy staged the inaugural Bells Beach surfing contest, now known as the Rip Curl Pro, the longest running professional surf contest anywhere in the world.
After college Troy went on a worldwide walkabout, visiting upward of 130 countries from Argentina up to Spitsbergen Island approximately 600 miles from the North Pole. He was treated like a diplomat in a South America, crossed the Panama Canal and introduced surfing to the UK. He is said to have visited over 38 countries in Africa alone.
It is Troy's missions to Mauritius and Indonesia that have arguably left the greatest impact on the surfing world. Troy was one of the first surfers to grace the walls of Nias' Lagundri Bay. Troy once found himself without a board, watching flawless, eight-foot waves peel through at Tamarin Bay. Both of these expeditions set up the template for the perfect wave archetype in the minds and imaginations of surfers everywhere. In the mid-'60s and throughout much of the '70s, Troy surfed perfect waves either by himself or with jsut a few other surfers, and he did so a lot. Our day dreams were Peter Troy's reality.
In his later years, Troy ran a surf shop in Queensland. He was named one of "Australia 50 Most Influential Surfers" by Australian Surfing Life magazine in 1992. In 2002 Troy was inducted into the Australian Surfing Hall of Fame. Troy is survived by his wife Libby and step children Andrew and Lisa Rufus.
Special thanks to Matt Warshaw and the Encyclopedia of Surfing.
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