Anybody know if Byron still sails ? Man that guy was quick. Would be interesting to see how he would go with the equipment of today . Have a feeling he would be right up there. Chris Fiedler would be another one . I hear Jay roadley gets out now and again . True watermen .

Havent seen Byron for years. Spent some time with him and his dad Norm in Maui back in the late 80's, top guys.
He was a very good sailor!! Hope he's still out there.

sailquik said...

The last I heard, Byron was driving jet skis for water support at the Bells Beach surfing contest.

Have seen Byron in the last year, gets out at Pt Danger / Vic west coast etc when it's on and still sailing well. Has been said he could of rivaled JP too, and was always quick around a slalom course.
He has the ability to throw awesome buckets of water strategically in your face from upwind with the rail of the board as well as from the lip yeah it would sting!. Perfect killer fwds and big downwind floaty jumps were a standout move of his back in the day.

Chris F escaped to Hawaii, at around 6'6" he was quick too when the wind was up and would smash thru chop with brute force. His boards suffered premature deaths and usually got custom wave boards built, but then he'd roll the thrusters over or snap them off from hard sailing.
If there was trouble around you'd want him on your side, spent an hilarious Mambo with him one year when we went up in a mates removal truck.
Good times!

Cheers

Is this the same guy i was reading about (i think) in Freesail magazine (years ago) when he did a huge jump, landed and broke 1 or both ankles or a badly broken leg???? And still sailed into the beach in that condition???

slowboat said...

I remember sailing a lot with Byron during the early '90s over here. We used to do a lot of freesailing off leighton beach. He stood out as one of (if not) the most talented sailor over here at the time. And that was when there were plenty of PBA guys over here training over the European winter. He always seemed to have a bit of an equipment deficit, but more than made up for it with skill. To me that was impressive. And he could handle a rig in the air. Massive floaters on slalom gear, nose landing a few swells later at full speed downwind... never seen anyone (even in vids) come close. Good to hear he's still getting out.

That post brought back memories
Them were the days ay Locky!