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Was Dane Kealoha perhaps the best surfer never to win a world title? ‘Clouds Conceal the Volcano’ is the compelling feature in our current issue, which details Dane’s explosive impact on surfing in the late 70s and 80s. Former Tracks editor, Paul Holmes, explores Dane’s magnetism, his controversial world title loss, his demons and his ultimate path to redemption. Issue 589 is on stands now, available for purchase online, or click here to subscribe and read all of Tracks premium content!
Below, is an additional sidebar, which doesn’t appear in the feature, where Dane talks candidly about his relationship with Australia.
“Surfing all around the world, there was nothing like what we have here in Hawaii. Except Australia, once in a while, we’d get decent waves. Bells in 1981 was huge when Simon won, that was unbelievable. Burleigh was overhead sometimes and Kirra was like a playground for me, even when it was overhead because of the sand bottom – you knew you’d just bounce off. I tried to take it as deep as I could because I knew that whatever happened it was nothing like being bounced off the reef at Pipe.”
“Kirra, Burleigh, D-bah, Noosa, Lennox, Byron Bay, it was so beautiful with the flocks of parakeets, cockatiels. If there was any other place I had to live it would be there. Surfers Paradise? C’mon man, that’s it.”
Dane carving through the competition at The 2SM Surfabout in Australia. Photo: Tony Nolan
“When I first got there in ’77 I thought I was in a dream. Surfers Paradise was just like Waikiki, even with a canal out back of it. I kept having to rub my eyes, ‘where am I again?’ I had to get hit by a couple of waves to bring me back to reality. I got rolled by a wave at Kirra so bad, it pinned me to the bottom and held me down so long it really freaked me out. It was storm surf, a building swell, so thick, and the wind shifting onshore, but me and Michael Ho, and Rabbit went for it anyway. I got slammed. Still, it was sand, at least I didn’t have to worry about the reef putting holes in my head.”
“At the Cronulla event (The Southside Open) in 1980 I went man on man with Rabbit Bartholomew in a best of three finals. It was controversial when Rabbit won but it was very disappointing to me when some of the crowd started throwing beer cans and fruit at the judges when the result came in. That was very hurtful to me and the next day when I walked down the street business owners and other people were coming out to apologise. I knew then that the people of Australia knew and were behind me and accepting me, even though I could only seem to get second place in the events down there and never winning. That people knew I’d been getting burned and were apologising to me was actually more important to me than winning the event. The entire town of Cronulla treated me with respect. I was blown away.”
Check out our profile feature in our recent mag on Dane Kealoha, Hawaii’s all but forgotten almost world champion. Issue 589 is on stands now, available for purchase online, or click here to subscribe and read all of Tracks premium content!
