David Wyllie in full dress with local dignitaries, Sumba, 1972.

As surfers you would have to say that crowds are never a good thing, floating around in the line-up, tea-bagging uselessly, elbow to elbow with a camp band of your new ‘friends’, just a pain really. Many of us opt to escape busy line ups and beaches and some opt to leave the big smoke altogether.

Well one of the original characters and pioneers of frontier searching passed away recently in Bali, Australian ex pat, David Wyllie, widely credited with first surfing and discovering Bali gems such as Canggu, Greenballs and Cimaja in Java passed away peacefully in his son Hamish’s arms.

Cimaja, early 80s.

A founding member within the Indonesian surfing community, the passing of Australian David Wyllie is a sad occasion, if not just for the unique person he was but also for the sheer fact that more of this generation are getting older and increasingly attending more of their mates paddle outs and funerals.

The weathered, storylines etched into the expressions of David’s mates hinted at what a genuine loss David is to them, a losing of one of their own seemed tough. David’s life was celebrated with a ceremonial paddle out both in Bali and Terrigal Haven, hip flasks of Scotch were passed around the paddlers circle, 2 guards of honour from the Terrigal surf club boats, a local Aboriginal representative paying tribute with a smoking, farewell- fire from the point, an epic storyteller, a journey man, a pioneer and family man his paddle out was huge and fitting for the character that was David Wyllie.

Dave, wetting rail for shaper Sam Egan.

Indo previous to David Wyllie, Alby Falzon and the like was an unknown entity, it was a frontier. Originally from Terrigal, Wyllie was a first generation Bali surfer, one of a few 70’s surfers who cut tracks through the wilds of a once woolly and windswept Bali, a pioneer with which much of the DNA of the original ‘search’ tag of surfing came from.

Wyllie is largely credited with being the first to surf Canguu, a massive effort given how tough it is to even find today, back then a Zig- Zag of tiny pathways, a maze of rice-fields and it’s unmarked, potholed goat tracks would of made getting there, in a word, tough. However David Wyllie would often just hoon down the beach on his motorbike until later the path was more familiar to him.

Bali paddle out.

It is credit to the likes of David Wyllie and impressive no end, as 30 years ago when Wyllie first ventured through Sumba and Bali they were really still frontiers. Sumba is still pretty wild now. Back then it would have been insane. David’s sister-in-law, originally from East Sumba but now living in Bali, recalls that when she and other children of the village first saw David and a couple of his mates under the beach’s Pandanus trees, well they freaked, she explained, “These were the first white people we’d ever seen, the kids were frightened out of their wits”! Weird white people under Pandanus Trees was a historical nightmare in the Eastern islands, for in the 18th and 19th centuries European slavers would occasionally raid a village, and the white man was revered for stealing children. However this was to be David’s slice of heaven for more than half his lifetime and his chosen home for 40 years.

Early heat with the great MP.

Getting around on bareback horses, pushing deeper and further into unchartered Indonesia, traversing and scouring the Jungles for paradise, unridden waves and fishing heaven, David’s life seemed unparalleled,  “he lived the dream, chased the dream, and probably beat the dream to death half a dozen times when most people would’ve packed up and gone home”, David’s mates commented.

Hamish Wyllie, David’s son, reflected and captured a great moment in the celebration of his father’s life for all to enjoy, commenting, “Dad was generally happy anywhere, sometimes he had money, sometimes he didn’t, if he did he would pretty much spend it on everyone else, if he didn’t he would just go down the beach, catch fish and lived frugally until money came his way again, which it would”.

A legend remembered and a life celebrated happy travels David Wyllie.