SURFNEWS.The return of Peg Leg

John Kirk but most people knew him as Peg Leg returned to Trealors on Easter Sunday for a quiet surf with his grandson. Luckily Andrew Gibson told me he was down there and I grabbed my camera and got a couple of classic shots of him back in action. Anyone over 40 who surfed Pines or Big Left would have memories of him charging across the critical faces, often terrorising those silly enough to paddle out in the impact zone.

Paul and I learnt very early that John got all the best waves and the secret was to take off inside of him, he used to congratulate us on our manouvers as we paddled back out. He was still wearing his summer and winter woollen jumper, life jacket, crash helmet and speedo’s. Wetsuits were way too difficult for him to get in and out of so he likes to keep it simple. Somebody over the summer declared that we belonged to a special group of surfers that wore footy jumpers and shorts.

Watching John in the water set up his red bouy and even though it was small he got every good wave that came through, positioning himself perfectly on each of them, not bad for an 85 year old. I helped him out of the water and then carried his ski up the beach, it was incredibly heavy. John said he built both the 12’ boards, one in 1951 the second in 1961 each weighting 60lbs (27.2kg), he surfed Torquay in 1947, massive waves at the Bombie or Big Left as we know it and Pines in 1960. Hopefully we’ll get together again and record a lot more of the history of our coast.

See you at the beach,

Phil. T