It is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to one of our longboarding mates Obct.RIP mate,you were a great champion,larrikin,surfing aussie bloke.I know you liked this song mate,so hopefully one day we will "Do it Again".....

Rip Obct you foxed us until the end you funny bugger. Only chatted last week and you told me all is good. Catch that wave and ride it forever mate.

Very sad but thankfully the memories will make us laugh forever.

great guy and great sense of humour ...rip OBCT

Rip obct

This photo summed him up, after surfing the point earlier we headed to back beach, it was solid chunky and sharky. A couple of guys pulled out their shortboards Obct paddled out on his 10 footer as most of us didn't want any part of that back beach it looked scary. Respect Obct.

Circle of life is a bastard at times..
RIP OBCT..

I've come out of retirement to pay a humble but deeply saddened respect to my good friend Ian - widely & better known as the OB
We shared some superb times with the crew , surfed some sublime waves & shiitty ones as well , cooked up some grouse food & laughed like drunken fools
Obs mate you farking magnificent bastard , you handsome bastard of a thing .. mate I'm seriously going to miss our catch ups and my heart is breaking apart already & lord knows you fought so bloody hard to stay with us all
Deepest sympathies to all your family as they've lost a very good man , husband , father & grandfather

Rest gently good friend I'll be up there for another surf soon enough

I only just found out last night upon returning from overseas, I'm gutted and shocked after speaking with him only last week.

Rest in peace my friend and thank you for the many memories, your stories and jokes, sharing a laugh, a wave, food and wine (some good & some not so good). Thoughts are with his family and I can see him now forever 'stylin' across the face of that everlasting right hander..............

Well said fellas and great pics,we're all going to miss our larrikin mate.I can still see him trimming along the small runner at Woopi beach as I paddled back out and breaking out in a soul arch to make that wave more jokingly interesting,I'll never forget that moment

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Al G said..
Well said fellas and great pics,we're all going to miss our larrikin mate.I can still see him trimming along the small runner at Woopi beach as I paddled back out and breaking out in a soul arch to make that wave more jokingly interesting,I'll never forget that moment

Yeah Al he loved a bit of 'show'.

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vanders1 said..

Al G said..
Well said fellas and great pics,we're all going to miss our larrikin mate.I can still see him trimming along the small runner at Woopi beach as I paddled back out and breaking out in a soul arch to make that wave more jokingly interesting,I'll never forget that moment

Yeah Al he loved a bit of 'show'.

He sure did mate an extrovert we all loved

Yeah I remember that soul arch as well also how he leant me his Manly longboard club hoody because I was freezing I didn't want to give it back so he tried to get me one from Manly what a legend

Haha,yeah i remember you wearing his Manly LC jacket

Thanks for putting this up Al. I got the news yesterday morning, and spoke to Lynda his wife yesterday afternoon. I had no idea how I was going to break it to you blokes, so glad you saved me from that.

I'd spoken to OB last Tuesday, and he'd assured me all was well. But because of the sleeping pills and not feeling like eating much, he wasn't going out. He also couldn't text any longer, as the treatments he'd been having had caused numbness on his fingers. Another of our locals, Pete, hadn't been able to get in touch so called me, and between us managed to get a message back from Lynda that he'd paddled out sometime around 8am yesterday.

I heard the news just after I got out of the water after a fairly decent surf at Collaroy, thinking that he'd have loved it that morning. Chest high take offs, slightly south off shore with an easterly swell. Almost perfect for one of our favourite Sydney breaks. Uncrowded for a change, and just delightful.

We're still waiting to hear about a celebration, but won't know until tomorrow perhaps Thursday. The Funeral directors hadn't been when I spoke to Lynda about 3pm yesterday.

It's been pretty rough watching a good mate go from a hulking 110kg to 60kg in less than two years. Being in the surf with him when he finally realised he couldn't get to his feet, sitting on the bench on knowledge at Collaroy listening to his latest book review and hearing how horrible the treatments were. It's good that he's not suffering any more, but true to his form, he didn't want to be a stress on anyone. Hence what Mac said, that he kept it from us by saying he was fine, right until almost the end.

It's also been a really fabulous (almost) 10 years, from the first road trip to Plomer in 2011 I think... and we've had a couple more to Arra since. We've shared some brilliant waves, too many laughs and none of it will be forgotten.

So, farewell ya fat bastard..... I'll see you out there.

No worries Michael my pleasure mate.Thanks for that wonderful bit of info and story and letting us know about what happened.We know how much good friends you both were and hope you are ok.He was a fantastic bloke and I certainly had a few good laughs and small waves with him,we certainly won't forget him that's for sure....

Terribly sad news to hear. Great words above fellas.
He was a funny man.
The world is a poorer place for him not being here any more.

OK,

Now for some lighter comments, anecdotes if you like. WARNING, they're all politically incorrect, so forgive me....

One of the first times I met him, I asked what his wife did while he was surfing. "I don't give a F*&ck what she does, she can do what she wants."

On being asked whether there was any surf on a particular Sunday morning. "Nah mate, it's all on-shore and slop, better stay in bed and beg for a root."

I received a text one Saturday morning, light westerlies and lots of sunshine. "It's as flat as an Asian's arse, don't bother."

When is wife Lynda asked him what he was doing one Saturday morning, he said he was going to the beach as usual. Her response was "Oh, so you're going to a meeting of the old ****ters club!" (referring to the fact that most of the locals who surf at Collaroy, especially during the week, are older than dirt)

I'm glad I knew him, life is poorer for his loss, but he had the best turn of phrase I've ever known.

BTW, has anyone notified Rhonda Rottenbox at the Woopi Bowlo?

Haha Michael,yeah that sounds like him
Pup will have to notify Rhonda

Just read this ...gutted to my core ... will be sadly missed. An absolute great man, whom we all are better for knowing him.
RIP OBCT .... mate you will be missed!

One for OB

He'd like that stylinsoularch

Another for OB

Sorry to hear about this, man was a top bloke...rip

RIP in peace big fella...thanks for the drunken stumbles through Manly and for tottaly forgetting dinner

Blokes, I've just spoken to Ian's wife Linda and his daughter Karen. The family in general all are doing fine. Still coming to terms and still working through their feelings.

Ian will be cremated this Thursday at a private ceremony. I'm not even sure any of his family will be there. As I suspected, he didn't want a service with loads of people wailing over his coffin. He just wanted to slip away quietly.

Sometime over the next month, there will be a gathering on the Northern Beaches for anyone to attend. Although we still haven't got a venue. It will be a wake/celebration where people can pay their respects and tell some bad jokes over a beer. As soon as I know anything about a venue or date, I'll post it here and ping those I have numbers for.

Once they have collected his ashes, there will be arrangements made for a scattering somewhere just west of Woopi. Again, when I know dates and times I'll post it here.

On a kind of different note, I got a call from Ted the Kiwi. He'd jumped on the forum out of the blue and called me after seeing the news about OB. He's alive and well, and hibernating/alternating between Indo and Brisbane at present.

Stay tuned.

Thanks very much Michael for keeping us up to date

Wow sorry so sorry never met but feel the vibe ...

Hey Lads,

I've just got off the phone to Ian's wife. They've planned a small gathering/party type thing at his house on Sunday November 17th at 2.30. It's not going to be a sad affair, just a gathering of a few people who spent time with him over the years, to tell a few jokes and have a few laughs. Possibly at his expense

If you're thinking you'd like to come along, send me a PM and I'll send you the address. It's on the Northern Beaches of Sydney.

Michael,Ide like to get down there but at this stage I don't think i canI guess I'll just go to the roadtrip for him