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Beschen, Shane

Meteoric Australian pro surfer from Sydney's Dee Why Beach; world-ranked #4 in 1992. Herring was born (1971) in Manly, New South Wales, to a lifeguard father and barmaid mother, and began surfing as a toddler. In his teen years he developed a low, streamlined crouch, and cornered through turns with the precision of a Formula One driver; when he turned pro in 1991 he was described by 

 magazine as having "the purest style" of his generation.

Herring had no amateur career to speak of. His high point as a competitive surfer came in April 1992, when he defeated Kelly Slater in the finals of the Coke Classic event in Sydney. The 20-year-old freckle-faced Aussie regularfooter was still living at home, and a good portion of his $25,000 in prizemoney went to pay off expenses left over from his mother's recent brain surgery. "The first strike of a new age," surf journalist Derek Hynd said of Slater and Herring Coke Classic duel, which left Herring on top of the ratings. "These two will battle for future championships," Hynd promised. Herring was the first and perhaps most adept user of the new "banana board" design, which featured an exaggerated nose-to-tail rocker. The boards allowed for tight in-the-pocket maneuvering—Herring's specialty—but trimmed poorly and resisted long-radius turns.

Eight months later Slater, another banana board devotee, won the 1992 world title, and went on to take another five before the decade was over. Herring never won a contest again, and two years later was off the tour altogether.

Even before the Coke contest victory, comparisons were being make between Herring and 1970s Gold Coast surf-noir legend Michael Peterson. Both were electrifyingly talented, with charisma to burn, and both were destined to flame out early: Peterson from drug-amplified schizophrenia, Herring from acute alcoholism.

Australian surf journalist Tim Baker visited Herring in 2005 and reported that the one-time golden child "doesn't own a board," was just getting over pancreatits, and nursing a broken collar bone after a drunken wrestling match with his roommate's pit bulls. "I battle my demons every day," Herring told Baker. In exchange for the interview, Herring asked for and received a case of beer and $20 dollars.

Herring appeared in a small number of surf videos, including Oz on Fire (1991), Madmen, Saints and Sinners (1992), and Rad Movez (1993). 

, a short documentary on Herring's rise and fall, came out in 2014.

Herring, Shane

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