McKinnon, Andrew (1953 – )

Energetic and perpetually upbeat surfer from Queensland's Gold Coast; a semifinalist in the 1972 World Surfing Championships; 1988 world amateur longboard champion; longtime surfing media figure; and chairman of the Gold Coast World Surfing Reserve advocacy group.

McKinnon was born (1953) in Melbourne, Victoria, to a bookstore-manager father and milkbar-owning mother; at age seven he moved with his family to the Gold Coast, and two years later he began surfing at Mermaid Beach, just north of...