Pike, Bob (1940 – 1999)

Intrepid and semi-reclusive regularfooter from Manly Beach, Sydney; described by surf writer Nick Carroll as "the first and the greatest of Australia's big-surf waveriders."

Pike was born (1940) and raised in Sydney, and for a time attended the prestigious King's School. His family lived one street back from the Manly Surf Club, and Pike began surfing at age 14 on a huge hollow "toothpick" paddleboard. In 1956, he watched a visiting team of American surfer-lifeguards riding their new balsa "...