|
Gary Elkerton (born 21 August 1964), known as Kong is an Australian surfer, three time world masters champion (2000–01, 2003),〔http://www.aspworldtour.com ASP Award Statistics 1983-2009〕 three time world professional runner-up (1987, 1990, 1993),〔http://www.hickosports.com/history/worldsurfing.shtml〕 twice Hawaiian Triple Crown champion (1987, 1989)〔http://www.surfline.com/surfing-a-to-z/hawaiian-triple-crown-history_935/〕 and Australian amateur champion (1984). He is regarded as an iconic big-wave rider and is highly respected by his peers for his unique, powerful surfing style.〔http://www.surf.transworld.net/.../the-10-most-powerful-surfers-of-all-time/〕〔Legends of Surfing: The Greatest Surfriders from Duke Kahanamoku to Kelly Slater by Duke Boyd〕 In 2009, Gary was inducted into the Australian Surfing Hall of Fame.〔(inductees )〕 == Youth == Elkerton was born in Ballina, northern New South Wales, the first child of Keith and Joan. The Elkertons owned a prawn (shrimp) fishing trawler which ranged from Karumba in the Gulf of Carpentaria, down the length of the Great Barrier Reef to the river ports of northern NSW. Gary took his first steps on the deck of the boat and was mostly home schooled at sea during his early years, despite short-lived, failed attempts at conventional education. Elkerton’s first surf was in Kingscliff in NSW at age nine. Thanks to an innate sense of balance acquired by growing up on a trawler, he was able to stand and turn immediately, thus by-passing the usual learning processes. His surfboard joined a mini-motocross bike in the hold of the family boat and both were used fanatically whenever there was opportunity in various ports of call. After the arrival of his younger siblings, David and Bernadette, his parents opted to set up home in a location that provided safe, permanent anchorage for their prawning business. Mooloolaba on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast was selected. The family home was a caravan in a beachside trailer park not far from the wharves. Eleven-year-old Elkerton had direct access to the rolling waves of a small secluded bay ten metres from his front door. Upon enrolling in grade six at nearby Mooloolaba Primary School, he was given the nickname ‘King Kong’ in reference to his large frame. In time, this was shortened to ‘Kong’. The beach the Elkertons lived beside became known as ‘Kong’s Cove’. Elkerton joined the local boardriders club – North Shore Boardriders – and was soon making an impression in contests with his unusually powerful technique. High School was routinely skipped in favour of surfing. Eventually, he was suspended from Maroochydore High School for inveterate truancy, upon which Keith Elkerton insisted that his fourteen-year-old son commence full-time work as a deckhand aboard the trawler. Gary spent the next two and half years diving from the trawler deck and surfing alone on the shark-infested, remote open ocean waves of the Great Barrier Reef and Queensland’s isolated off-shore sand islands. By 1980, he had achieved significant success as a competitive junior surfer during his breaks from the trawler, so much so that he won his first of several Queensland Titles. Encouraged by sponsorships from emerging surf labels Quiksilver and Rip Curl, and acknowledging his less than dedicated performance as a prawn trawlerman; the Elkertons decided that Gary ought to pursue a career as a surfer, rather than remain in the family business. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Gary Elkerton」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|