Pittwater Online News

In Loving Memory of Jack McCoy 

Jack McCoy
July 31, 1948 - May 26, 2025

Our community is in mourning on hearing of the passing of one of our own and extends love to Jack's wife Kelly, children Cooper and Indiana, and grandchildren Makoha, Kalani, Cloudy, and Isabel.

Jack passed peacefully at home on Monday.

His family stated on Thursday, May 29:

The last couple of days have been a blur however the pain has been eased by the outpouring of tributes and stories being shared. It’s a testament to the amazing life he created and a reminder of how much he touched, moved and inspired so many people from every corner of the world. We thank you all from the bottom of our hearts.

In true Jack McCoy style, we’ll be organising a couple of celebrations in the coming months to allow those from far and wide to join us and pay their respects, beginning with a small paddle out at Scotts Head this Saturday for the local community and friends nearby.

The main ceremony / paddle out will be held at Avalon Beach on July 5th, and then we will return to Hawaii later this year to spread his ashes.

We invite all friends, family, the wider community and beyond to come and respectfully celebrate his amazing life.

Dress: Wear your favourite aloha shirt.

It’s been literally impossible to keep up with the sheer volume of posts and stories that have been shared - if you could please send any special pics and videos you may have to jackmccoyaloha@outlook.com so we can compose something special for the celebrations and our family at this time and forever.

Love, the McCoy ohana

Every time any of us saw him out and about, Jack always had a big smile for you - he was about community, surfing, sharing the stoke - living every moment as best you can, and family.

Born in Los Angles in 1948, he was the eldest child of three of Jack McCoy Sr., a popular host of a live radio and television show broadcast from the main stage at the Ala Moana Center in Honolulu. The McCoys moved to Hawaii in 1954 where Jack grew up and started surfing, initially on a traditional paipo board aged 8 at Waikiki beach. 

In a June 2010 Paipo interview with Bob Green Jack said:

 "A hapa haole friend named Mike Conway helped me make my first paipo/sandslider board when I was probably about 11 or 12 years old. We rode our bikes to Kailua Hardware and bought some pieces of marine plywood. We took the wood back to his house and cut them out, based on what we'd seen some of the older kids down at the beach riding.

Once cut out, we took a grinder to the edges and shaped the rails all the way around bevelled up. Finish sandpaper took out any of the rough edges to our boards and then we painted them with a marine paint we'd also purchased. It was red from memory. Anyway this board became my best friend at the beach where we would ride waves and sand slide at low tide."

"A couple of years or so later I got my first board. A 9 ft 6 in Inter Island. The paipo took a back seat in my life at that time. Mostly we surfed the 1 - 2 ft onshore Kailua shore break but once in a while my mom would drive us over the Pali to Waikiki and drop us off at Ft DeRussey where we'd paddle out to Pop's and surf till mid afternoon before coming in starving. There was a little shop on the beach where we could get a hot dog and a coke that was quickly inhaled before ordering another and then with just enough money to buy a packet of M and M's for dessert.

We'd go visit Mrs Take's board short shop and check out the new colours and patterns she'd be bringing in, dreaming about saving up for our next custom pair.

After the feed and a little hang near the board rentals, we'd walk down to the Waikiki Wall to wait for my moms pick up. We'd go out to the end of the wall and watch the kids who, like me a year or so ago, could not afford a board and used the standard plywood paipo boards to have a ball. I have a clear memory of the guy who had the red paipo and surfed it standing up. He was sooooo cool and had such style. He was our favourite rider. Someone told me that his name was Val.

I later saw him in Val Valentine's surf movie at my intermediate school auditorium. He got a bunch of big hoots at the show. It's funny how things go around in your life. Many years later I'd be asked to look after some of Val Valentine's work. The paipo sequence was always a fav and I restored it.

I always found it interesting that this little bit of Hawaiian culture was shot by a guy name Val Valentine and it was Valentine Ching, Jr., who was surfing. Cool huh? Meant to be, right?

Anyway these images are historically important for surfing as the paipo was as popular back then as the boogie board is today, and beside a couple of shots by Bud Browne that I know of, there is not that much footage of the art.

Another meant to be crossing of paths came a couple of years ago when I met Val Valentine, Jr., in person for breakfast during the Duke Festival. It was an honour to connect and hear his stories about his paipo days that I hope will be told over and over again.

That night I premiered my film Free As A Dog (2006) downtown in a theatre and asked Val to come along. Without telling him I introduced him to the audience and then, before my film, I showed a 3 min piece I'd put together of his paipo surfing footage. The crowd cheered from start to finish.''

In an interview with Surfers Journal Jack said the first surf film he saw was in 1959, at the age of 11, when he saw Bruce Brown’s Slippery When Wet at his own school.

“Bruce got up on stage and introduced his film and that planted a very romantic seed in my head,” Jack said 

''The entire experience left such a strong impression on me that I've spent my life's work, more like play, sharing what I capture in still photos and film/video just like I learned; with humility and respect from Bruce and the early pioneers of the genre.''

The film-maker who would get up and speak about his films stuck with Jack.

Jack earned a ticket to see more surf films through hanging movie handbills on telephone poles and handing them out. 

He also continued his own surfing, placing well enough to be part of a team that would visit Australia in 1970 as part of an Hawaiian contingent that included Gerry Lopez and Dennis Pang who both competed at the Worlds held at Bells contest in May. Among those also competing was Rodney Sumpter, then from England but really an ex-Avalon Beach lad.

When the rest of the team went home Jack stayed - surfboard maker Bob McTavish recalls:

''I was very fortunate to have Jack as my Hawaiian friend from 67 to 73, when he took me Makaha for dinner with Buffalo’s family, a treasured privilege. When he first travelled Australia he stayed with me in my rented farmhouse overlooking the Bay (Byron). He was shocked to find I was pushing pigs around in the old Norco factory for a living. 

When he returned a couple of years later screening “Waves of Change” for McGillavrey-Freeman at The Sydney University Theatre for a few weeks, he hired my girlfriend (now wife!) Lynn as usherette. 

So we got to know Jack as a close and dear friend. Always the gentleman, with energy to move mountains. 

Unfortunately he had a ski-lift accident in 1974 that wiped much of his memory. Our lives took different tracks, but our love for Jack remained constant. See you around, Jackson!'' - Bob McTavish

Spruiking films for Americans Greg MacGillivray and Jim Freeman, who gave him the rights to show Five Summer Stories (1972) around Australia, would lead to greater work.

When he wasn’t showing surf flicks, he shot photos and wrote stories for Tracks, then headed by John Witzig, with David Elfick and Albert Falzon (Morning of the Earth - 1972) among the mix, honing his craft. This 'surfers bible' commenced in Whale Beach in October 1970.

Although it would be a few more decades before Avalon Beach became Jack's home beach, this initial visit to Bells would prove fortuitous in Sumpter-Avalon Beach connections.

Alex McTaggart explained to the news service a few years ago; ''“There is a house in Harley road called the Sphinx once owned by the Sumpters, an English family with sons David ['Mex' - due to the sombrero he wore] and Rodney [Goofer]. Mr Sumpter was the secretary of Avalon surf club and in about 1962, tired of the disharmony between surfers and the club, he called for a meeting at the Sphinx followed by a meeting at the surf club. The Sphinx was where the Australian surfing movement was formed, later called the ‘Australian Surfing Association’. ”

David Sumpter's On Any Morning (1974) was also shown by Jack and early partner in film adventures, Dick Hoole and was, according to Mr. Hoole, when they reasoned if 'Mex' could do it then they could too.

‘Tubular Swells’, Hoole/McCoy’s first feature film, was filmed in 1973 and 1974, then edited and released in 1975. The son of a radio and host, Jack's lifelong connection to music would set a benchmark in the songs chosen to immerse viewers in his footage others would seek to emulate in what would become a hallmark of any good surfing film.

He was also about getting the water shot from the water; that too was about immersion and taking you on the journey and into the wave - if you want to make authentic surf films, you have to get in the water yourself, not stand on the shore and shoot.

1975 at Mermaid Studios, Gold Coast. Dick Hoole first met and connected with fellow surf photographer Jack McCoy in Hawaii. (Photo: Carmel Hunter)

Dick Hoole and Jack McCoy had made history when they made Tubular Swells. 

"Tubular Swells was the first feature film made in Queensland, it was more incidental because there was no film industry up there," Mr Hoole said in an interview with the ABC in 2019.

"All the processing and sound mixes were done in the facilities of Sydney, but the film was actually made in Mermaid Waters."

They followed Tubular Swells with Storm Riders, featuring Mark Richards, Wayne 'Rabbit' Bartholomew, Gerry Lopez, Wayne Lynch and Tommy Carroll.

This commenced what was a decades long run filming, directing, and producing classics of the surf genre including Storm Riders (1982), Kong’s Island (1983), Surf Hits, vol. 1 (1988), Bunyip Dreaming (1990), The Green Iguana (1992), Sons of Fun (1993), Sik Joy (1994), Mystery Left (1995), Psychedelic Desert Groove (1996), Alley Oop - The Billabong Junior Challenge (1997), Wide Open (1998), Sabotaj (1998), The Occumentary (1999), Nine Lives (1999), Rhythm of the Sea (2002), Blue Horizon (2004), Free as a Dog (2006), and A Deeper Shade of Blue (2012). 

Jack, renowned for his water cinematography, made 25 films over the course of his career, documenting the best surfers and best waves, all set to the best soundtracks. 

There must have been personal heart-stead stand-outs among these catalogue - Jack was invited by the Aikau family to direct, produce, and film the inaugural Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational in 1986, won by Eddie's brother Clyde. Jack is known for creating the "Eddie Would Go" tagline, which has become synonymous with the event. Others state to McCoy's line, "Should they go for it?",  led to Mark Foo's reply to him, while filming the surf check, "Go... Eddie Would Go," which has become a defining phrase of the event.

That may have been one, a soul connection one. Another was certainly the work that produced Bunyip Dreaming.

Behind every good man is a good woman. Jack met Kelly on a blind date, at the suggestion of her sister and his friend, Tracy Simpson, wife of George, a legendary WA surfer and fisherman. Soon after they married and it stuck, even through what must have been a big adjustment for a stunning woman, who had owned her own business, and a man who was by then 42 and had been part of the semi-gloss and some glory the evolved surfing industry was by then, a bit more of a private blokes club than a place where sisters, wives, and later daughters, were welcome. Thankfully, Jack had enough spine in him to evolve too, even thwart some of the semi-idiot aspects some surfers took on in conquering great waves or professional competitions, to bring them and himself back down to earth -  and the ocean - where epic footage he took captured and made a record of what it is really all about. Through decades of marriage Jack and Kelly obviously fell deeper in love - and everyone else benefitted as a result.

Bunyip Dreaming was Jack's first film for Billabong and the first one he and Kelly invested 10k of their own money into, while expecting their first child. Kelly was the producer of most of his movies, including the Billabong epics made throughout the 1990s.

In a 2015 interview, again with Stu Nettle at Swellnet Jack explained he was more than just a filmmaker, writer, director and producer:

''What a lot of people don't realise is that I did a lot more for surf companies than just make movies. I played a part in marketing and also in strategy, you know, creating credibility in their marketing and advertising. So when Gordon (Merchant) asked me to work with him I'd been thinking long and hard about what it was I could contribute to their company, and at the same time Aboriginal affairs were a big topic. The bicentennial had just passed. My wife, that I'd just married, was part Aboriginal so I thought that it'd be a really good idea for Billabong to acknowledge where their name came from and also have a little moral within the story.

So I came up with Bunyip Dreaming and we spoke very loosely about the Dreamtime, the Aboriginal worldview, and we had little morals, little messages, in there. Around the same time I encouraged Gordon to do an indigenous surf contest and to sponsor indigenous surfers and I'd like to believe that Bunyip Dreaming was the seed that let people know that Billabong had a moral conscience. It gave them something to tie into current affairs in the sense of acknowledging Aboriginal culture.''

Featuring Luke Egan, Munga Barry, and Mark Occhilupo, and the music of Not Drowning Waving, Schnell- Fenster, Yothu Yindi, The Woodentops, Concrete Blonde and INXS, Bunyip Dreaming was a maturation of his odes to the thousands years old culture of Australia, surfing and, naturally, love.

Jack himself nominated working with Paul McCartney as among his most memorable and favourite career projects. Their partnership began after his footage, particularly his underwater surfing sequences, caught the attention of McCartney. Jack then went on to create music videos for McCartney, including the Blue Sway (released June 2011) video and the Slidin EOB Remix video (released June 2021). 

For Blue Sway Jack used his underwater surfing footage from Teahupoo in Tahiti. The video won "Best Music Video" at the NYC BE FILM Short Festival and was featured in a Surfrider Foundation PSA campaign. 

During the pandemic, Jack collaborated with McCartney again, creating a music video for the song Slidin from Paul's "McCartney III" album. McCoy used footage of Craig Anderson surfing, which was provided by Kai Neville. The video was released on International Surfing Day to support the Surfrider Foundation Australia. 

Jack said it was a "peak moment" to collaborate with a Beatle and that his father's philosophy about "unrealistic possibilities" was exemplified by their collaboration. However, given his, by then, decades long experience in perfectly marrying the rhythms and soul in music with the lines of poetic waves in vision, this was another natural coalescence - the "one harmonious note" clearly resides in both men; why wouldn't they recognise that in each other?

The news service last spoke to Jack in 2024 when he was touring the Occumentary for its 25th anniversary. It was immediately obvious he had mellowed even further, and although breathless, was determined to engage with his old home.

You lived in Avalon Beach for over two decades and were beside the ocean over in Western Australia – have you always been beside the sea?

Yeah, pretty much. My family moved to Hawaii when I was quite young, and I was always by the water. When I came to Australia in 1970 I was given a residency visa, and that allowed me to stay. In 2004 when America elected George Bush I went down to the consulate and applied to become an Australian citizen as well. So now I have dual citizenship, for Australia and America. I consider myself now to be more of an Australian than an American.

Your film subjects – do you choose them or do they choose you?

I choose what to focus on. When I made my first surf movie it was after distributing surf movies for many years, so I kind of knew the template of what was required. 

For my first film I focussed on Australian surfers and Hawaiian surfers, Californian surfers and surfers who were from South Africa.

I would pick the guys who I liked to work with; some liked to work, some didn’t – some surfers are pretty lazy. I have chosen all the surfers I preferred to work with in my films and this has included all the great surfers of 5 or 6 generations of surfing – 50 years. 

Occy’s great comeback – how did that eventuate?

What happened was Occy was a child surf star, and never had a chance to have a childhood. At one point he had a bit of a breakdown about where he was at and what he was doing. He spent 3 years literally not surfing and just watching tv. His sponsor, Gordon Merchant gave him a salary during that period because Gordon was the first one to sponsor him as a young kid. It got to a point where he said ‘well, how long is he going to be on the couch?’ – and so he said to Occy, ‘do you want to get back?’ to which he replied ‘I don’t know if I can’.

So Gordon then suggested he come and stay with me and my family. So he came to us for a couple of months and we fed him well, we trained him, and I also spent time as a mentor trying to help him gain his confidence back and see it could happen. I could tell, even though he was big, his surfing was still incredible.

During that period of time he lost a lot of weight, he came back from the west and got back into it. We then ran an event called ‘the Billabong Challenge’, which allowed us to invite the best surfers in the world to take part – we had 8 surfers, and this was a sort of template for what they call the dream tour now. 

Back then they used to have a surf contest at 2 o’clock in the afternoon regardless of what the surf conditions were. Gordon felt that surfers need to be seen on good waves, so we took the best surfers with Occy to the desert and ran a little event. Occy ended up being able to mix it with the best; with Kelly Slater, Rob Machado, Sonny Garcia and a few free surfers.

He then went to a contest at Bells Beach, which was a speciality event that had never been done before. This event was when you rode a wave and you kept riding in a heat with another guy until you caught a wave that you wanted the judges to score. When you finished your ride you raised your hand. It’s never been done since but it was quite a unique little event. 

Occy won 11 heats in a row, 55 thousand dollars and a car. He thought, ‘well, I’m dong pretty good here’ and went on tour again. The first year he was on tour again he came 2nd to Kelly Slater. He was on a roll. The following year, he won.

This was a great comeback story.

What are your favourite breaks in the world?

I have lung disease now so I don’t surf anymore. One of my favourites when I surfed was Garagajan in Indonesia. This was an experience unlike any other in surfing. At the time when I was going there you had to take all your own food and water, and we were only allowed 10 permits. I’d go over there with just a few friends for around 10 years. It’s the most incredible wave – but you’re also on the edge of a jungle, so it’s quite adventurous and exotic and a surfer-heaven type of place.

I loved surfing anywhere there was a decent wave, I was more than happy to go anywhere, but my favourite was Garagajan.

In Australian breaks terms I really like Lennox Head and Broken Head.

What is your ‘motto for life’ or a favourite phrase you try to live by?

You know I’m an American Indian, I have Choctaw in me. One of the things I learned about Choctaw is they have a little philosophy that I’ve tried to live by:

Something to do, Someone to love, and Something to look forward to.

What is your favourite place in Pittwater and why?

Clareville. When I first came to Australia I always took houses on the Pacific side and then my wife and I moved to the northern beaches in 1999 and she found a house overlooking Pittwater. It was something so new and different, and we lived there for 25 years or so. This was the most calming and reflective water. That’s what drew me to the area; that really was my joy. I’d just come home and sit there for lunch and would have to wake myself up to go back to work because it was so calming. 

The Trappers Way home of the McCoys was eventually rejuvenated into what they then called 'Paradise View by Stutchbury'.

In a 2017 interview with Surfing World Jack said his peak moment was ''Being there when my wife gave birth to my two children.''

So all heer send another HUGE hug to Kelly, Cooper and Indiana - who also get the last words, along with the gentle man himself:

Our Big Kahuna — who has now caught his final wave and rests peacefully above.

A true one of a kind, he was deeply loved by so many and touched, moved and inspired millions of hearts across the globe through his story telling, art and most importantly his passion for the environment and spirit of aloha.

His legacy lives on in all of us who had the privilege to have met him.

Give those you love a big Jack McCoy heart to heart hug today. You never know when you’ll be able to share that last breath together. Go out and get a bomb today for the big guy.

With LOVE and ALOHA,

The McCoy ohana

Notes - References

1. A Paipo Interview with Jack McCoy, June 1, 2010 by Bob Green
2. Jack McCoy: 25 years after Bunyip Dreaming by Stu Nettle - Swellnet, 2015
3. The Genius Of Jack McCoy by Surfing World, 2017
4. 1970 World Surfing Titles at Bells Beach, Torquay Museum
5. Dim The House Lights: Vale Jack McCoy By  Stu Nettle - Swellnet, May 2025
6. Rushes: Viewing Life’s Dailies with Jack McCoy by Jamie Brisick | Captions by Jack McCoy, Surfers Journal

AUSTRALIANS IN STRONG POSITION

MELBOURNE, Friday. — Every member of the Australian surfing team has a chance to win the world surfing championship at Bells Beach this weekend.

During today's heats for the second round of the contest, held in three to 7ft surf, nine of the 12 male members of the home team came either first or second.

The other three Australian surfers had qualified during the first round of the contest.

The programme for the contest was cut by half by officials today, as competitors have been able to surf for only three of the last seven days.

This means the 12 semi-finalists from the first round and the top six surfers from the second round will fight for a position in the grand  final.

The vice-president of the Australian Surfriders Association, Mr Stan Couper, said, "It was staring us in the face that we didn't have enough time to run the full contest.

"And to make it fair, we had to give those eliminated from the first round a second test".

Australia's former world champion, Nat Young, surfed brilliantly today to win his heat, and is considered a favourite for the world crown. Top junior surfer, Wayne Lynch, 18. who said this week he had retired from competitive surfing after being eliminated from the first round of the contest, surprised spectators by competing today, and finishing second in his heat.

Three continental US surfers, including Corky Carrol, will go into tomorrow's quarter finals.

'Gone off'

Top American surfer David Nuuhiwa was missing from the contest today. His team manager, Mr Brennan McClelland, said, "I don't know whether he is sick or has gone off".

Friends said Nuuhiwa was disappointed with the contest and had gone on a tour of Australia before returning home.

Surfing will begin at 8 am tomorrow and officials said the surf should improve over the weekend.

Only three competitors in the contest were in bed tonight suffering from a virus which swept through the international camp.

Details:

Heat 1: David Treloar (Aust) 1, Corky Carroll (US) 2. Heat 2: Gavin Rudolph (S Afr) 1, Wayne Lynch (Aust) 2. Heat 3: Terry Fitzpcrald (Aust) 1, Gerry Lopez (Hawaii) 2. Heat 4: John Otton (Aust) 1, Mike Purpus (USA) 2. Heat 5: Ian Cairns (Aust) 1, Doug Hislop (NZ) 2. Heat 6: Keonc Downing (Hawaii) 1, Darrell Gomez (Puerto Rico) and Dale Dobson (USA) equal 2. Heat 7: Frank Lata (Aust) 1, Randy Rarick (Hawaii) 2. Heat 8: Nat Young (Aust) 1, Mike Petersen (Aust) 2. Heat 9: Grant Oliver (Aust) 1, Carlos Barreda (Peru) 2. AUSTRALIANS IN STRONG POSITION (1970, May 9). The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995), p. 36. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article110320273

Hawaiian surfers Anella Sunn, left, and her sister, Martha, are well prepared for the cold as they head for the surf at Bell's Beach, Victoria. The girls used the postponement of the titles yesterday as a chance to practise on the small surf which was running on the beach. ….Corky Carroll was suspended for allegedly using insulting and indecent language to a Torquay hotel proprietor and his wife. A meeting of international officials considered a written apology by Carroll early on Saturday morning and lifted the suspension. Poor surf mars World titles. (1970, May 4). The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995), p. 14. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article110319300

Surf Films To Be Shown Soon 

"The New Blue Goose, Rides Again" is the title of a surfing film which, with the film oft the 1970 surfing Word Championship, held at Bells Beach, will-be presented in the Civic Hall Supper Room on August 9. 

Local surfing enthusiast, Neville Hardy, who is organising the show, .said' this week "that it was being shown to revive interest in surfing among local people. . The championship film is spectacular, while the supporting v production would be of particular interest as parts of it were filmed on the West Coast, he said. "The New Blue Goose Rides- Again" was filmed and .produced by Malcolm Lock and includes such big name riders as Australians Nat -Young, Midget Farrelly, Keith Paul and Frank Latter, with Americans Corky Carrol, Ralf Amose and Mike Purpose. Mr. Hardy said that some of the filming had been' done near Penong at a beach referred to by locals as Cactus.

Some of the shots taken there included film taken by Malcolm Lock as he rode his board. Mr. Hardy revealed that Malcolm Lock would arrive here. in November, to commence a surfing film to be shot from Port Lincoln-r through to Western Australia. Part of the filming is expected to take place at Fishery Bay, he said. Neville Hardy-noted that the two films to be shown next month would be the first screened in Port Lincoln for about four years. The show is to be sponsored by John Arnold who will attend the show, with Malcolm Lock. They will bring with them the latest' in surfing equipment for display, including surfboards and wet suits. Surf Films To Be Shown Soon (1970, July 16). Port Lincoln Times (SA : 1927 - 2002), p. 7. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article270620532

Jack McCoy at work

In Loving Memory of Jack McCoy - threads collected and collated by A J Guesdon, 2025