“Herro,” after his first and only pro event win at the Coke Classic. Photo: Screenshot//Instagram
Shane Herring, one of the best surfers of his generation, died over the weekend. He was 53 years old.
Herring was born in Manly, New South Wales in 1971. He was known as someone who spent his life on the edge; surfing and living loud and recklessly, teetering on a knife’s edge while astounding anyone who saw him surf. He rose to fame quickly and, seemingly just as quickly, fell from it. But his surfing seared its way into the annals of wave riding with its brilliance.
He began riding waves at Dee Why Beach. As the son of a lifeguard and a coastal Australian, the ocean wasn’t just part of his life, it was his life. “Herro,” as he was known, wasn’t a diva, although his surfing was good enough for him to become one. Ever-helpful to writers and photographers, he never appeared to realize that he was something special.
Famously, Herring won the Coke Classic in Sydney, beating a young Kelly Slater in the final. He seemed poised to become the next big thing, but sadly, a darker future was in store. Herring lived fast and loose, and as his star rose, so did his love of partying. Drinking and drugs took a front seat and Shane was hammering the gas pedal to the floor. As is often the case, his lifestyle became almost a part of his “brand.”
Monty Webber went into great detail about Herring’s prolific drug use and preternatural talent in a wonderfully written piece for Tracks Magazine called “Dark Lineage,” which should be read by anyone who either reads, surfs, or does both.
Kelly Slater took to Instagram in the hours following the news of Herring’s death.
“He best blended the old school power and pure lines with the new school mentality and speed in the ’90s,” Slater wrote in a tribute. “In the years we spent traveling and surfing together, I always found Shane to be a kindhearted guy and an extremely talented surfer, but he had his demons that limited his time of greatness. He loved the purity in surfing and was uncomfortable with the limelight and notoriety and scrutiny it brought him. He made a bigger mark than he might be known for these days and it hurts to know we won’t get to catch up again. I was really looking forward to seeing and maybe even surfing again in the coming months with Shane, whom I haven’t seen in probably 20-plus years. This clip is the first final we each ever made on tour and he won in front of his hometown. Ride on, Shane. We’re thinking of ya.”
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Within two years of that first win against Slater, Herring was off the tour. The Coke Classic was the only pro event he won. As he spiraled deeper into the throes of addiction, Herring’s fame and popularity dwindled.
“He went from a fresh-faced, happy little kid to a jaded derelict in his own home, in a few short years,” Webber wrote for Tracks. “He clearly didn’t have the skill set to process all of the changes in his life when he became famous and became allergic to everyone around him. The way everyone acted toward him changed so dramatically that he lost respect for them; and then himself. As we watched him destroy himself, I felt like he was stuck in a modern Shakespearian tragedy. He had got what he wanted, and it ruined everything.”
Happily, however, in recent years, Herring’s life seemed to be on the upswing. “Despite his long struggles, Shano had been off the drink in recent years,” Surfing World wrote on social media after Herring’s death. “A surfing talent like few we’d ever seen in Australian surfing, Herro burned brief but bright in the early ‘90s before flaming out. He lived quietly on the North Coast in the decades after, and while he still had his issues with the drink, he could be occasionally coaxed back into the water to feel the old magic and he kept shaping boards to the end.”
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Herring’s death, according to reports, came after he fell down the stairs and hit his head. While not much information is available as to his exact cause of death, it has been reported that Herring went to sleep after his fall, then simply didn’t wake up. Some semblance of comfort can be taken in that final fact, but Herring’s life was one that burned far too brightly. The surfing world is better for having shared the planet with him, and worse off for losing him. RIP, Herro. You will be remembered.
