It is with sadness, respect and admiration for a life well lived that we wanted to say a few words about an inspiration to generations. Jack McCoy, by documenting, creating, and sharing his life’s obsession, has had an unfathomable impact on surfing culture.
Everyone will be recounting different moments in history whether it was the pioneering 1970’s explorations with Gerry Lopez in Bali in ‘Tubular Swells’ or seeing Occy slashing mysto lefts in 'Green Iguana'; the introduction of Shane Dorian, Ross Williams, and Brenden ‘Margo’ Margieson in 'Sons of Fun' .. “Margo? Margo O’Berg, she was five time World Champion!” Says Tom Carroll with some tongue in cheek venom, to introduce the then relatively unknown free-surfer ‘Margo’. A quote that has stuck in our minds for decades.
Were you one of the lucky ones to see and meet Jack McCoy and Dave Rastovich at the cinematic UK screenings of Blue Horizon in 2004 ? A film tracking the opposing forces of Andy Irons and Dave Rastovich. One of the opening scenes backed by Foo Fighters ‘All My Life’ provided one of the most impactful moments in surfing culture, especially when viewed on the big screen with raging audio.
Jack McCoy recounts “How do we start this film? I knew I wanted a rockin’ sequence, and we had this Foo Fighters track. I put an underwater shot over it, and then Taylor hits that snare drum and it goes nuts! We’re sitting there, and Derek Hynde goes, ‘Hmm, where’s that shot of Andy? The one on the boat trip where he gets a 30-second tube?’ I go, ‘We can’t give that away at the start of movie! Are you kidding?’ Derek goes, ‘You can show it again later, that’s the best surf shot you’ve got in the whole f*****g movie. Try it.’ And so, we cut to Andy’s wave and the snare drum gets hit and you could knock me over with a feather” *
I think all of us whom had the privilege to grow up with Jack McCoy’s films will be putting on a favourite tonight. This pioneer of surf film making, along with all documenters of surfings history are the ones capturing the culture and the folklore that makes surfing more. Thank you Jack McCoy.
* Jack McCoy quote from the article
https://surfingworld.com.au/blue-horizon-and-the-bastard-desire/