A paddle-out and wake to celebrate the life and times of 1970’s and ‘80’s SA surfing legend Vernon Castle was held at Long Beach in Kommetjie on Saturday. A popular, strong paddling goofy-foot who manufactured surfboards under his own Surflite label, he won multiple WP surfing titles in various age divisions between 1974 and 1986 and featured in several trials to select Springbok teams.
Vernon Castle at the Spur Steak Ranch Surfabout in 1985 – Photo: Shafiq Morton
He became the WP team coach and a committee member in the ‘80’s before being appointed Springbok surfing coach in 1987. Vernon was also a co-founder and the Contest director for the Spur Steak Ranch Surfabout, Cape Town’s first ASP rated surfing event, in 1984 and 1985.
After spending all of the 90’s in Europe, he returned to the Southern Cape in the new millennium and stayed in Hermanus and Plettenberg Bay before succumbing to a heart attack on Boxing Day. At his request, his ashes were sprinkled in the ocean at Kommetjie with his closest friends and family in attendance.
RIP Vernon – gone but never forgotten.
(above) Vernon’s ashes were sprinkled in the ocean at Kommetjie.
(below) Friends and family on the beach in Kommetjie to celebrate the departure of Cape Town and SA surfing legend Vernon Castle – Photos by: Neil Bradfield / Imagetime
