They run a whale watching charter outfit on the island of Tonga and their whole set up is about as far removed from Normal Life as you can get. Dave’s 53 but looks as fit as the days when he was one of Australia’s ( and the world’s) best wave sailors in the late 80’s, dividing his time between Hawaii and Australia’s South West and Margaret River where he grew up. Surf fit, there’s a boyishness to him that makes him still look 25, but in a certain light, you can see the lines that the sun and wind have etched from a lifetime on the ocean.
When I was a teenager, Dave was already immortalised on the walls of the Delta Design surf factory. One photo was of a huge air on a 10 ft wave (Hawaiian scale) which to this day is still the biggest air I’ve ever seen at Margaret River. In another, he was standing tall in a massive barrel at one of the south west’s heaviest beach breaks.
There was also an infamous movie made in Western Australia, Windrider, which starred a young Nicole Kidman and Tom Burlinson, whom Sheeny resembled in looks and was his windsurfing stunt double. It had a dubious storyline and some legendary acting performances from other windsurfers recruited to be in the film. It’s right up there as one of the most classic shitty films ever. But I’m pretty sure he got paid a massive bonus for being able to pull off a back loop, which would have been one of the first at that time.
