Former WA journalist and Scarborough surfer, the late Charles ‘Chucky’ Stewart, became an Ocean Paddling enthusiast on the East Coast in the 1990s.
Chuck passed away in 2016 and now has an annual NSW Ocean Paddling event named in his honour.
In memory of Charles Stewart
The Chucky Charles Stewart Memorial Cup is named after TV Producer and good friend to Ocean Paddling, Charles Stewart.
Charles passed away in January 2016 from a heart attack after finishing an Ocean Paddling session. Charles was instrumental in bringing sports like Ocean Paddling to the public through TV productions via The Wide World of Sports where he worked in the early days, through to coverage of trips like Ningaloo Dreaming and Hamilton Island.
Ocean paddler’s Dean Gardiner was very close to Charles and said.
“I first met Chucky in 1990. He was covering The Molokai Ski Race for Channel Nine and Wide World of Sports. Grant Kenny won it that year and I finished third and the coverage the event got was unbelievable especially when you compare it to the little coverage we get now”.
“Charles and I have been involved in many projects since which all involved Ocean Paddling, these include filming the King of the Harbour and Palm to Pines in the mid-nineties, Ningaloo Dreaming, filming of the Trip of a Lifetimes I used to run and our Hamilton Island Trips.”
“He loved the sport he loved the people in it and gave the profile of the sport a huge boost through his ability to create something special out of something we do every day and take for granted.”
The 2024 event was held from Fishermans Beach, Long Reef on Sydney’s Northern Beaches.
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Many thanks to WA surf industry pioneer Tom Blaxell for giving me the heads up on this matter.
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