Stuart Entwistle – Biography
Known to friends as “Twizzle” or “Twiz,” Australian goofy footer Stuart Entwistle rode the neo longboard movement to a 1987 world title. In only its second year, the new pro longboard tour included multiple title winner, Nat Young (in top form), so winning that year was no small feat. But a world title would not be Entwistle’s sole legacy. After a losing a battle with skin cancer, he left behind a rich legacy of mentoring and community involvement, reverberations of which are still felt in his hometown of Manly Beach, Australia.
Entwistle was born in Brisbane, 1949. Beginning as a kneeboarder at age 6, he soon made legendary Manly Beach, New South Wales his homebreak and started standup surfing at 17, developing into standout atop a hotbed of surfing talent. To put it into perspective, Manly was not only the site of the 1964 World Championship event (won by fellow Manly surfer Midget Farrelly), but has also the been the launching pad for world champions Barton Lynch, Pam Burridge, and Layne Beachley. Entwistle’s surfing experience ran deep. He rode mainly shortboards throughout the 70’s but then made the shrewd transition to longboards ahead of a worldwide movement back to those classic designs. Although longboards became his weapon of choice, he continued to ride shorter boards, even taking the masters division of the 1985 Australian National Titles on one.
Not content to fade into local legend status, Entwistle joined the new world longboard pro tour and challenged a red hot Nat Young and an international contingent to win the second year of the Longboard World Pro Tour. He took the final contest in front of a hometown crowd at the storied Manly Beach venue in 1987. He would stay competitive on tour for the coming years, finishing 3rd from 1989 to 1990.
Entwistle appeared to thrive on competition as evidenced by one event in Hawaii. As the term “hardcore” is often thrown around willy-nilly, Debbie Entwistle would later tell one story qualifying Twiz as such. In 1992, Entwistle competed in the annual China Uemura Longboard Surfing Classic in Honolulu on the same day he as his wedding. Debbie would later describe how he showed up for the nuptials, sunburned and surfed out. With the event still on for the next day, Twiz actually competed on the first day of his honeymoon. Not squandering his new bride’s tolerance, Entwistle won the event to start off the marriage on a positive note. And the trophy? The couple soon gave birth to son Jack.
In 1999, Entwistle was diagnosed with Melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer. Although he was still healthy and surfing well, the Cancer continued to spread as he struggled with operations and associated health issues. Entwistle would surf for the last time in July 2001 while competing in Hawaii with close friends in China´s Annual Longboard Classic.
Surrounded by family and friends, Stuart Entwistle died of skin cancer in 2002 at age 52 at Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney.
Taking stock in a surfing life often appears hollow from the outside. However, Entwistle evaded that fate through volunteering for the Starlight “Make a Wish” Foundation for which he helped to raise thousands. Twiz also volunteered with the Cancer Council of Australia and mentored many young Manly surfers during his life. According to an ASP press release, he was presented the Australia Day Sportsman Citizen Award, and in 2002 was named Australia Day Manly Citizen of the Year just before his death.
He is survived by wife, Debbie, and son, Jack, who without urging naturally gravitated to the ocean and began riding longboards like his dad. In 2010, Joe Barton of the Manly Daily reported that 16 year-old Jack Entwistle just finished training with Barton Lynch in the Mentaiwai Islands for the upcoming Snowy McAlister Longboard Festival at Manly. About the father-son connection, he writes, “…his mum believes its Stuart’s humility, generosity and keen sense of humor that have been passed down the bloodline. She’s sure it’s one of the reasons why young Jack has an innate ability to noseride longboards…” Jack placed 3rd in the event.
Leaving behind a legacy as one of Manly Beach’s finest wave riders and citizens, Stuart Entwistle embodied the surfing spirit as a shortboarder, longboarder, world champion, world traveler, and by all accounts a generous spirit that touched the lives of several generations of surfers.
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