Very sad news, Ross was found dead in the water at the spot named after him, this afternoon
Very sad news indeed. I didn't know him outside of here, but in that at the very least, we have truly lost a legend.
condolences to family and friends. Rest in peace Fangman
So sad. Glad we got to know him. I often tell the story of how Mike went to pick up some fins on our first day of windsurfing in Oz - Fangy fins he had put aside for us knowing that he'd be is Coros that day. He'll be missed.
Such sad news Mike. I saw him out on Saturday....he waved as he sailed past when I was standing in the water. Lovely guy....funny and articulate. Condolences to his family.
Very sad news. He was a larger than life guy and we all enjoyed reading his GPSTC posts. Condolences to his family
A huge loss to the windsurfing community and his family, of course. I was talking to Ross just the day before, and one hour before this fatefull session he was discussing how to find my lost fin. A man of huge intelligence, wit and heart. Such a shock to lose him this way, and three years to the day since we lost Reg in similar circumstances. Fangyland just wont be the same without the character that gave the spot the name.
Felt gob smacked when I found out.
Ross was a true character, family man, mad scientist / rabbit hole explorer and exceptional creative writer (who only ever slightly embellished the facts of a session).
But most of all, he was a good person, he will be missed.
Oh i am incredibly saddened to hear this news Decrepit. A gentleman through & through. Thoughts are with his family (including all you guys who sailed with him).
Kind regards, Brian
Very upsetting news, gone too young, my thoughts are with Michelle and his girls
Busso crew have heavy hearts. Larger than life all round awesome dude. Very sad to hear.
Terrible news can't believe it
He was such a great guy and very funny
My last time I spoke to him was at the wedge tail brewery
A big loss to the windsurfing community
My condolences to Michelle and the girls
Just terrible
RIP Ross
Huge loss!! I only met him once at Fangys using the special fin he made me to break distance records. I had a great chat with him between runs on that day and would have loved to have more time with him. Very proud to warp his mind by pushing his big fin into the 38s. He will be greatly missed
I'm so very sad to hear this.
Fangy was great man in every sense that I knew him.
He will be be greatly missed, but very fondly remembered by the windsurfing community and all.
What a lost to this community. Just a great guy and bigger than life type character. RIP mate.
So so saddened by this news. Condolences to Michelle and his 2 daughters. A man of compassion, generousity, highly intelligent and very funny. Life seems so cruel in these moments when a good guy gets taken from us, and yet the psychopaths in power around the world are doing enormous harm on a daily basis and they seem to live forever with zero consequences? Rest In Peace Ross.
Wow . Very shocked. I sailed at Fangys a few times
Ross was very welcoming and showed me the hazards and general tips. Also brought a few of his fins back with me to NSW . Huge loss to his family and our community. RIP Fangy .
Nice thoughts everyone,
Michelle is now surrounded by loving family and friends, that's about all we can do for her at the moment.
Be has placed some flowers at S Bend one of Ross's favourite launch spots.
The ute in the background is where you'd often see Fangy's custom trailer.
There's room for more flowers if anybody else is so inclined.
Such sad news. Fangy's posts on GPSTC were legendary for the wit and positivity. Who could ever forget those posts when it was a "top ten Fangy day". Condolences to his family and friends.
Many tears. I never met him but was the unofficial east coast FF tester in the early days. I really enjoyed his posts.
A very sad day.
What an awful news, hard to find a more open and friendly person. And he contributed enormously to our sport: before he developed his fins and made them available for no profit we only had deltas that would spin out at any time, could not go upwind or in the chop, would be ground to bits in hard weed....
It truely is a sad day for our sport ,RIP . you are a legend .
and Thank you for your fins .
I had a feeling i'd be too late for something by the time i got to Fangyland. I'm sad i wont see him when i get there, but i'll get there, please look after his weed farm. I'm glad i got to talk to him. I feel like i got the buddha of speed (or bulldung, doesn't matter) vibe transmitted to me from that guy when chatting in messages as he helped me with info on his big fin i got so i could go out at Green Island on my SLW. Maybe that there mission was the catalyst for my interest in speed sailing.
If there was a winner for the GPSTC sheep station, he just got it. I've anyalized all the posts data, his smile on dial was great, his posts were the best, numbers only partly matter in the end, he won 
I only knew Ross through his always entertaining posts on GPSTC and the design, development and success of his Fangy fins. He will be sadly missed by the GPSTC community. My heartfelt condolences to his family and friends.
RIP. I don't think I've ever met him, but he made a huge impacted on GPSTC, and he was well liked.
A memory of a fun competition set up by Ross. I believe the trophy was created by Anita. I currently have it, but happy to pass it on if desired.
I don't even know how to start. Just a tragic lost to the community. I was a newbie old git to windsurfing just 6 years ago when I turned 50. I met Anita (Windxtasy) who in turn introduced me to Speedsailing and Coodanup. On the first day there both Anita and Fangy took one look at my "Choco 33 weed" fin and said that not gonna work here. Fangy went home and in 5 mins I was armed with my first Aluminium FF22. It was a game changer and opened a huge world of new friends, experiences and rabbit holes. I spent hrs trying to anodise this thing which was ultimately pointless but I learnt a great deal on the way. It is still my favourite fin of all time despite ground down to something around 18cm. It's not that fast but it's dependable.
Between us we exchanged many ideas, Ross was better in theory whilst at the time I was better at making these ideas come to life. We created this weird Annular/3D printed fin experimental world and most recently flexible fin concepts (nothing new here BTW Simon Fagg was 30+ years ahead, but tech at the time could not deliver). It was fun, just trying out new ideas and trying them out on nearly daily basis and exchanging ideas. My YT videos published so far only tip of iceberg what Fangy and I were playing around with. Not claiming anything revolutionary here, just the process was really fun.
I can only hope Ross finally found his magic fin and pushed it to its limit in some sort of Nirvana and he was gone quickly in some freak accident doing what he loved.
Fangy was a pillar of Inspiration, knowledge, wit and enthusiasm. I would like to attempt to make a tribute video to him, similar to yet another good windsurf mate who died on the same day, 3 years earlier...Reg (not his real name). Trouble is I have almost no pictures or video footage of Ross other than the below video. If any of you have photos, video, anecdotes etc to share that you feel this explain this larger than life character that may be appropriate for a tribute video please share with me. Please message me via Seabreeze or directly if you know me.
Deepest condolences to Michelle and family.
My best Video of Fangy in action here:-
A couple of weeks ago I met up with Hardie for the first time in about 15 years. It gave me an opportunity to thank him once again for his efforts with GPSTC and express that beyond the personal challenge of achieving PB's (and maybe some team glory) the community it created was the best thing of all.
Now, I didn't know Fangy, other than through his interesting and funny posts on GPSTC, but reading the replies to this topic on Seabreeze has just reinforced for me the extent of that community and how it has sadly lost such a beloved member.
My condolences to all of Fangy's family, friends and sailing compatriots.
RIP Fangy
Like many, my encounter with Fangy revolved around getting hold of one of his famous fins as one of the first steps down the rabbit-hole that is GPSTC. He was incredibly generous with his advice both online and in person and a really genuine nice guy in my brief encounter. Hard to know what's better - dying in an instant doing something you were passionate about or slowly, with plenty of time to contemplate and plan and say your goodbyes. I think for him, it's a great way to go, for his family, maybe not so and you have to feel for what they must be going through.
