Kim “Fly” Bradley; 9th May 1955 – 26th March 09
Kim Bradley also known as “The Fly” peacefully passed away at his Bukit home in Bali on the 26th of March. He was 53 years old. One of the original surfing pioneers of Bali,he will be sadly missed and his absence definitely felt by those who knew him. Growing up on the Northern beaches of Sydney (Avalon) Kim first travelled to Bali at the age of 17 where he has called home ever since. He contributed significantly to the surfing world in Bali over the years. He is survived in Bali by his daughter Dewi,and two sons Adi & “Genghis”. His untimely death comes as no great surprise to all that knew him well. Kim lived his life as he chose and will be sadly missed by all of his family and friends. Definitely an end of an era.
9th May 1955 – 26th March 2009
Michael Owens
Tags: Kim "The Fly" Bradley, Kim Bradley
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I met Da Fly a number of times,stayin’ at Surfaris Inn over The past 20 years.They were good times,fuelled by Bintang, listerning to Kim and Mccabe argue, who was da best in those early days surfin’ da Bukit!!!
I’m honoured to have met and shared some time with one of our first surfing pioneers.
Sincere regards to Made and Family,
Jungle Jim.
From his many lifelong friends in Avalon and the Northern Beaches,Fly will be greatly missed.We will be getting together in the next week at a local club to celebrate his life and i am sure re-live many amusing experiences we all had in his company.I hope they erect a bronze statue of the fly and position it somewhere of prominence.Like Little Av or better still Bemo corner or propped on the wall in Poppies I Where Kampus cafe used to be.As usual Fly is a trail blaser going ahead of us all to a new place where we are all destined to go.See you there buddy.
Avalon Family
Bradley Mclean
Great photo Slim! That’s the stoked smile of The Fly I remember from the mid 70′s onward, until the skin cancer stopped him doing the thing he loved most – surfing.
Kim’s contribution to the present state of Bali surfing can not be underestimated. Together with Steve Palmer, Paul ‘Gringo’ Anderson, Pak Rizani and a gang of others, Fly helped set up The Bali Surfing Club, then bring international competition to Bali with the first Om Bali Pro in 1980.
Fly explored all over Bali in the mid 1970′s, often surfing alone at giant Nusa Dua, Sanur, Greenball, Dreamland and Balangan. Then with similarly minded surf-stoked wildmen like Peter Crawford he explored the remote islands east and west of Bali. He shaped and built the first surfboards in Bali, layered with exotic Balinese paintings and Hindu symbols. Fly was a partner in Tubes, the first surfer’s bar in the world, designing the huge wave that stands at the entry where thousands of surfers have had their photos taken over the decades.
In later years he produced classic balsa surfboards that are now destined to become valued collector’s items. While we are sad that he has died too early, we remember his boundless enthusiasm for everything to do with surfing. Fly was stoked every day to be living in Bali, living his dreams. R.I.P. Kim Fly!!
MUSHROOM ROCKS, NUSA DUA. NOVEMBER 1974. TO THE SOUTH EAST IN THE DISTANCE, LARGE BLACK BALLS LINED UP AT AN ANGLE SPEEDING DOWN THE REEF… A SCENE FOREVER ETCHED IN MEMORY.
FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE 70’S THERE WOULD BE HUNDREDS OF WET SEASON SESSIONS GO DOWN, FROM 4 FT SLOP TO 15 FT PERFECTION, YOU COULD ALWAYS COUNT ON FLY BEING THERE.
FOR A FEW [ Fly, Steve, Rex, Gringo, Wylie, Gede, Bobby, ] NUSA DUA BECAME A SPECIAL PLACE, A REAL CHALLENGE, THE PRIZE BEING BIG WAVES SO LONG AND PERFECT WITH SO MANY BOTTOM TURNS ALONG THE WAY THAT ONE’S LEGS WOULD ACHE,. GETTING ALL THE WAY BACK OUT WOULD MEAN A GOOD 20 – 30 MINUTE PADDLE, ALONG THE WAY YOU’D SEE YOUR MATE TAKE A BIG DROP AND COME SCREAMING PAST, THEN ANOTHER AND ANOTHER, THEN YOU WOULD BE THERE AND GRAB ONE AS QUICK AS YOU COULD BECAUSE JUST STAYING IN POSITION WAS A REAL EFFORT, RIDING A WAVE WAS THE ONLY RELIEF YOUR ARMS GOT ! …
OFTEN YOU’D BE OUT THE BACK ON A BIG DAY ON YOUR OWN .. YOU KNEW THAT IF THE FLY WAS OUT AND THAT IF IT WERE ONLY A FEW HOURS INTO A SESSION THAT HE’D BE SOMEWHERE ALONG THE REEF, PADDLING BACK OUT.
OF COURSE FLY SURFED OTHER PLACES IN BALI HOWEVER I KNOW THAT HIS FAVORITE WAS NUSA DUA, HE LOVED SURFING THERE AND SURFED IT EXTREMELY WELL.
STEVE AND MYSELF HAILED FROM THE WESTERN SUBURBS OF SYDNEY [PARRAMATTA PIPELINERS] FLY FROM THE NORTHERN BEACHES, IT’S FAIR TO SAY THE ‘ PARRAS ‘ WERE NOT THAT WELL RECEIVED AT THE BEACH [ IN AUS ] IN THOSE DAYS,, IN FACT IT WAS PARTLY FOR THAT REASON THAT WE DECIDED SOON AFTER LEAVING SCHOOL THAT IT WOULD BE PROBABLY JUST AS EASY JUST TO MOVE TO BALI ….
WHEN I FIRST MET FLY I BELIEVE HE HELD THE SAME, TRADIONAL FEELINGS TOWARDS US ‘ PARRAS ‘ .. THE EARLY DAYS HOWEVER, PIONEERING NUSA DUA AND OTHER SPOTS ON THE EAST SIDE CREATED A STRONG BOND AND MUTUAL RESPECT.
FLY’S TAUREAN FORTITUDE ALWAYS SHONE THROUGH, EVEN DURING THE PAST 20 PLUS YEARS WHEN HE HAD TO ENDURE NUMEROUS AILMENTS, HE ALWAYS HAD A NICE SMILE.
I WILL NEVER FORGET AND WILL ALWAYS APPRECIATE THOSE EARLY DAYS .. SURFING, TRAILBIKE RIDING THE BUKIT AND MANY YEARS AGO, BUILDING OUR HOUSES ON THE BUKIT. THANKS MATE..
OUR SINCERE CONDOLENCES TO MADE, DEWI, & ADI …
KIM [ FLY ] BRADLEY
9TH MAY 1955 – 26TH MARCH 2009
REST IN PEACE MATE.
Robert, Fauziah, Feby, Lee, Krista, Jaya.
I will surely miss the sound of your motor bike and car pulling into my place and the early morning phone calls letting me know the surf is pumping
Dary
Uncle Kim will sorely be missed by the family, When I last saw him at Christmas he was in fine form, playing backyard cricket with a beer in one hand & a smoke in the other.(as you know those smokes & beer were never far from him) I & the rest of the family will miss him and all of his surfing stories. Hopefully he is now surfing the great waves in heaven.
we enjoyed kim’s friendship when we went to bali to stay with our son. He would call us mum and dad. We extend our deepest sympathy to his mum and pray she will know God’s peace in her heart. also our love to his Bali family
I ve shared a few beers with Kim over the years,and found him a fun lovin guy.Wish I had chased him up to share a few more Tangs.Life just seems too busy these days to enjoy the little things,and it is only when someone you know passes away that you wish you had done more….
Fly has been given the rare honour (for a westerner) of being allowe4d to be cremated on Kuta Beach. The procession leaves his old losmen at The Safaris Inn Legian around noon on 29 April, and ends up (most likely) at the beachfront Cemetary just south of Kuta Square on Jalan Kartika Plaza. Should be a very colourful ceremony, with an even more colourful celebration of Fly’s life scheduled for his birthday on 9th May at Tubes Surfers Bar which he helped establish.
Just heard about Fly, felt compelled to write something.I have Fly to thank for my first Ulu experience in ’76, riding out to Ulu with a bag of rice on our bikes to give to the kids so they made sure our batteries were still there when the days surfing was over, the long walk, no buildings, just a couple of kids with luke warm coke & fanta in a bucket of luke warm water. Looking from the top the waves looked 4′ to 5′, enter the cave I thought 6′ to 8′, paddling out I thought 10′, try a solid 12′. I think its fair to say if I was’nt with Fly that day I would’nt have gone out, but I’me so glad I did.Watching Fly switchfoot at Ulu 12′ is something you never forget.
Yeah, fond memories of Lasi Erawati, Poppies & Kempu.
Good genuine bloke, liked and respected,
He’ll be switchfoot’n and smilin’ right now.
Goona miss you Kim, especially the times watchin g the footy on tele at james’s house eating meat pies from gourmet garrage, drinking bintang, and you unable to shut up for 5 mins while it was on stopping momentarily for a carling!!!!!
rest in piece Mate, sorry genghis won’t grow up to know his Dad!
Ka Kite Ano!!
Growing up in Nth Avalon you knew everyone there iin the 70s and The Fly was one of them His big wave riding at Nth Av was amazing and he commanded respect for it as he did for his peaceful persona although I was not a close friend of his I do remember him well, Avalon being such a small place back then. It is sad to hear of his passing and pass on my condolences to his family which I imagine to be quite an extended one. I will be in Bali in October I will have a surf and a beer in his memory when I get there Peace be with you Kim Plum
To my sole brother i shed a tear at your parssing
Over the past 30 years You have been my friend.The adventures of driving through Java,too when Dewi was born and Adi’s wedding.The laugh’s we shared are still and always will be fresh in my mind.
Good by my brother untill we meet agaiin.
Bull
just wanna say that Kim and his family are dear to us and that he will be sorley missed if not just for the smell of kretek permeating through the air. ….He was was a great person who contributed so much to the Balinese surf culture as he did to Bintang shares….. RIP mullet
Here are some more memories of Kim sent to me by Andrew McKinnon and including some other surfing legends, Thornton Fallander, Mitchell Rae, & Nat Young.
Hi to everyone and condolences and commiserations to Kim’s family.
It is so heartening to see how many friends have responded to Kim’s life and legacy, he definitely made an impact. During the Kuta Karnival, he was fantastic, a true bon vivant, a mate, a digger, romantic, entertainer and above all a surfer who loved surfing and everything it has to offer. His Bali Memorabilla Exhibition was second to none and he was really proud to show the history and we were super impressed with this and have many photos of his exhibits. He said to me one day “We are all warriors”, he had that fighting spirit which gave him more years than a cat with 9 lives.
I was very fortunate to have met Kim prior to Bali, We were in Year 12 at Pittwater High School in 1972 before I went on to live in Hawaii/San Diego World titles and attend Kauai Community College as part of a Uni course in political science. Kim was this brash, cheeky kid from Avalon/Palm Beach, his older brother Tony known as Bradles was one of the early 60′s guys from the Peninsula, no wonder Kim would follow-up as a charger, he was one of the Stand-outs at LA (Little Avalon) taking the elevator drop sometimes getting smashed but mostly making it for a deep behind the foam ball barrel, he was well ahead of the time with real surfing in real waves, contest were not his gig , he was a purist and charged heavily. There’s a movie called I think Winter Tales and he is one of the stars just charging incredible clean winter surf on the Northern Beaches. We jockeyed for the same girl this beautiful blond hair intelligent stunner called Pippi Wardell who was also in Year 12 at Pitt Water howver both of us moved on and Pippi married some other guy thankfully. I remember seeing him at Sydney Airport with Steve Otton, the producer of Highway One, a movie about travelling up the Coast and searching for waves, there he was with almost a military air ready to take on the World and barefoot on the tarmac, what a soldier and didn’t he love an adventure. I moved to Byron and he moved to Bali in 73.
I didn’t see him next until the Bali OM event in 1980 and he was pretty much Mr Bali and I thought wow he really found his nirvana, next time we caught up was the Kuta carnival in 2003 with my wife Megan, we all joined up with Gringo and the Crew to watch the State of Origin at the Stadium, what a fantastic night, Kim’s got the blue cap on and I’ve got the red cap on and its a hell game. Billy ‘Kelly” Slater scores for QLD and despite NSW losing, the show goes on copious jugs of Bintgang flowing like no tomorrow and the next thing he’s up on stage with my wife addressing the crowd like well like Kim so beautiful so funny so entertaining and the tourists not knowing who’s this guy love it all the same and then he start dancing with Megan, a little salsa and tango and “so u think u can dance routine”, it was so cool and so funny, I’m sure there a million and more stories like this one but here’s my take on Kim, affectionately known as the “Fly” what a great nickname, a true friend and yes mate you were the ultimate warrior rest in peace pal we will be thinking of u love from the McKinnon’s
Andrew McKinnon
We met in the late seventies, Lassie Erawatti losmen over those years, into the eighties, Taman Ayu. Geoff Walter’s and Kim, all of us going surfing every day hanging out, it was the seventies. Love, Peace, and Paradise. I speak for myself yet I know Kim and Geoff thought the same; we
had the Time of our lives. Kim was a man with a big heart, very empathetic, Mortality. When I was quarantined diagnosed with Typhoid and cerebral malaria I didn’t think I was dying but I was. There was Kim, with a positive attitude, and a friend, “what do you want or need?” I could barely talk all I needed was ice to cool my body. “No worries you like Japanese food yeah, I get you miso soup and a heap of good healthy food” Kim visited many times and picked my spirit’s up. Thanks Kim I’ll miss you, rest in peace, your mate
Thornton Fallander
The Fly and I
Go way back to the late 60’s, early 70’s, surfing Avalon and the Wedge, and later the Nth coast. Trading waves on classic days at Lennox with Nat and Ted, Greenough, Brocky, Bonza. Kim always had that fast, angular style.
He holds the distinction of riding the first wave in Alby’s ‘Morning of the Earth’.
Later we shared many priceless moments in Bali. Predawn motor bike missions to the Bukit, testing the ‘doors of perception’, wearing our ‘sibut’ waste sashes to pay respect to the Gods when entering the temples at Nusa Dua, Green, Balangan and Impossibles, etc. feeling the sunrise and checking the surf.
One morning we surfed perfect Belangan when it rose in minutes from 5ft to 10-12, from perfect to scary, just Fly and I in the water….
Many wet season days at big Nusa Dua….
Living on nasi campur with little or no money….
Hangin out at Lasierawati. Schmoozing some holiday girls down from Djakarta over Binnies at Warung Made.
He was always there, always up for it.
I’ll miss you old mate, the Fly.
Mitchell Rae
Sounds like he went in the way he wanted to, sitting in his chair, looking out of the lefts crashing on the reefs off Airports and Kuta. Apparently it was NYEPI, 2 days of Hindu religious holiday, a time to oneself, so that would explain the couple of days before his friends found him.
I surfed those same lefts a fair bit with Fly back in the ’70s and ’80s, way before he built the house on the way to Ulu. What I remember most is one trip in the ’80s during the rainy season I passed through Bali on my way to Japan, Fly and I were the only surfers around, we surfed a whole 10 foot swell on the other side, every reef from The Hyatt around to some mysto break, way, way out past the old Club Med and Nusa Dua.
In retrospect Fly wasn’t designed to surf in the tropics, he was tall and blond, not just fair, white skin with freckles. The last time I saw him he was obviously affected by too much sun, he had gone through shades of pink, was becoming almost translucent. We did not talk about his condition, we were mates, at that stage he was taking every possible precaution, wearing a hat, long sleeve shirt, lots of sunscreen, not going outdoors, he could not go surfing anymore, this must have been tough, still he choose to live on in Bali.
Kim “The Fly” Bradley was a good friend, I knew him pretty well for many years. Kim was from Avalon on the northern beaches of Sydney, he was a persistent little Grommet, a fly, I guess that’s how he got his nickname. I used to see him out in the water at North Av or South Avalon whenever it was breaking, even during school hours; he had a smooth flowing style that really suited the boards I was riding at the time.
When I left the Peninsula in ’69, Fly wrote me a letter telling me he wanted to come to Byron and learn to shape. He stayed at our house on the hill and I taught him all I could in between surfs. This was the period of the Classic Pintail and Fly took to it like a duck to water, ripping turns from Lennox to Brunswick Bar. He must have shaped hundreds of Pintails, in Japan and Indo, beautiful sleek crafts, many that were made in Bali being sprayed with the most fantastic local designs I have ever seen.
This was The Morning of the Earth era, early ’70s, Fly left for Bali as soon as he could raise the money, probably a one way ticket, he lived the dream, fell in love with Made and had a couple of kids. Dewi was the old only one I knew, such a beautiful blend of Bali and Avalon.
After Made successfully built up her shops in Kuta and expanded the business overseas they bought an apartment in Brisbane, I guess that is where Dewi is now, I know Kim wanted his whole family, children and grandchildren to experience the Australian culture.
Another longtime resident of Bali, Californian Tim Watts and I will carve a few deep turns for Fly today, we will talk of him while we are paddling back out or sitting on the chair lift, he was a true surfing warrior, dedicated and pure. I hope you all will take the time to do this, Fly was a surfer who lived the dream and should be remembered by his family, friends and acquaintances for that esteemed position he will always hold in Balinese surfing folklore.
Nat Young
Kim “Fly” Bradley – Rusty Miller
Safaris Inn was the landing ground.. and Kim was its consummate host. The first time we stayed there (1986) I will never forget how comfortable a guest could be in the middle of a very busy Kuta. It takes a westerner some time to actually arrive and settle in to Bali. Kim knew exactly how to help… secure accommodation, provide cool drinks and slow you down with Nasi Goering… All to your whim anytime here at Safaris… Then a surf report (pre-internet) update to perfection… which way the wind was blowing and what breaks were happening. Oh, and always a reminder in the true Balinese style which Fly was super cordoned onto: don’t worry, don’t hurry be happy.. This was always an important to chafing at the bit surfer just arriving. Secure and safe inside their compound, the kids were welcomed even more than elders… mixing easily with the giggling ladies hand sewing garments in the courtyard pavilion.
In 1993 I landed in an expanded Kuta and again made the soft landing in the arms of Fly and Made at Safaris…But I also had a room at Katika Plaza where the Greg Noll Legends reunion was being hosted. This time I had my two daughters who were 6 and 9 with me. Fly said ‘Don’t worry’ about he kids…and organized his driver and daughter Dewi to tend to and entertain, not entirely out of sight however because daily they would come and make themselves at home in the two pools at Katika ordering their desires through my room. Fly was in heaven with all the historical figures there, the awesome mix of Hawaiian, California, and Australian surfers. He was such a bubbling enthusiastic surf historian, and with 20 years of residence, he was well into the process of connecting Balinese surf culture and heritage into the tribe equation. The Hawaiians and Balinese made a strong symbolic connection that year at the mixing of the waters ceremony.
The Balinese are used to westerners who come and go, there is always the inevitable disconnection lurking. No matter how close you get, you are not a local. Fly had the desire, ability and intelligence to become a local in that ancient and amazing world of Bali society. Balinese are into spirits living beyond physical life amongst them. Fly will remain a vivid part of this magic animated island and society. As they say in surfing: he ripped.
Kim’s funeral and cremation ceremony takes place tomorrow, 29th April, on the beach at Kuta. Should be a very colourful affair, a rare honour for a foreigner.
The Balinese elder surfers like Ketut Menda, Piping, Kumbang and Made Sukarya are paying their respects at Surfaris Inn tonight, 28 April, in true “Kim Fly” style with icy cold Bintangs and lots of stories about Fly’s exploits over the decades. BYO Bintang and stories.
So sad to see Kim go.
He was a friend of my step Dad Dave.
I recognize a few of your names writing tribute, as a much younger chap with a lot less history around Kim as a friend, I wont talk story out of respect to you all-even though Ive heard one or two.
They say its the life in the years you are given that are important not the years in your life.
Salamat Jalan Kim.
Levon.
I first met the fly in wayan wirthe’s losmon,1974 may,shortly after the pan american jet crashed in the mountains of Bali,he had been a gopher for tracks and had just finished showing surf films, in south australia where he surfed cactus, he was so enthuisiastic and entertaining, we didn’t know what to believe but we loved him, he was direct and larconic in humour.He said he earned money growing 1 acre of tomatoes to come to Bali,and raved about little Avalon, we took him to Uluwatu and we believed everything he said, he didn’t mention that he was in morning of the earth but he did say his friend Steven was.oh yeah, he brought a mexican with him David Sumpter,also alan rich whose cameras would ding our boards on our trips to Uluwatu.We repaired our boards with resin and anything we could find, some 60 year old was bagging our repair job,he stayed a couple of days with us,drinking whisky at night while we meditated herbally he showed us his name on a ten dollar note ,said he was an artist ,he was a master of understatement ,gordon Andrews,he designed the australian currency.Bali was magic back then,humble people of fame mixing with real hippies ,real surfers,no electricity to ruin things .two bemos a day to uluwatu, the hawaians and ours lopez and Hackman had his entourage Boyum, Malan, Jack mCcoy etc The fly was so likeable Lopez gave him his famous red lightning Bolt,he gave me his nurse girlfriend who tied a wound on my foot together for a nightmare “survival”later in Dempasar hospital,So many stories, I’m sure he has told them all,you should believe them the fly I knew was full of understatement, I spent 6 months in 74and 75 with him, the magic stopped in 75 for me but he managed to find more, as he would.So good were the days that he would go right at uluwatu and left at lassies for 35years,see you Fly,another time
I wonder if any of Kim’s friends realise he has three children. He has a little son who 3 this year. He is already surfing in his dad’s footsteps.
Sorry to here about KIM.I went to school with Kim at Barrenjoey High School.He went to Bali and i went WA(Margaret River&Kalbarri.)Never saw him again. We had a lot of surfs at nth avalon in the 60 &70s witch i well remember Long Live KIMS Memory.
Honestly, I just found out today, 3 years later, I am blown out, trained at little avalon and travelled to his beliefs, my soul is with you Fly, Eddie Munster.
my blessings for a real friend. shiiiiiit
Flopin hell, Aris, Norto, Domo, I can’t believe it we should have been cactai 30 year ago but not fly, ring me 0406405189, crap it’s not true, come on, friggin call me please
to the lady with Kim’s children please train them at little Avalon or equal, shark island, kalbarri, cactus or at least a reef break, sorry for your children, Fly was a blessed and honest man.
i met Kim in a few occasion when i was doing some film shoot about how the Balinese started the whole surfing culture & industry.. that was way back in 2006. But only today i found out that he had left us. He is such a nice, sincere and humble person. He embraced me so much with what he known about Bali. We had some good old green n beers session together…with nice humble super lay back chats. His kids will be blessed by him.. R.I.P The Fly !