Aussie Expat Dies Suddenly Surfing Popular Indonesian Surf Spot

Jade Eckardt
·2 min read
14

A beloved member of the Australian and Indonesian surf community has died.

Australian surfer and expat, Gunther Henry Kitzler, vanished while surf G-Land in East Java on Monday. He was 56 years old.

Indonesian authorities found Kitzler's body at around 8:45 a.m. this morning, over 24 hours since he went missing and "about 3km" from G-Land, according to 7News Australia.

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A post shared by 7NEWS Sydney (@7newssyd)

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7News captioned the post above:

"An Australian surfer has drowned in Indonesia. Well known expat Gunther Kitzler was surfing the famous G-Land break in east Java when he was knocked unconscious."

According to 7News, "A witness saw Kitzler’s leg rope snap when his board hit a wave."

The other surfers tried to get Kitzler to shore, but a second wave hit them and Kitzler was sucked out to sea, unconscious.

“We looked on the beach for quite a few hours ... but couldn’t find him again, he’d already gone under the water,” one of the men involved in the search told 7News.

Reports say Kitzler was a former Bondi local who had moved to Bali. He was surfing with friends when he died.

According to reports, Kitzler was a bit of an Aussie surfing legend.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported:

"Surfing magazine Tracks wrote that Kitzler was one of Bondi’s best surfers in the 1980s and 1990s.

“After dabbling in the pro surf scene, Gunther eventually fell in love with Bali and moved there permanently,” the magazine wrote.

“Over the last 25 years, he established a reputation in Bali as a hard surfing, friendly giant who was typically roaming the island at dawn, sharing the surf report with his friends, before paddling out.”

Rest in peace, Gunther.

7News' followers shared their condolences in the comments section:

"He’s shredding in the stars now. Rest in peace"

"So so sad"

"Omg I know Gunther Kitzler and his family from my Bondi days"

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