Layne Collette Beachley was born preterm on the 24th of May 1972 at the Crown Street Women’s Hospital in Sydney, and she spent many weeks in a humidicrib after her birth. Valerie and Neil Beachley took her in when she was six weeks old, and she has been with them since. Following her demonstration of natural talent and enthusiasm for surfing by Neil Beachley, a Manly Beach lifeguard, Layne is introduced to surfing when she is only four years old.