Maurice Cole – Biography

Turning negatives into positives is Australian surfboard shaper Maurice Cole’s strategy for life, and he has employed that approach to solidify a place among the pantheon of shaping dignitaries who craft boards not just for surfers… but for the world’s greatest surfers. Tom Carroll, Mark Ochilupo, and Kelly Slater make up just a small sample of the champions who have sought the creative vision of the burly, part-aboriginal regular foot Aussie; but it was his collaboration with then 2-time world champ Tom Curren that would change the course of modern high performance surfboard shapes as design steered into the new millennium.  Since then, Cole has rebounded from near financial ruin, fought life-threatening disease, and crusaded to protect the beach where his surf life began.  If actions speak louder than words, Maurice Cole has proven himself deafening through collaboration, innovation, and integrity in the ever-mechanized modern surfboard industry.

Maurice Cole was born 1954 in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia but soon moved with his adopted family to Port Campbell where he began surfing by the time he was 13. His future appeared bright four years later with a win at the 1972 Victoria State Titles. Surfing had become his passion, but youthful indiscretion would prove an obstacle when he was arrested for dealing drugs in 1974; ironically, this was the same year he began shaping surfboards.  Not happy with the equipment he was riding at the time and not content to wait for the courts to decide his fate, Cole spent time at Rip Curl watching Donny Alcroft shape boards and was confident (describing himself as an “arrogant little sucker”) he could do it too. The first board he shaped sold the same week, and one of surfing’s great shaping careers was born. In two short years, Cole progressed from green grom to one of Australia’s highest paid shapers after he moved from  Rip Curl to steadier and more profitable work with Victorian surf retailer, Speaky’s, where he was paid some $25 a shape.

But his ascent would be halted. In 1976, Cole was convicted of the afore-mentioned crime and consequently served over 2 years in prison. Released in 1978, Cole wasted no time getting back to surfing and shaping, becoming part owner of Watercooled Surfboards that same year and jumping headlong back into amateur competition. In 1979, he won the Victoria State Title once again and backed it up by placing in the nationals three years in a row. He placed 5^th, 3rd, and5th from 1979-81. To top it off, Cole surfed to a 6^th place finish at the World Surfing Championships in 1980. But by 1981, he had sold his interest in Watercooled Surfboards and moved to Hossegor, France.

The move would prove fortunate (beyond the epic surf and Euro atmosphere) when a chance meeting in a parking lot after a surf session with two-time world champion and world-renowned stylist Tom Curren led to a partnership that would cause a major shift in the status quo of surfboard design. Cole shaped boards for Curren in 1990 on which the Californian rocketed back from retirement to a convincing 3^rd world title. Curren was surfing better than ever. The following year, the collaboration produced new fruit in the form of the so-called “Reverse Vee Revolution.” Characterized by a flat space between the fins and a vee under the mid-section, the reverse vee (EEV) afforded more rail curve in the back third of the board. This increased the board’s high speed carving which was made plainly evident in Curren’s big win at gnarly, shifty Haleiwa and in one perfect photo that forever captured  his iconic roundhouse cutback at throttling Backdoor. The world knew Cole and Curren were on to something. Two years later, Kelly Slater rode a Maurice Cole shape to his first world title. It was official, his boards worked. Drawing on inspirations as diverse as Reno Abellira, Wayne Lynch, and Donny Alcroft, and staying relentlessly focused on innovation; Maurice Cole had become one of the go-to shapers for surfing’s elite, and almost every pro was riding the EEV design, but as Cole would often admit in interviews, his shaping skills were much sharper than his business skills, and soon, that deficit would prove a liability.

After moving back to Australia in 2003, Cole helped launch BASE Surfboards as sort of a shaping collective with industry icons Simon Anderson, Nev Hyman, Darren Handley, and Murray Bourton. The following year, Cole was embroiled in problems with both the administrative team and other shapers as he tried to investigate hemorrhaging cash and mismanagement. The result, as Cole tells the story, was his leaving the company, forfeiting his stake in the business, and wrangling in bureaucratic red tape that left him in major financial debt. As he struggled to get back on track, he was faced with yet another “negative” as he was diagnosed with Cancer in 2009.

But instead of retreating to the shadows of the surf world populated with the culture’s forgotten flotsam and jetsam, Cole continued his journey with Ross Clark-Jones in experimenting with new shapes in the tow realm. Using  the extreme speeds of big-wave surfing, he and Clark-Jones have found a laboratory for testing ultra-concaves and high speed designs that will work from 2 to 30 feet. He went vegan and cleansed his shaping quarters of all toxins (no small feat in the surfboard business), converting to expanded polystyrene (EPS) and epoxy and thus ridding polyurethanes and polyesters from his immediate environment. In fact, protecting the environment has proven a recurring concern for Cole. Before leaving France, he and Curren sparked  the formation of Surfrider Europe. “We decided to try and educate the Spanish and French to accept the ocean was not a garbage dump,” he said in an interview and held true to the sentiment with his beloved home break of Bells Beach in organizing locals and business leaders to fight development of the sanctuary where he works and surfs.

 And now with well over 20,000 shapes to his credit, Maurice Cole is back at work in his “Chateau El Chooko” factory near Bells Beach, churning out cutting edge surfboards and surfing with his mates.  Surfing and shaping. For Maurice Cole, they are two sides of the same coin and two inseparable elements that together bring happiness even when life gets tough . He says it simply, “Life is surfing all day, every day!”

In his interview here at World Champions of Surfing, Fred Hemmings gushed about his most magical surfboard:

“I was looking for the basic elements that make great surfboards. What are the greatest boards ever? …For me it was Blue Max. It did what I feel strongly a good board should do: be dependable in all conditions. I have pictures of me riding Max at Waimea, Pipeline, and Makaha beach break. That was a great all-around board.”

Who shaped that board?

(Spoken with a hint of irony) “My good friend George Downing.”

It was Downing who not only wove the fibers of world champion Fred Hemmings’ magic carpet, but through research and innovation as a surfer and shaper, he also helped advance the sport itself as contest director for the iconic Waimea big wave spectacle: The Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau. Few have built such a sincere and complete body of work in the realm of wave riding as George Downing. He was a major figure during the sport’s golden age and still holds a prestigious place in surfing’s most challenging arena.

Born in 1930, Downing began his surfing life in Honolulu during World War II. He was sent to the islands amid family turmoil to live with his aunt and her husband Wally Froiseth. Froiseth was already building and riding his Hot Curl boards that would prove an important step in early surfboard evolution. Although the pre-teen Downing was slated to stay with his aunt only for the summer, the kid never left. After his aunt and Froiseth divorced, Downing stayed with Wally who helped him finish school, learn to shape, and learn to surf. According to an interview with Malcolm Gault-Williams, Froiseth’s only caveat was, ‘If you really want to surf, that’s good. But, you got to be sincere. You gotta do it with your heart and soul, eh? Otherwise, I don’t want to bother.” George took the charge seriously. Within a few years, he fast became an accomplished waterman and craftsman. He shaped his first redwood board in his garage in 1949 under Froiseth’s tutelage. At the same time, he was hitting the untamed wilds of Makaha and uncharted spots like Laniakea on the North Shore with Froiseth and his compatriots. As a youngster among characters like John Kelly and Fran Heathong, Downing absorbed everything.

As his board building skills took shape, Downing began to experiment with various rockers and lengths and to tinker with existing equipment.  On a boat trip to California in 1947, he first incorporated resin and fiberglass into his shaping repertoire and then notably created the first removable fin system (the fin box), which would influence the more advanced fin removal systems popular today. Downing began isolating universal design elements that would work in big surf and consequently created the first big wave gun, which would serve as a reference point for all such models to come.  Building on Froiseth’s Hot Curl, Downing’s new “Rockets” became the gold standard for big wave riders like Buzzy Trent.

Although he was gaining reverence as a shaper, Downing was first and foremost a surfer. He repeatedly proved his mettle in big waves and his savvy in competition by winning the prestigious Makaha International. In fact, he was a multiple winner of the West Side institution, taking the top spot in his division in 1954, 1961, and 1965. He also took 7^th at the 1965 World Championships. Historically, that watershed event held in Peru is seen by many as the first truly international world championship surfing event. However, the whereabouts of the winning trophy is still a point of contention. According to Eduardo Arena, the original trophy was “stolen” by Downing in 1972 when Team Hawaii took the trophy home, and he refused to return it. To this day, Fred Hemmings calls it “the greatest trophy in surfing history,” but it remains lost. Regardless of the controversy, Downing amassed several competitive feathers in his cap. He finished second at the Duke contest in 1967. A year later, he coached Team Hawaii to a win at the 1968 World Surfing Championships held in Rincon, Puerto Rico, an event won by Hawaiian team member Fred Hemmings.

As the 70’s dissipated and the Shortboard Revolution took over, Downing had seemingly given everything he had to surfing. An accomplished wave rider, shaper, and a proud Waikiki Beach Boy, he could have laid back and rested on his laurels, but instead, he continued to invest his time and talents. As the 80’s began, Downing had an idea for something new in surfing competition. During a time when professional surf contests were being held at gutless beach breaks, he saw the need to add something bigger, more prestigious, more Hawaiian to professional surfing. Appointed as executive director of Quiksilver’s premier big wave challenge named in honor of Downing’s friend Eddie Aikau, he was trusted by organizers with making the call to hold the most prestigious event in the biggest, most treacherous waves on the planet. Not only had Downing surfed the massive Hawaiian swells all his life, he actually surfed them with Eddie. He was among the few with the credibility to send a group of surfers out into the 20’ plus conditions. Even more, he actually sent his own son out to check the safety of the waves prior to the maiden event. That’s commitment! Downing imagined what the contest would be. To honor Eddie, it had to be at Waimea and it had to be huge. And since that initial event on Sunday, February 21, 1986; the industry and the underground eagerly await Downing’s call that the Eddie is a go.

Inducted to the 2011 Surfers’ Hall of Fame, George Downing remains a cornerstone in the progression of surfing equipment, performance, and culture. His experience in massive North Shore juice and as a Waikiki beach boy coupled with his contributions in the shaping room amass a reputation beyond reproach. In addition, his position as the “final word” on the beach at Waimea puts him in a unique position, a position with responsibility many envy but few would want.

ASP judges are told in no uncertain terms that style cannot count in any objective assessment of surfing. The argument is that style is a subjective concept that cannot be defined numerically. However, if style in surfing can be defined as control, speed, and poise in difficult situations, then Australian Joel “Parko” Parkinson should have been world champ years ago.

Other surfers recognized his controlled approach when he was still a teenager. Parko was the guy whose line across the waves was elongated and smoothly etched, whose stance stayed firm with extra weigh on the tail, and whose approach looked just a little too casual. He made surfing look easy. Logic would follow that if he was in that much control, he must not be ripping too hard, right?

Wrong. Even though Parko’s approach may have cost him precious points from judges who were looking for elaborate spastic gyrations with recovery attempts that left surfers lying on their backs in the white water and thus looking more radical, he never pandered to that perspective. Parko never ended a big turn with a manic spin out or flailing arm flaps to garner a few added tenths. Instead, he drove hard in the pit, stayed centered over his board, and oozed smoothness from take-off to kick out – a surfer’s surfer.

Joel Parkinson was born April 10^th, 1981 in Queensland, Australia. He got his first surfboard as a Christmas gift when he was 3 years old. He continued to surf and improve over the next 10 years, but it was a family move to the town of Coolangatta that would push his talent to the next level. Friendly competition would heat up with local kids Dean Morrison and future multiple world champ Mick Fanning, building a worldwide recognition for these “Cooly Kids” as progressive, daring, and exciting.

With Coolangatta’s insane surf and a lineup full of living legends and blazing groms, Parko took a massive leap in performance, winning the World Junior Championship and a World Championship Tour (WCT) event (Billabong/MSF Pro) held at the famous Jeffrey’s Bay, South Africa. Still a teenager, Parko proved his potential on world class waves and became the youngest non-seeded surfer to ever win an ASP World Tour event. In the 18-year-old regular foot, the surf world saw shades of Californian icon Tom Curren in the casual yet aggressive approach to the J-Bay. He snaked his 6 foot, 185 pound frame through and around Jeffrey’s winding walls with buckets of spray yet minimal wasted movement. No one could doubt his potential. The next two years, he won the World Junior event a second time and moved up to 21st in the world rankings, qualifying him for the ASP WCT.

By 2002, Parko was in 2^nd place and poised to take the top slot with haste, but it wouldn’t be that easy. Injuries and close calls would cost him dearly while his Coolangatta mate Mick Fanning would take two titles right from under him. Parko would finish runner-up again in 2004, 2009, and 2011 (actually finishing in the top five eight times in his career).

It seemed he would be forever the bridesmaid, but career high points could not go by unnoticed. In 2008, he scored two perfect tens in a third round heat of the Pipeline Masters (a feat previously achieved only by Kelly Slater) and soldiered on in the world’s heaviest waves to take the Triple Crown of Surfing in 2008, 2009, and again in 2010 (a prestigious title second only to the world championship).

In the midst of his quest for the title, Parkinson made time for a family. He married his high school sweetheart and had daughters Evie, Macy, and son Mahli. He also gave birth to his first signature surf flick – Free as a Dog – produced by noted Billabong documentarian and maker of classic surf cinema, Jack McCoy.

But as the 2012 season began, it looked to be Groundhog’s Day as Parko kicked it off with a series of great results. Many anticipated the inevitable injury or bad luck that would follow. But fate be damned, he held the first place spot heading into Hawaii. One problem: Kelly Slater was a close second, and no surfer wants that. But at the conclusion of the Pipe Masters, Parko stood tall as both event winner and newly crowned world champion.

The older and wiser Cooly kid never wavered or tried to fit the system while many critics called Parko’s surfing classic and lacking progressive flair in a world of vibrant and unpredictable aerial surfing. They are part right, he surfs classically with deep, powerful, and controlled turns in the pit, but many fail to see the progressive element of his performance. Blow tails, reverses, and massive air are all part of his repertoire, yet they are interwoven seamlessly not pranced around on obvious display.

By 2012, Parko’s enduring style was the toast of the town and he had earned the respect of both fans and peers but had most importantly proven to himself that he could go the distance. Joel Parkinson had proven himself a surfer’s surfer: an athlete, a father, a mate, a Pipe Master, a Triple Crown winner, and now a World Champ. He’s no doubt earned some free beers from his mates back on the Gold Coast.

Surfing doesn’t really change that much. After all the talk of revolutions and new schools of performance, it’s still just rider, board, and wave. But as time and technology march on, the sport continues to splinter into more and more new sub-genres. Among them, shortboarding has been the traditional cash cow in the boarding market with longboarding trailing far behind, but a change was coming. And Colin McPhillips knew it. On his longboard, the San Clemente regular foot took 3 prestigious world titles but after a delightfully fateful session on an SUP and a keen eye on its budding domination of the surf market, he smoothly transitioned into career as a paddler.

Born April 18, 1975 in Santa Monica, California, McPhillips began surfing at 5 with the support of his parents and quickly improved amid the winding blue walls of San Clemente, one of SoCal’s most verdant wave gardens. He turned pro at 18.  The next year in 1995, he won his first major event at Huntington Beach at the US Open of Surfing, and 4 years later, he secured his best result ever by winning the ASP World title in 1999. He repeated this feat in 2001.

Another championship would tie McPhillips for the most titles ever, but it wouldn’t be easy. His 2002 win was particularly close. Amid a toughly contested tour that year that saw McPhillips in second all season, he overtook Bonga Perkins in clean 3 footers at La Rocca, Cabo San Lucas to not only clinch his 3^rd title but also celebrate the birth of his first son just days prior. In the final, he secured a flurry of 9+ point rides to both garner the highest heat total of the event and also grab a $15,000 payday to help with certain child related costs that were sure to come. He told spectators, “Oh yeah, 15 grand will definitely come in handy. This one definitely goes out to Amy (his fiancé) for taking care of my biggest thing back home…This is for her.”

Through surfing, McPhillips was able to travel throughout the world from Africa to Europe to Japan, but spending time at home with his growing family was fast becoming most important. Plus, calling his home break Trestles, McPhillips had ample good waves to practice near his home. Into his 30’s, the 3-time champ had been competing for over 15 years and was tiring of the status quo. One day, after his dad convinced him to take an SUP out to a spot called Dog Patch for a session, McPhillips found a new calling. The SUP renewed his surfing passion and rekindled his competitive fire. He added this new approach to wave riding to an already impressive shortboard act and his world class longboard career. Soon, he was competing on SUP’s and winning events. In 2012, Colin began working with Hobie shaper Mark Johnson on 3 signature high performance Stand Up Paddle boards as well as 3 signature Hobie Surfboard models. In Peru, he competed in the Stand Up Paddle (SUP) World Games for team USA.

By 2012, surfing had not only also provided travel, glory, and support for his family but also expanded into work for both TV and film as a surf stunt double on Baywatch, Beverly Hills 90210, and Chasing Mavericks. Colin McPhillips is still living in San Clemente, competing internationally, and has four children.

Those who are opposed to the progressive school of longboarding must have never seen Taylor Jensen plow into a roundhouse or blow his tail out the back of a lip. Images of the progressive stereotype are populated by flicky little dudes spasmodically hopping and tapping their super lights across the face of a gutless little crumbler. No way. Jensen lays it on rail in critical sections, splays the closeout lip into shards, and often cross-steps to the nose to remind us where we’ve come from. He isn’t just longboarding; he is surfing in the classic sense with speed, power, and style. A big athletic regular foot whose size seems to require the extra length and whose electric stoke is obvious the second he pops up on his board; Jensen won the 2011 ASP World Longboard Championship after over a decade of relentless competing. Somewhere between the traditional and the innovative, his approach has a uniqueness that is lost on many longboarders. Individual style sometimes gets muddied as the board gets longer, but Taylor Jensen’s speed and power are evident a mile away.

Taylor Jensen was born March, 1984 in Lake Tahoe, California. After the family moved to Coronado, he started surfing at 6 years old but proved a bit timid on his first few rides. So his dad, Marty, began pushing him in a few feet from shore. It wasn’t long until he was catching his own waves and slowly progressing. At the same time, Jensen began following a path worn by his father as a star athlete. He showed promise in both basketball and baseball, making the Coronado Little League Majors All-Star Team.

But surfing became his sole (i.e. soul) calling as he moved into middle school. Jensen finished runner-up in his first surf contest in November of 1997. The same year, he found his first sponsor. At the time, he was following in the steps of other Coronado locals who surfed both long and short boards, but as a big guy who was finding success with the extra length and volume, the longboard became a more logical choice. He says, “Most people would say it is progressive. I do a lot of things on a longboard that shortboarders do.” Just watch Jensen carve across a meaty section, and you can see the shortboard aesthetic in his approach, but sometimes it’s easy to overlook that he’s burying an entire longboard rail like it’s a 6’0”.

He got his first job at Emerald City surf shop where he learned “perspective on how to sell clothes through (his) image.” By the time he was 17, Jensen turned professional. He graduated Coronado HS in 2002 and gave surfing his full focus. Once on tour, he quickly became a constant contender, actually remaining in the highly volatile top-10 from the time he started touring. However, the top spot continued to elude him. Meanwhile, he was traveling the world, competing in every capacity and venue that offered the money and exposure he wanted. He traveled from Australia, Hawaii, and Japan to Central America, Africa, and Europe. In his own estimation, Jensen has traveled to some 30 countries in his career.  And as years went on and new tour formats whittled down the field of contestants, his ranking improved.

He moved to Australia which he calls “…just a magical place. The people are incredible, the waves are amazing…Australia is without a doubt home base for me and where I plan on settling down.” By 2003, Jensen began shaping and riding wooden Alaias and expanding his approach to surfing, but the world title remained just out of reach. For a decade, he hovered and scratched and fell just short of his goal. But in 2011, it all came to fruition on a beach near Levanto, Italy at the Bear Pro. In a final heat against Brazilian Kai Sallas, he took the 2011 ASP World Longboard Tour title. Although Sallas won the high-scoring final held in gutless 1-2 footers, Jensen had amassed the points needed for the title victory. Salas finished a close second. Jensen said, “I have been doing this since I was 17 and I’ve come really close before so finally to put it away is a good one for sure.” The following year, he proved his win was no fluke with a flawless showing in the 2012 ASP Australasia LQS by winning all three of the men’s events.

With sponsorship from Firewire surfboards, he designed two signature board models, one of which is an exact replica of his title winning board. Jensen still spends time in California and Australia and continues to compete. He has amassed several major titles. As of 2012, Jensen held 6 US National titles in addition to his world title. With both youth and experience still on his side, Taylor Jensen is sure to continue winning for years to come.

Carissa Moore rode her first wave at 4 years old, pushed by her father into one of those perfect little peelers the south shore of Oahu is famous for. Barely a toddler, she stood steadfast in a straight line toward the iconic mountains and concrete of Honolulu where she was born and raised. But in some ways, Moore is still riding that wave decades later and still feeling the push of her father who has stood by her every step of the way. That connection to his guiding hand and to the waves of her home still plays an integral part in her life and career. That one push into that one wave propelled the Hawaiian regular foot onto a trajectory that very well may redefine women’s professional surfing. For sure, the half-pint with the goliath talent has already raised the amateur bar so high that many male competitors’ heads are still spinning. Jack Shipley, one of surfing’s longest working professional judges calls Carissa Moore, “the future of the sport.”  She’s cashed the largest check ever in women’s pro surfing, as a teen signed with global beasts Nike and Target, and won a world title on her first serious attack on the tour. So while we reminisce on the plethora of Carissa Moore’s teenage accomplishments and ruminate on the even more mind-bending treasures that await her in adulthood, let’s not forget that it all started with one push into one wave.

Born August 27, 1992 in Honolulu, Carissa Moore was already being praised for her “balance and movement” at 2. She began surfing at 4 and was competing by 6.  Her father, a competitive swimmer and occasional ironman participant, stepped into an immediate and powerful coaching role in his baby girl’s surfing life. However, when Carissa’s parents divorced when she was 12, the dichotomy that grew from her father’s intense surf tutelage and her mother’s urging away from surfing and towards academics and more “girly” interests would help her add dimension to an evolving persona. Her interests would broaden beyond that of the average provincial pro surfer. Already signed with women’s surfing leader Roxy, Moore was turning heads internationally in both video and print coverage that highlighted her utter dominance of the amateur circuit. She would go on to become the NSSA’s most decorated athlete ever with 11 National titles.

By 2004, Moore was named Surfer Magazine’s “Breakthrough Performer of the Year,” and she took the top spot at the Billabong Junior Pro. But beating the girls wasn’t enough. In 2006, she won the Rip Curl Grom Search U14 boys division against Hawaii’s best young male surfers. And proving it no fluke, she did it again at 14 in the U16 division of the Quiksilver King of the Groms. The next year, she was the youngest ever finalist at the Roxy Pro and was for a brief moment runner-up in the world rankings. In 2008, she was the youngest competitor and youngest ever winner of the 6-Star WQS Reef Hawaiian Pro held at Haleiwa. Keep in mind, Carissa Moore was only 15 years old. Think for moment: What were you doing at 15? The same year, in a bold move that later would become a trend for many of the sport’s biggest stars like Kolohe Andino and Julian Wilson, Moore jumped ship from Roxy and signed with non-surfing juggernauts Target, Nike, and Red Bull to become the sports best paid female. The move sent shockwaves through the industry, but signaled a shift in the industry’s corporate power base. Carissa Moore was right in the thick of it.

With the weight of the world on her shoulders, she said, “I would like to be a professional surfer. But mostly, I just want to have fun. When I catch a good wave, I get really, really excited. I feel really good.” It was an attitude that was paying off as Surfer Magazine identified her as one of 2009’s most influential surfers. The same year, she bested legend Layne Beachley to go on to win both the Reef Hawaiian Pro and the Vans Triple Crown. Meanwhile, she was still keeping up with her studies at prestigious Punahou High School.

In 2009, she began her first ASP World Tour assault.  A major threat throughout the year, Moore finished in 3^rd place due to her skipping one event in order to graduate high school.  However, she still managed to garner “Rookie of the Year” honors along the way. The following year, newly graduated Moore was free to surf without any encumbrances, but she had to grapple with Aussie Steph Gilmore at the height of her powers.  Cut to the final event of the year and the fruition of that one push from dad and countless waves at Kewalos and countless colored jerseys, air horns, and board bags: Carissa Moore was the 2011 World Champion.

Although Moore admitted to a certain “depression” she felt after winning the trophy that has been the culmination of a surfing life started at 4 years old, she also revels in all the spoils of trucks, homes, and travel that come from it. All from that one push from a father who knew the potential in a little girl. And from all the pushes that followed, Moore says, “We’re best friends, we’re travel partners, he’s my coach. It’s neat! Sometimes it can get complicated…sometimes I hear my dad and I think he’s not satisfied with me.” However, no one can argue the results of a successful and seemingly well-adjusted young woman who very well may transcend the sport of surfing. But while it’s still early to assess her historical effect on performance, her dad must nonetheless be proud. And when all the waves have been ridden and all the trophies won, it’s safe to assume a dad wants nothing else but to hear what she told Surfline: “There’s no person I’d rather share that with than my dad. “ You can almost hear his hoot still reverberating from that first push and that first wave. Great ride, Carissa!

Sofia Mulanovich made surfing history. And while sports analysts usually have to spin statistics and results in an effort to make them more exciting, in this case, there is no denying Mulanovich’s record breaking feat. Neither man nor woman, no Peruvian nor South American for that matter, has ever made it to surfing’s pinnacle. Never, that is, until this hard-charging natural foot “surf goddess” made her mark. In effect, the blue eyed “Gringa” has done nothing but make her homeland proud since she first stood on a surfboard.

Sofia Mulanovich was born to parents Herbert and Ines in Lima, Peru on June 23, 1984. She and her brothers, Herbert and Matias, grew up in Punta Hermosa, a small town just outside of the capital city, where she learned to swim at 3 and started riding body boards at 5. By 9, she was on a short board and by 12 was, for all intents and purposes, heinously ripping and beating the boys in local contests. She says of this time, “There were only, like, two girls, so I’d always get first or second. I would have to compete with the boys more, which was good for me, you know?” Interestingly, Sofia also surfed during this time with future female boxing superstar Kina Malpartida who would go on to win the WBA super featherweight world championship. But Mulanovich was on a trajectory of her own as she progressed exponentially over the next few seasons.

Around 1996, word of the pre-teen Mulanovich’s radical surfing circulated among some of the sport’s elite, and Billabong Peru quickly jumped to offer sponsorship. After a phone call from Billabong, what Mulanovich calls the “the best moment” of her life, she began receiving coaching from Robert Meza and later from Magoo de la Rosa. It paid off. Still barely a teenager, she soon traveled to the U.S. Open of Surfing and made the quarter finals.

At 14, Mulanovich won the 1998 Pan-American Championship in Brazil. A year later, increased sponsorship from Billabong Roxy enabled her a full assault on the World Qualifying Series (WQS). At this point, Mulanovich had already secured 5 Peruvian National Championships, but the WQS would prove no cake walk Mulanovich. She finished the year in 11^th place and just missed the cut for the World Championship Tour (WCT) by a single position. The following year saw redemption for the young Peruvian as she garnered a 2nd place finish and a berth into the big leagues: the WCT. That first year, she quickly gained footing with a 2003 WCT Rookie of the Year award and a top-10 tour finish.

2004 was a banner year for the Peruvian as she kicked it off with a win at the first event of the season and parlayed that momentum into another win at the ISA World Championship. Buoyed by her success, Team Peru finished the event in an historic 4th place. Sofia added 3 more wins to her maiden victory in Salina with consecutive wins in Fiji, Tahiti and France. At 21 years old, Sofia Mulanovich had amassed an insurmountable points total to become the ASP Women’s World Surfing Champion, making history as the 1st South American to ever win the title and the first surfer to unseat Australian Layne Beachley from her 6 year dominance of the sport. Of her title win, Mulanovich said, “I’ve done this for my country and for all South Americans. Just to make a change and give them hope.”

With honors ranging from official recognition from the President of Peru to her 2009 inclusion in Switzerland’s Olympic Museum as part of its “Heroes” exhibit (which included timeless greats like Michael Jordan), Mulanovich used her World Championship platform as a launching pad. She released a documentary biography in Spanish with English subtitles. The movie earned a nomination for best picture at the X-Dance Film Festival and won the Jury Award at the Delray Beach Film Festival as well as the Outstanding Achievement in Filmmaking award at the Newport Beach Film Festival. Throughout her short career, she won the ESPY for Best Female Action Sports Athlete, was named one of 2004’s “World’s Most Intriguing Surfers,” presented at the 2003 MTV Latin Video Music Awards, and has won several Surfer Poll awards for “Best Female Surfer.” Sofia became the first South American to be inducted into the Surfers Hall of Fame during its 10th Anniversary celebration. Her career had quickly outgrown the national boundaries that defined it at the start.

Although Peru possesses world class waves, a surfing history every bit as deep and storied as Hawaii’s, and an army of hot surfers; no competitor had ever made a serious run on the professional ranks until Sofia Mulanovich catapulted out of Punta Hermosa. And Peru couldn’t be any more fortunate that she was the one to succeed as her ambassadorial chops appear innate. With style, talent, looks, and international aplomb; Mulanovich busted open a door that has been closed since the seeds of pro surfing were sprouting and continues to proudly fly the South American flag in every wave she rides.

Josh Constable surfs like a man. No feminine flourish. No fancy pomp to make him seem something he’s not. He’s a regular foot regular guy who surfs naturally. With a hint of Nat Young, he’s a big dude whose surfing looks smooth and effortless in quality waves but forceful and pragmatic in junky contest surf. The son of a surfing dad and the dad to two surfing sons, he is Australia’s working class surf star who has been systematically winning heats and relentlessly traveling the world since he was 15 years old. In the process, he earned the ASP World Championship, 5 Australian titles, and even the first SUP championship for Australia. With almost 40 career titles, Josh Constable works hard and knows how to win. He makes no apologies for embracing the progressive side of longboarding. Defending his longboard sporadic lip tricks and airs: “…if you want to win events and make a living out of the sport I think you have to be solid in the progressive side of Longboarding cause that’s what the judges want to see and that’s how you win.” This attitude has made him a feared competitor for over a decade and will place his name alongside surfing’s greatest pro athletes.

Born January 12, 1980 among the classic points and pumping swells of Noosa Heads in Queensland Australia, Constable was riding on the nose of his dad’s board before he could walk. For a time, he watched passively from the beach as his father Ben surfed, but it wasn’t long before he was paddling out himself.  As a youngster, he began competing locally in local junior board riders events as a short boarder. Cutting his teeth alongside peer prodigies Joel Parkinson and Mick Fanning, Constable flourished in the bubbling talent pool as a short boarder, but on a family trip to Byron Bay, he rode a longboard for the first time and was instantly hooked. He soon started riding longboards more often and began in 1996 competing in pro events. At 15 years old, he was still surfing both short boards and longboards in contests and was finding inspiration in local surfers Ray Gleave, Jason Blewitt, Wayne Dean and Noel Woods.

A year later, he joined the Professional Longboard Circuit and qualified for the Oxbow World Championships in Hawaii in 1998.  At 17, he made the final of the US Open of Longboarding at Huntington Beach. He traveled and competed around the world for the next 7 years, racking up an impressive amount of Noosa Festival and national titles. Those results laid the path to the 13th Annual Rabbit Kekai International Longboard Classic held in Costa Rica. There in juicy Playa Hermosa beach break, he took the 2006 ASP Men’s World Longboard Title, defeating Hawaii’s Ned Snow in a tight man-on-man final and earning a cool $50,000 for his efforts.  Afterwards, he remarked, “Yeah mate that was a big accomplishment… a dream of mine since I was a grom.” After being nominated 5 times as “Sports Star of the Year,” he finally won the title in 2006. Soon after, Longboard Magazine named him “one of the most influential surfers of the past 15 years.”

By 2009, a serious fin cut kept him out of the water for 9 months. He celebrated his return to the water becoming the first surfer to ever win 5 Australian Titles. Days later, the 30 year old rode a borrowed board to become the first Australian to win a Stand Up Paddle championship. Already in the record books, he took the Hyundai Pro Longboard Title in New Zealand in 2011 after winning an incredible 3 out of 4 events and then backed up that win with a 2^nd ASP Australasian Longboard Tour title.

For some 15 years with his nose to the grindstone, Josh Constaple worked hard to make a legitimate career out of surf competition even when he lacked sponsorship and struggled with waning corporate support of professional longboarding. But every hard worker earns his rest. Today, the former champ with a multitude of historic titles plans to slow down. With a focus on traveling and surfing select events, he will no doubt put in time with his wife Anna and sons Jet and Jive. He says, “There’s no money left over but it’s like that in a lot of jobs…The bonus I have is that I love it and get to tour the world.” I doubt any of us working stiffs can argue with that.

Chelsea Georgeson proved herself insanely efficient. As a grom, she dreamed she would one day be a world champion surfer. So like a type-A parent crosses off the day’s appointments on some flow chart to-do list scribbled on a yellow notepad, the smooth and powerful goofy footer set to task checking boxes and kicking asses until she reached her ultimate goal.

Born in 1983, the uber-competitive Chelsea Elizabeth Georgeson mixed it up in basketball and soccer before finding her niche along the northern coast of Sydney’s Avalon Beach. When she was 13, her family moved close to the ocean where she took immediately to the waves as a swimmer and body boarder before moving up to standup surfing. Pushed hard by her two older brothers to charge bigger surf, Georgeson developed both confidence and a powerful style in a single year. Reflecting on those days as a grom, she gushed, “It was just such an insane feeling. I’d really never had that feeling before.”

But that incredible feeling was the first of many to come. Just a year after mastering the art of standup surfing, fourteen-year-old Georgeson caught the eye of four-time world champion Lisa Andersen who frequented the waves along Avalon. Varied anecdotes tell of Georgeson’s purposeful surfing near Anderson’s house in an effort to get the legend’s attention. If so,  her efforts worked swimmingly when an impressed Anderson convinced Andrew Murphy at Roxy to sponsor the unknown Aussie and subsequently help develop the young talent who soon pulled a 3^rd place finish in her first competition.

With the first box on her to-do list checked, the titles came quickly. In 1998, Chelsea took the U16 Australian Junior World Championship. Two years later, she became champ yet again at the Billabong Junior. The same year, she secured both the U18 Northern Beaches women’s and the U18 New South Wales state titles. Before long, she added the awards of both World Grommet Champion and International Surfing Association World Champion to her resume. Georgeson had all but conquered the amateur circuit before her 20^th birthday. Check!

A shot at the pros came next with “Chels” diving headlong into the dreaded World Qualifying Series. This grueling array of events challenged surfers by way of constant traveling and often crappy surf. Around this time, Georgeson became friends with Peruvian pro Sofia Mulanovich who would go on to be one of her fiercest rivals. Georgeson qualified for the ASP World Championship Tour in 2002 and finished a respectable 8^th place. A year later, she took her maiden WCT event at the Roxy Pro held in France. There she bested legendary world champion Layne Beachley for the win.

Fittingly, her personal life progressed alongside her professional one. In 2004, Georgeson became engaged to shaper Jason Hedges, whom she credits with helping her to relax and enjoy her career as a pro surfer. The 2004/05 season started with relatively weak waves. Georgeson admitted the best surf the girls had that year was in England as she quietly climbed to second place in the ratings behind Mulanovich. Georgeson, Mulanovich, Abubo and Beachley all had a shot at the championship. However, at the Roxy Pro Hawaii held at Haleiwa, Georgeson took the ratings lead and never let go. By the end of the season, she was the 2005 World Surfing Champion.  The deciding contest went down at Honolua Bay in solid five foot surf in which Chelsea looked en route to meet longtime friend and fellow title contender Mulanovich in the final, but the Peruvian faltered in the quarters, leaving Georgeson free to win the event and the Triple Crown ta boot.

To-do list done! Satisfied, Georgeson admitted, “I am so happy with my one world title. I don’t know if I will want to try for the six or seven that Layne has. I want to enjoy accomplishing such a big dream and have fun with my surfing. In the future, I definitely want to settle down and have a family.” It seemed she was scribbling a new list.

By 2007, the former champ started the year out with a win at the Roxy Pro on the Gold Coast in Australia. But by the time 2008 commenced, Georgeson (now Hedges) at a mere 24 years old was enjoying a surf trip in the Caroline Islands where she announced she was expecting her first child and would be leaving the world tour. She had a daughter that same year. She moved to Tweed Heads, Australia where she now resides with her husband and two children. However, with youth on her side, it’s safe to assume we can expect another to-do list sometime soon that includes World Title number 2.
 

Dane Kealoha, Shaun Tomson,  Cheyne Horan,  Johnny Boy Gomes, and Sunny Garcia are just some of the riders who have sought Hawaiian surfboard shaper Glenn Minami’s magic touch. These are world champions, icons, and true power surfers who have demanded the best from Minami’s shapes for decades. And he has yet to disappoint. However, it was one particular surfer who helped etch the Minami name into the memories of a generation. If you were a surfer in the 80’s, you remember Martin Potter flying across and above the wave during his meteoric rise to the top of the world tour in 1989. Those Blue Hawaii thrusters, short and fat with flames emblazoned along the rails, were the things of teenage surf dreams. Who didn’t want to destroy the competition with figure-eight roundhouse carves and atomic re-entries like Pottz? In the manner of Tom Curren’s black rails, Tom Carroll’s deck stripe, Potter’s flaming Minami shapes made history under the feet of one of surfing’s most progressive athletes.

Born in 1950 in Honolulu , Hawaii, Glenn Minami started surfing at 14 and shaping at 18. At the time, the craft was in major flux as the Shortboard Revolution of the 1960’s ravaged the design status quo. By 1973, Minami had graduated from the University of Hawaii with a degree in accounting before diving full on into a shaping career. At island board building institution Town & Country, Minami spent a decade honing his craft and building his reputation as one of most innovative and consistent shapers in Hawaii. According to Matt Warshaw, Minami earned the nickname “Xerox” for his skill at re-producing magic shapes. By 1984, Minami began to shape his own future, launching Blue Hawaii surfboards. Pottz jumped ship from T&C to stick with Minami which proved a fateful decision. In 1989, Potter won 4 of the first 5 contests of the year on a quiver of Minami shapes. Sporting webbed gloves and long hair and with his flaming Blue Hawaii under foot, Martin Potter staged one of surfing’s most decisive and dramatic attacks on the world title. The same year, competitive and soul surf icon Cheyne Horan hopped on a Minami shape and won the prestigious Billabong Pro. The potential of Minami’s shapes could not be denied, and since then throngs of superstars and underground rippers have lined up for Minami’s shapes.

A decade later, Minami moved on to other avenues after selling the Blue Hawaii name. He started Minami Hawaiian Designs, a line of beginner shapes produced in China. He shaped for other companies and started Infamy Surfboards. He still lives in Hawaii.