Shaun Tompson – Biography

Just standing on the beach checking the surf, Shaun Tompson has presence. There is something elegant and stylish in the way he is. The voice. The poise. He is the polar opposite of the stereotype. Not the unkempt vagabond slanging on about his last ride with hyperbole and manic hand gestures, Tompson was (and is) the consummate professional in form and expression. With his refined South African drawl coupled with regal good looks, Tompson stood out a poet among commoners. But he backed up his scene with surfing unimagined at the time. Peter Townend calls him the Kelly Slater of his era, and he has been ranked by industry heavies as one of the greatest surfers of all time for inventing new tube riding and backside surfing techniques and for drawing the blueprint for the next generation of professional surfers to follow with 14 successful years on the world tour. However, according to his own summation, it wasn’t natural talent that propelled his success but rather a simple, deep love for riding waves.

Born 1955, Shaun Tompson was raised in Durban, South Africa which was still racially segregated under Apartheid rule. Shaun attended an all-white school and fell in love with the beach at age 9 during family excursions to the Bay of Plenty. After returning from World War II, Shaun’s father Ernie was attacked by a shark off South Beach while training for the South African Olympic swimming team. The attack left his right bicep shredded, effectively ending his athletic aspirations. So when Shaun began surfing at 10-years-old, his father became interested in the sport as well, eventually coaching his son in addition to other Durban surfers like (cousin) Michael and later SA superstar Martin Potter.

Tompson developed quickly in the rugged, powerful African waves and soon was a successful amateur surfer, becoming the boy’s national champion two years after his first ride. Ernie organized and co-founded the Gunston 500 (South Africa’s first professional surfing contest), which Shaun would win (6 times total). However, he would also spend many years trying to live down claims of nepotism.

After serving his mandatory 18 months in the South African National Army, the 18-year-old Tompson aspired to finish his university studies and enter the business sector, but fate would intervene during a discussion with traveling pro Ian Cairns who was in Durban for the Gunston 500. He encouraged Shaun to go test his mettle in the big Hawaiian surf, a comment that would drive him to jump a plane the moment he finished his exams and spend winter break in the islands.

Tompson had surfed Hawaii before. His first trip was a bar mitzvah present from his father in 1969. But this trip would be different as he quickly fell in with a group of Australians who would collectively change the game of surfing for good. Tompson, along with Wayne “Rabbit” Bartholomew, Peter Townend, Ian Cairns, and Mark Richards, would redefine high performance surfing during a furious few years of glory on the North Shore.

Shaun finished off his first winter in Hawaii with a win at the Hang Ten Pro Championships held at Sunset Beach. With $5000 in his pocket and a new found energy in his surfing, he put his education on hold and took for Australia where he surfed the pro events down under.

The following season on the rock saw Shaun an early arrival with an eye on refining his equipment and approach. That year, Tompson and company attacked the surf with such abandon that they claimed a clean sweep by winning every Hawaiian event of the season. But beyond simple conquest, they had also branded themselves something special. Their reckless antics and stylish lines at Backdoor and Off the Wall were immortalized in the seminal surf flick of the era, Free Ride, influencing an entire generation of surfers aptly coined the Free Ride Generation.

In particular, Shaun’s behind-the-peak drops and up-and-down maneuvering in the tube were like nothing anyone had seen. Modern barrel riding technique can be traced directly back to Shaun’s barrel driving approach. Also, Tompson’s wide stance distinguished his style from that of other surfers of the era and allowed him to shift his weight forward and back without moving his feet (now the standard in short board surfing). But his influence wouldn’t be based simply on his performance in classic regular foot strongholds like Sunset and Backdoor. When Tompson paddled out to the left breaking Pipeline on his extreme rocker pink banana shaped by Saffa Spider Murphy, he found a new way to attack Pipe’s beyond vertical drops. Drawing high lines and driving deep into the trough allowed a position far back in the tube sans digging rails and nose-diving (common with much of the equipment of the day). His “mistake” in board choice later became the cutting edge of big wave design. That same year on the North Shore, Tompson won the 1975 Pipe Masters, essentially re-defining high performance surfing with an approach that would make for the base of today’s backside surfing aesthetic.

About this era, Shaun would later tell Huck Magazine, “Well, it was a group effort. There were six of us, all from the southern hemisphere and all with a vision for a different type of surfing. We came to a different environment with a different philosophy. Yeah, surfing was a lifestyle but we also saw it as a sport. At the time, it was a revolutionary idea that you’d be able to make a living out of it. Today, in the context of a $16.5 billion dollar surf industry, it seems a very long time ago.”

By 1976, Tompson was taking university classes when he saw that he graced the cover of both Surfer and Surfing magazines.  That year he competed in a handful of the events on the new International Professional Surfing tour, finishing 6^th place before becoming a full-time travelling pro the following year.  In 1977, he was crowned world champion, the high point of his 14 years as a travelling pro surfer. He maintained winning form the entire time and floated near the top of the ratings even during a difficult transition to the twin-fin. During this time he relocated to Santa Barbara, California.

At 29 years old and after switching to the new tri-fin design, Shaun battled (winning 3 events that year) to take a close second place behind Tom Carroll in 1984 and soon appeared on the Merv Griffin Show and Good Morning America. Three years later (after finally dropping from the top ten in 1989), he retired from professional surfing with 12 career tour wins to his credit, including one at the 1986 Spur Steak Ranch Surfabout (when he became the first over-30 surfer to win a pro surfing event). Upon leaving the tour, Tompson’s target shifted from bottom turns to his company’s bottom line. Those later years were nothing if not eventful, as his roller coaster quest for business success saw fruit as well as famine.

He founded both Instinct surf wear and Surfbeat Surf Shop. Instinct rose to industry prominence, sponsoring world champion Barton Lynch, but would eventually fail, spurring Tompson to return to South Africa with his wife and newborn son in 1990 to finish his BA in business finance. He started another business in Africa but would soon close shop and return to America far from the unstable political situation back home. He returned to Santa Barbara and began Solitude Sportswear in 1998. That same year, he stared as a surf journalist in the film In God’s Hands.

No one imagined that a surfer could ever achieve the success and notoriety of mainstream athletes, but Shaun made it happen with a career that has spanned over 35 years in the industry: World Surfing Champion, environmentalist, author, filmmaker, and successful entrepreneur.  Tompson is ranked in the top 10 of Surfer Magazine’s “50 Greatest Surfers of All Time.” He has served as Chairman of the Advisory Board for the Surfrider Foundation. He produced a documentary on his early days on the North Shore entitled Bustin’ Down the Door and authored its companion book.  But it was the loss of his teenage son Matthew that would deeply tarnish the luster of his otherwise charmed existence and possibly provide the muse for his book The Surfer’s Code in which he isolates surfing’s basic truths and outlines how they can help one navigate the troughs and tempests of life.

Number one on The Surfer’s Code: “I will never turn my back on the ocean.”

A simple statement that has driven Shaun Tompson from those idyllic days playing inside the shark nets at the Bay of Plenty to today, looking back over an historic career in this young sport. He has never left the ocean that has designed and defined his life. While Rabbit would later write in Surfer Magazine that Shaun “had the whole package: Hollywood looks, charisma, charm, versatility, phenomenal power, and amazing skills,” Tompson instead plays down any natural talent and places his success squarely on the shoulders of his love for surfing and his insatiable thirst for water time, two aspects of his life that have remained constant to this day. His is a surfing life realized.

Frieda Zamba – Biography

A shy girl learns to surf in the tiny waves of North Florida and goes pro by mistake. Not a bad idea for a screenplay, but not exactly the most promising first step for an aspiring world champion. Yet that begins the Frieda Zamba story.

While Florida produces very few waves it does, however, churn out a surprising amount of record-breaking champs. And Zamba was the first woman to charge out of the wave-deprived peninsula and into professional surfing’s record books. A goofy footer with an aggressive style, a shy demeanor, and a name that might be better suited to the leader of an African liberation movement than a surfer; Frieda Zamba, described by one writer as “…the world’s first surfing Slovak,” was the youngest female to win a pro tour contest and the youngest surfing world champion ever. She went on to win three titles in a row and then fought back to win a fourth. Outright dangerous in small to mid-size surf, Zamba crossed the performance chasm that separated male and female surfers in the 80’s and, based solely on performance, is regarded by many as the greatest female surfer ever.

Born Anna Lynn Zamba in 1964, Frieda (as she was called by her friends) was raised just a few blocks from the ocean in the sleepy surf town of Flagler Beach, Florida. With little to do, most kids in town turned to the waves for fun. At 9 years old, Zamba was first introduced to surfing by her older brother Alan, but didn’t surf regularly until 12 at which point she became devoted to the sport, “…from there on, it was like the most important thing in my life,” Zamba told a local reporter. She began competing in local contests the following year. But the shy Zamba wouldn’t let her parents watch. Undeterred, they would instead sneak to the beach and watch in secret. Zamba was even supported by her grandmother who would reportedly ask, “How are you doing on your ski-boarding?”

As a teenager, Zamba was surfing everyday and with only one real surf spot in walking distance, Flagler Pier became her classroom where mostly male surfers were riding waves with the new found aggression of the late 70’s. Surfing performance was experiencing an obvious gender gap, as men’s surfing had become more progressive and visually dynamic.

Zamba baby-sat and cut grass for a year to save the $90 cash for her first board.  But at 16, she had little contest experience and was serving up pizza and fettuccine at local Mama Mia’s restaurant. This allowed her pocket money and plenty of water time but was not an indicator of imminent international success. Zamba had no idea what would happen next when she entered and won a pro event at nearby Canaveral Pier, earning $500. By cashing said check, she unknowingly launched an historic professional surfing career. In the 80’s, surfers remained amateur until they officially accepted money for their wins. Therefore, by accepting the winnings, Frieda Zamba had relinquished her amateur status and thus any hope for garnering much needed contest experience in the numerous local amateur events. So with one (unexpected) professional win under her belt Zamba, with the urging and support of her board sponsor and future husband, Flea Shaw, made her way to California to compete on the Women’s Professional Surfing Tour.

She quickly made waves nationally by winning the 1982 Mazda Surfsport Pro in Solana Beach, California. She rode her 5’7” twin fin against an all-star list of 43 surfers including former world champ Lynne Boyer, national champ Jericho Poppler and Hawaiian natural Rell Sunn, pocketing $2000 and becoming the youngest female ever to win a professional tour event.  A few months after graduating from Flagler Palm Coast High School, she placed 5^th at the OP Pro, winning $450. At the end of her first year as a professional, the quiet Flagler girl had gone from a “no name” on the tour to a respectable 6^th place in 1982. She finished runner up in 1983 and in 1984 she achieved the first of her four world championships. During that year she not only crushed the competition with 5 wins in the 10 events, she became the youngest ever world champion at only 19.  American surfing was at a fever pitch. With Californian Tom Curren dominating men’s professional surfing and the Op Pro at Huntington Beach serving as the zenith of surfing excess and exposure, Zamba led a stellar field of athletes both seasoned and rookie to literally rule the 80’s era in women’s surfing.

Slight and feminine on land at 5’3” with classic bleach blond hair, she was a different creature altogether in the water. Her wide stance and muscular legs accented her low center of gravity and aggressive down the line approach. From the beach, her presence on the wave was obvious. Her deep cutbacks and speed pumps distanced her from the pack. But the rest of the tour wasn’t ready to just lie down and let her dominate. Of her competition, Zamba said, “They’re all tired of seeing me win it. That’s made them more determined.”  She reached only as high as 3^rd place in 1987, and at 23, Zamba understood the transient nature of professional sports, “…if I don’t do it (win the title) within 2 years, I don’t know if I ever will.” At that, she began a training regime, something uncommon to surfing at the time. A daily routine of swimming, jumping rope, lifting weights and surfing helped her regain her footing and thus win her record breaking 4th world title in 1988, a record at the time matched only by Aussie Mark Richards.  During this time Zamba was interviewed on the Today Show and appeared on the The Will Shriner Show alongside LA Law’s Susan Ruttman and stuntman Super Dave Osborn.

Throughout her career, Zamba spoke of the realities of professional surfing in that there was very little money – especially in comparison to the men’s division. “Even with (sponsors’) help, unless you are living at home and not having to pay rent, you are just scraping by,” she admitted. So by 1989, Zamba retired back to Flagler to run Frieda’s Surfline Surf Shop with her husband Bill “Flea” Shaw.

Besides being a talented and tactical competitor Zamba was incredibly popular during her reign. She won 5 straight Surfer Poll awards from 1985 to 1989 and was profiled in a 1987 piece in Sports Illustrated titled “Queen of the Surf.”  She was inducted into the Huntington Beach Hall of Fame in 1998 and is still hailed as a bonafied hero in her home town, being the obvious namesake for the Frieda Zamba Aquatic Complex in Flagler Beach, Florida.

Frieda Zamba’s surfing blurred the edges between male and female wave riders, and while that may be a cliché used when describing great women surfers, she proved it by regularly out-surfing male competitors. At a time when surfing finally demanded a global audience, Frieda Zamba was the undisputed queen of professional surfing.

Fred Hemmings – Interview

Hemmings opened the interview discussing the surfing leadership.

Surfing has matured tremendously. On occasion especially in the formative years, the sixties, surfing often yielded to pop culture influences.  The surfing media and pop culture made heroes out of individuals through perception rather than reality. I remember one surfer, who I won’t name, could surf in California but couldn’t perform well at all in Hawaii. He was also a con man bilking his own friends. Through “bad boy” antics rather than performance, he was heralded a hero. That pop culture influence is partially what motivated me to retire from competition in 1969. I wanted to develop professional surfing as the next logical step in the sport and help define the sports part of surfing that required athleticism and character. Professionals like Kelly Slater and Layne Beachly and most top pro surfers possess strong character and that makes them successful at that level.

I lament that the provincialism of a few alleged Hawaiian surfing leaders has resulted in Hawaii yielding leadership in both the cultural and athletic aspects of surfing. I do admire California and Australia for their positive and beneficial leadership of surfing. But the genesis of surfing is Hawaii. The first “international” competitions were in Hawaii. Randy Rarick and I founded the first pro tour in Hawaii. However, Australia is the headquarters for professional surfing. Surfing traces its roots back to Hawaii, and yet Hawaii doesn’t have a real museum or a heritage center. Surfing isn’t nourished as it should be in the islands.  The cultural history is being kept in California at the very dynamic Surfing Heritage Foundation in San Clemente.  I introduced a legislation to create surfing reserves that would recognize and celebrate our world renowned surf on the North Shore and Waikiki. Unfortunately, the innocuous legislation became a game of petty politics and negativism promoted by predominately one surfing curmudgeon with an agenda. One individual spread falsehoods and rumor that combined with small minded politics resulted in the legislation being tabled on the very last day. A great surfing journalist I have worked with over the years, Drew Kampion, recently said to the effect, “Nothing fuels rumor like fear and fear fuels rumor”.

What was it like to be a surfer in Honolulu in the 1950’s?

I remember coming to the Outrigger Canoe Club on the beach at Waikiki and parking on Kalakaua Ave. to go surfing. It was truly the Romantic era of surfing. There were a few majestic hotels on the beach. In front of the hotels sat precious and rare koa canoes. The guys rode big wooden surfboards and I can remember surfing Queens on Sunday mornings with just a few body surfers out. The beach is overflowing with people now and with the crowds, surfing is aggressive, even disdainful at times.  Fortunately the ocean is like it has been for millennia. The waves break the same. The water is the same. But, it’s just more crowded. The world is small, in some ways too small and much too crowded.

The Makaha International was the first step towards creating a world contest and you competed in it as a boy. Who was your greatest influence during that time?

In terms of the most influential surfer, I’d say it was Duke, figuratively and literally. I learned from the Duke not so much through any formal teaching but rather through osmosis just being around him, absorbing wisdom. Real watermen surfers that I admire surf huge waves, paddle canoes, ride all waves and push the envelope. Truly influential surfers run the gamut of the surfing experience. They are innovative in their surfing and thinking. They are always looking for something new, a better way to ride a wave.

I loved style. Surfing style is like art to me, like a classic impressionist painting, a Renoir. As a young boy I admired Phil Edwards. He surfed erect like a classical matador. I competed against Phil once, but he wasn’t really a competitor. He was an artist. In competitive surfing you need to be an athlete and a strategist.  Mike Doyle was a competitor. He was a guy I needed to be aware of in the water when in a competition. Midget and Nat, too. Midget was a better strategist though.  You always had to keep an eye on Midget.

Let me ask you a question. What satisfies you more, to catch a lot of good waves or just one great wave?

That’s a tough one.

It’s not hard for me. Back in 2000, I would watch the buoys and try to catch the big Makaha swells after they peaked since I was getting a little older and really didn’t want to paddle out and get surprised by a giant set or a surge in the swell. So one day I drove out to Makaha. It was about 15-18 feet with long clean walls, classic Makaha. Big Makaha is a wave with great personality. I mean you can’t buy what’s being given to you on a good day of surfing. So I’m sitting in the lineup and I see this perfect set coming down the point and paddle right into the sweet spot to take off. I rode that perfect large wall of water all the way to the channel.  I went in and walked to my car and drove back to Honolulu. That’s the magic of one great wave.

You competed in the 1965 World Championships in Peru. Do you see that event as the first true world championship?

I don’t want to take anything from Midget and his win in Australia, but I think Peru was more international. I only surfed in events I considered international. I believe in quality not quantity. Some great surfers like Corky Carroll surfed in many contests up and down the coast of California and abroad. I was very selective. The contest at Punta Rocas, Peru had some of the biggest waves ever for a world contest: large 10 foot peaks that broke off into wonderful right slides, a little like Sunset Beach, but not quite as aggressive. There was a left slide too. Buffalo got one really long left that he rode into the bay and out the vision of the judges.

In a recent discussion with Eduardo Arena, he said that 1965 trophy was stolen by Jimmy Blears and taken back to Hawaii. Can you speak to that?

No, George Downing has it. Blears had it, but as I’ve been told, Downing has it now and has not returned it. It’s a shame. It’s the greatest trophy in surfing history. It’s made of hand pounded silver and really is the Heisman trophy of surfing. It should be returned.

What about the winner, Felipe Pomar? It seems that some were skeptical of a Peruvian winning the contest in Peru?

I always supported Felipe winning the event. There was an international judging panel and he rode some big long waves. It wasn’t the Hawaiians. It was the guy in second place (Nat young) making all the noise.

That brings us to the 1968 World Contest – Did your detractors have any real reason to criticize your win or was it simply jealousy?

That was another fabrication by the surf media. Look, Nat Young was a tabloid surf king. I beat him at Makaha in the Duke and I beat him in Puerto Rico. The contest expectations were based on tabloid fantasy instead of surfing performance. My winning was no fluke. I was in the finals of most every contest I entered. My record stands and hopefully speaks louder than words. Winning in Puerto Rico was no isolated event.  It wasn’t what some in the magazines’ editorial room wanted. I openly defied the pop culture activity of the time. I didn’t smoke pot and I didn’t dress in the garb of the day.

Also, the media got it wrong in terms of surfboards. The board I rode in that contest was shaped by Ben Aipa, and it was shorter than Midget’s. The only real short board in the final in Puerto Rico was Reno Abellira’s.  Nat was wrong in his description of that event. His History of Surfing is a tremendous distortion in many ways. For example, Duke taught the Aussies how to surf. The first major International surfing competitions were spawned in Hawaii. Professional surfing originated in Hawaii. Hawaii should be the actual and spiritual center of surfing.

Who shaped your boards for the those world contests?

In terms of shapers, I moved all the board. I knew what I wanted and whoever could do it, I wanted. I wasn’t concerned with the subtle nuances, the seasonal changes like wings. I was looking for the basic elements that make great surfboards. What are the greatest boards ever? Duke’s legendary Papa Nui: the board that he rode that great wave in Waikiki in 1913. Or Tom Blake’s first hollow board? 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.

Many journalists describe Ian Cairns’ “coup” and “take over” of the IPS, but they don’t elaborate. Can you elaborate?

I always felt that the circuit should be a measure of performance in the water, but he did perform a coup of sorts. He got the money to start a new tour and it took off. I didn’t like it, but I was never opposed to it.  I never made any money off the events themselves. I made my money promoting them on networks. The idea of International Professional Surfing was a promotional event to garner an audience for surfing.

Ian saw pro surfing as more of a union. It’s like the football players running the NFL.  But it worked. The ASP has gone on to be tremendously successful and a very good thing for competitive surfing. So it was a good move, but I will state that to this day, if Ian Cairns and I were surfing 10 foot surf, I would kick his ass! (Laughs)

Do you have any regrets?

Only personal ones. I was a rough and tough kind of guy. There were times I was mean to individuals, just on a human level and I sincerely regret that.

How do you want to be remembered?

That’s up to others to decide, but I’d like to think that I was a successful competitor and developed professional surfing, but more than that, my joy is having the luxury of being a surfer during the Romantic era of the 50’s and Golden era of the 60’s. If I had to choose between being a competitor and organizer or “just” a surfer, I’d be a surfer riding waves. That’s it.

Quite frankly, I made money from surfing and I remember one writer saying I was “fornicating with Mother Ocean” by promoting competition, but how are writers any different? They are making money off the sport just like I did. I marvel at the surf apparel industry and how it’s helped surfing gain stature in the world.

To return to your question, I just hope that when I lie my head down and draw my last breath, I am the person I want to be. That I never ever stopped growing or exploring and never stopped reaching for the stars.

Eduardo Arena – Biography

There is no dispute that the first World Surfing Championships were held in 1964 in Manly, Australia under the enterprising eye of Bob Evans. And it’s a fact that Australian Midget Farrelly won that event.

But if you ask Eduardo Arena, the first “true” World Surfing Championships went down a year later in Peru, thus making the first “real” world champion Peruvian Felipe Pomar. Mere semantics? Not on your life. This bone of contention as to who can lay claim to this historic moment carries more than mere bragging rights. It involves the very genesis of surfing as an international sport and places Eduardo Arena in a very precarious place.

What is not in doubt, however, is that Arena was both the organizer and director of a monumental international event held in some of the most challenging waves ever for a world contest among the cold and drifting peaks of Punta Rocas, the first contest held under the umbrella of Arena’s groundbreaking International Surfing Federation. Regardless of controversy, Arena transitioned from one of Peru’s earliest competitive champs to an international leader in the sport whose name deserves its place among the very architects of competitive surfing.

Eduardo Arena was born in Lima, Peru, March 20^th, 1928 and later earned a degree in industrial engineering before going to work in the family business, a successful winery. He began surfing in 1948 at Club Waikiki, Mira Flores (and didn’t stop surfing until his 60’s). Ironically, those same waves he rode as a boy breaking off Peru’s Club Waikiki served not only as surfing’s cultural and historical touchstone in Peru but also as the epicenter of the historic contest Arena would run decades later. Peruvians had become very interested in surfing competition by the early 50’s and many began organizing contests in which Arena became involved on all levels. His surfing progressed and he eventually won the 1956 Peru International, which along with the Makaha International in Hawaii would function as a precursor to the later world championship events.

In 1964, he traveled to the first World Surfing Championships in Australia, representing Peru as a surfer. But watching  the event unfold, he began formulating his ideas for an organization that would regulate judging criteria and the administration of international events, thus helping to further legitimize surfing by creating standards (like an international judging panel and a standard points system) that would apply regardless of the contest location. There he planted the seeds that would become the International Surfing Federation (ISF), its goal to provide oversight and a central leadership for all future World Surfing Championships. The members of the ISF committee were chosen by vote and Arena was voted in as president. Basic criteria were promptly established in that the ISF would fund the travel of two of each country’s best surfers and one judge. The ISF would choose the location of each event. Arena’s new ISF oversaw the 1965 World Surfing Championships in Peru with him as Contest Director. The event was fully funded by the beach front resort Club Waikiki and the ISF.

There’s the rub so to speak. The sponsoring of travel for all competitors and judges is what Arena asserts makes the 1965 event the first “true” world contest and (at the risk of hyperbole) places Arena at ground zero in competitive surfing history. He points to the fact that the Manly event sponsor Ampol Oil did not pay for international surfers to travel to the event and thus the contest was only accessible to surfers with the greatest “means” not necessarily the greatest talent. Therefore, that contest may not have included a true representation of the world’s best surfers. This sentiment is echoed by 1965 finalist Fred Hemmings, “Not to take anything from Midget’s win, but that event in Peru was more international.”

Competition and controversy aside, the 1965 contest was a huge success. The waves were good and Arena made sure the surfers were well taken care of with organized dinners and lavish parties at his estate in the country. Stories of free flowing wine from the family vineyard and rooms full of beautiful women are legendary.

Arena continued as contest director of several World Surfing Championships, including the 1965, 1966, 1968, 1970, and 1972 events. A key to funding travel for the competitors entailed enticing major networks like NBC and ABC to help sponsor and cover the events, thus adding international exposure. In each location, Arena worked tirelessly to create an atmosphere that was more Olympics than surf contest.  Australian champion, Nat Young, who endearingly called Arena “El Viejo” (Spanish for old man), marveled at Arena’s exquisite planning and treatment of the athletes at the 1968 Puerto Rico event.

He writes:

“All around the coastal village of Rincon, development had taken place for over a year. Roads and houses were built to be used by competitors and organizers and then to be taken over by the local people… I thought , only one man in surfing’s hierarchy could pull something like this off – it had to have been the work of Eduardo Arena.” (From Nat’s Nat and That’s That)

But the tide was soon to change. Heading into the the1974 event to be held in South Africa, the ISF found itself unable to fully cover the expenses as ABC, its principal supporter, withdrew its involvement. Arena later lamented, “So, after many years of service to surfing I felt it was time for me to step down and I consequently resigned.”

Riding waves well into his 60’s, Arena stayed true to the surfing life and has only to look back on his role in the development of surfing competition for a sense of success. At a time when the World Surfing Championships was the ultimate in surfing competition and the dream of every young wave riding athlete on the planet, Arena was the man in charge. His vision and leadership during a primordial moment in the sport easily cements his place among the great early organizers. Surfing would likely look very different without him.

Reno Abellira – Biography

Reno Abellira entered surfing’s collective consciousness at the 1968 World Contest in Puerto Rico. He didn’t win or even get second. But his path to sixth place revealed some of the fastest surfing ever seen at the time, drawing unconventional lines in a conventional time. While the traditional approach of Fred Hemmings took the world title that day, Abellira’s unique style and equipment put the world on notice that his surfing was poised to leap into uncharted territory. As an innovative performer and surfboard craftsman, the small framed Hawaiian local made waves throughout the 70’s but will forever be remembered for his Smirnoff Pro/Am win. Besting an international field of competitors in what has been called one of the greatest days in surf contest history and inspiring the next generation of shapers and wave riders, Reno Abellira’s mysterious persona left an indelible mark on surfing’s past and proved a key link in its progression towards the future.

Life moved fast for the small framed regular foot. He was born 1950 in Honolulu, Hawaii, learned to surf at age 4, and early on lost his father , a boxer, who was shot and killed in a bar fight. He received his first board at age 11 and won the juniors division of the prestigious Makaha International 5 years later. No small feat to win once, Reno won the division again the following year and further solidified his contest results with a win at the 1966 Hawaiian Noseriding Contest, earning him $200 in what is acknowledged as Hawaii’s first professional contest. By 1968, Abellira was the Hawaii juniors champion and heading to the World Surfing Championships in Puerto Rico. At just 18 years old, he sent a shock through the surfing world with a high velocity, avant guard performance, riding a relatively miniature Brewer model faster and more radically than anyone else.  Drew Kampion writes, “…diminutive Dick Brewer protégé Reno Abellira administered a future shock speed surfing performance but wiped out several times.  The failure of the new school of surfing to win recognition in Puerto Rico dovetailed with a generational rejection of authority and a growing apathy towards competition.”  That contest and Abellira’s surfing in particular signaled a separation of the old guard of surfers from the new crop of innovators. Hippy culture was rising and the Shortboard Revolution had been set in motion.

Reno continued to improve in the next few years. He won the Hawaii state title and placed second in the Duke Kahanomoku all the while putting in memorable free surfing performances all over the North Shore. Abellira was making his mark pushing the envelope of surfing, but his career reached a zenith on Thanksgiving Day, 1974. The Smirnoff Pro was recognized as the unofficial world contest, but the event over the years had yet to be blessed with a giant Hawaiian swell that would, as the contest advertising campaign boasted, “leave you breathless.”

But as the sun rose on contest day, the 36 invited surfers were just that… breathless. Wayne “Rabbit” Bartholomew would later refer to the scene as “the most terrifying sight I’d ever seen.” Consistent 25 foot bombs blew through the quintessential tropical paradise with bigger freak sets that ripped through the contest site and almost shut the event down. But this was what promoters and organizers where hoping for when they doubled the former 7 day waiting period to 14 days during which surfers were on call for the best possible conditions. For Smirnoff, spectators, and Reno Abellira, this would be a truly epic day. Rabbit described the contest further, “This was the most amazing day of surfing ever…”  As the crowd of rabid spectators (estimated anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000) clogged Kamehameha Highway, Abellira surfed his way through the semifinals. While Hawaiian power surfer Jeff Hakman had taken the preliminary heat, the semi was Reno’s, but he would soon meet Hakman again in the final.  With the swell still pumping, Reno Abellira won the final over a stellar group of surfers: James Jones, Peter Townend, Sam Hawk, Clyde Aikau, and Jeff Hakman, whom Abellira beat by mere fractions of a point. The crowd went nuts. And Reno took home a check for $5000.

In the mid seventies Reno rapidly became recognized as one of the hottest surfers on the North Shore alongside Hawaiian surf “gods” like Jeff Hakman, Barry Kanaiaupuni, Gerry Lopez, and Eddie Aikau; especially at huge Pipeline and Sunset. However, Abellira stood out. His surfing style appeared strange yet functional. His slight build didn’t lend itself readily to power surfing, but his low crouching style enabled him to complete tight turns as he stayed close to the breaking lip with radical skateboard-like pumps that propelled him to speeds that no other surfer of the time could match. In addition to his surfing style, his land persona was equally interesting. Abellira’s presence was described as mysterious. He appeared serious and sometimes somber under meticulous hair and decked out in high-stepping, high fashion outfits, appearing a far cry from your average surfer of the time.

Reno Abellira learned to build surfboards from Hawaiian legend Dick Brewer and eventually worked for Lightening Bolt surfboards. In the early seventies Abellira experimented with different fin designs (even the tri fin at one point) but it would be the twin fin that would strike a chord with the surfing world. Mark Richards would later reflect that it was a short and stubby fish sporting two fins ridden by Abellira in Australia that inspired him to design his famous twin fin surfboard which he would later ride to 4 world titles and spark a late 70’s design phenomenon.

As the IPS took shape, Abellira initially shined brightly with a gradual descent to earth, reaching as high as 4th in 1977 before falling to 8^th in 1978 and finally 13^th in 1979. At 40 years old, he was invited to surf in the Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau in conditions at Waimea that conjured up images of his past Smirnoff win. Reno Abellira’s surfing career was complete. Free-surfing artist; driven competitor; shaper; and celebrated winner of arguably the greatest surf contest ever held.

Biography – Mark Richards

Terms like “mellow,” “polite,” “calm,” or “mannerly.” always seem to accompany descriptions of Mark “MR” Richards, but to see him in full “wounded gull” mode unleashing on waves from 2-25 feet, one would be hard pressed to find a worse word to describe him. Innovator of the twin fin surfboard design, member of the Aussie class of ’75 who busted down the door and shattered every conceivable aspect of surfing at the time, and holder of no fewer than 4 world titles; Richards arrived on the scene at the right time and through talent and tenacity made the most of every second of one of surfing’s most tumultuous eras. MR is driven and talented, for sure. But mellow? Maybe on the beach, but in the water, he’s shown the world he’s a beast.

Born 1957 in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, Mark Richards was the only child of a surfer and used car salesman who, in 1961, opened the first surf shop in town. Subsequently, little Mark was soon riding waves by age six. With natural ability and a pure devotion to the sport, MR dove in head first. Inspired by the smooth and aggressive surfing of Nat Young, Richards improved quickly, performing well from the schoolboy and cadet divisions all the way to the juniors. He eventually placed second in the juniors division at the 1972 Australian national titles (behind winner Simon Anderson) and made the national team for the world contest in California. He placed second in the 1973 Australian Open division (behind Terry Fitzgerald) and won the national junior title (placing fourth the following year).

A few years prior, MR had picked up a second passion that would help define his legacy: shaping surfboards. At 13 he received an electric planer for Christmas and was shaping his own boards by 15. At that time, professional surfing did not exist. If you wanted to live the surfing life, you had to be a shaper: that was the dream. That electric planer would prove prophetic in that Richards would, eventually, not only push the edges of surfing performance but he would also alter the path of board design.

At 15, Richards took his first trip to Hawaii with shaper Geoff McCoy. But after a harrowing session at big Sunset, he boarded a plane a week later with a new found respect for the powerful waves of the North Shore.  Undeterred by the experience, MR committed himself to not simply improving his big wave attack, but, doing it better than anyone else. For Richards, winter in Hawaii was now mandatory, and he quickly tuned into the rhythm of the waves and culture on the North Shore, helping him negotiate around much of the anger the Hawaiians aimed at visiting surfers.  His “mellow” presence on land served him well as good karma rolled his way. In Bustin’ Down the Door, Richards writes about one such fortunate experience in 1974 when MR found himself with the possibility to fill a no-show slot for the Smirnoff Pro/Am (the implied world championship contest at the time). But with no money for the entry fee, he was poised to lose the chance of a lifetime. Fortunately, fellow Aussie, Wayne “Rabbit” Bartholomew gave him the cash. The 18 year-old Richards surfed through heat after heat before being stopped in the semi final in closing out Waimea. Richards writes, “For the only time in my career, I was praying each time my name was read, hoping that I would come in last. When my name was finally called for fourth place, I breathed a huge sigh of relief – I didn’t have to go out and surf the final.”  He returned the following year and won both the Smirnoff Pro at Waimea and World Cup at Sunset, earning $9000, a sum unheard of for surfers in that era.

Richards’ surfing style had matured into a strange but beautiful flow. At 6’1” and 175 pounds, his long lean frame looked nothing like the standard surfing athlete, but in the water, he flew across the wave with his arms outstretched and knees bent in. He drew long elegant lines which earned him the nickname, the “wounded gull.” Whether it was a backhanded nickname or not, he used his unorthodox approach to dominate large surf, but in small waves he found the single fins of the time held him back and set to task coming up with a new vehicle in gutless surf.

Amidst the chaos of the 1976 North Shore surf season, Richards retreated to the Chuns Reef shaping room of one Dick Brewer, who was royalty in the shaping world at that time. MR spent a month under the tutelage of the legendary craftsman where he developed his shaping technique and honed a new design that would change the direction of surfing in the coming years. The idea was based on a board ridden in Australia by Reno Abellira earlier that year, which was short and wide with two fins. MR lengthened the design and packed it for competition. MR would later term this board his “secret weapon” and directly credited it with his competitive success in his first world tour victory in 1979.

Surfers in Hawaii knew a change had come in how these brash Aussie and South African kids were recklessly attacking every inch of the waves, but the world hadn’t quite gotten the message until the 1977 release of Bill Delaney’s seminal surf film Free Ride. A new crop of surf stars including Richards, Shaun Tomson, Peter “PT” Townend, Ian Cairns and Rabbit were obviously surfing more radically than Hawaiian mainstays like Hakman, Lopez, and BK. They became known as the “Free Ride” generation. Free Ride linked films like The Hot Generation before which had introduced short boards and Nat Young to the world and Momentum decades later which exposed new performance levels.

Richards dominated professional surfing from 1979 to 1982, winning in both small and large surf and holding at bay one the greatest surfers never to win a title, Cheyne Horan. Horan placed second in 1979, 1981, and 1982. During this time, MR rode brightly colored boards and infamously paddled out in a silver wetsuit brandished with a Superman symbol. He may have declined to join the Bronzed Aussies, but he was not above using flash to get press.

Shortly after winning his fourth title, early back problems came to fruition and forced his “retirement” from pro surfing.  True to his “mellow” nature, his retirement included winning the Billabong Pro in 1985 and 1986. The former event was held in both giant Waimea and throttling Sunset Beach. From 2000 to 2002, MR competed in the grandmasters division of the Quiksilver Masters Surfing Championship, eventually capturing what would become essentially his fifth world title with a win in 2001.

Richards was one of the first surfers to be inducted into the Australian Surfing Hall of Fame, was granted the Order of Australia medal, and was inducted into the Huntington Beach Surfing Walk of Fame. After his record breaking title run in the 80’s, MR returned to his roots in Newcastle where he now runs the surf shop his father started and shapes surfboards.

Married with three children and living life in his home town, maybe, just maybe, Mark Richards has finally mellowed out. But probably not.

Ian Cairns – Biography

Ian Cairns has proven to be one of the most energetic and prolific contributors to competitive surfing. An early proponent of “legitimizing” the sport, Cairns was at times a polarizing figure as surfing’s traditional expressionist ideals clashed with its burgeoning mainstream aspirations. Plodding through the sport’s infancy as an amateur performer and later as a pro power stylist, Cairns went on to work as a Hollywood stunt man and eventually as a contest organizer, coach, and promoter. Contributing to every conceivable facet of the sport, Cairns helped frame a more successful competitive and administrative structure for both amateur and professional surfing while creating new opportunities never before imagined for young athletes.

The youngest of three siblings, Walter Ian Cairns was born July, 24, 1952 in Kew Australia. He was raised in Melbourne and Sydney, where he began body surfing nearby Avalon Beach. Learning to surf at age 12 after his family moved to the rugged shores of Perth, Western Australia; Cairns received his first surfboard on Christmas, 1965 and began honing his powerful style in and among the powerful reef breaks around Margaret River.

Riding a board shaped by Midget Farrelly, Cairns won the state juniors division from 1967-1969. Upon graduating high school in 1969, he began shaping surfboards, eventually quitting his job working for his father making fireproof doors to dedicate his time to surfing and building boards full-time. Heavily influenced by the powerful approach of fellow Aussie Nat Young, Cairns progressed quickly, winning the state men’s division from 1970-1972. This earned him a slot on the Australian national team and trips to the 1970 and 1972 World Contests.

On his way back from the ’72 World Contest, Cairns landed in Hawaii and found the powerful waves a perfect match for his 6’2” 190 pound frame. As a result, at 21 years old, Cairns won the 1973 Smirnoff Pro. He took the final over Jeff Hakman at 6-10 foot Laniakea, riding a self-shaped bonzer. The bonzer seemed a radical choice in the meaty Hawaiian waves, but Lord James Blears would later tell Sports Illustrated about Cairns’ performance, “I’ve never seen a surfboard go that fast. Never.”

Winning the Smirnoff proved to be significant for Cairns. Not only did he snatch a cool $5,000 in prize money and priceless bragging rights for beating Hakman, the powerful Hawaiian stylist, but, more importantly, the win signaled his arrival on the world stage. The Smirnoff had quickly become recognized as the unofficial world contest and by proxy making its winner the unofficial world champion. To prove his Smirnoff win no fluke, he took third in the Hang Ten American Pro the same year and second in the Duke Kahanamoku in 1974 (eventually winning the same event the following year in macking 25 foot Waimea).  In facing the challenge of Hawaii’s natural power, Cairns writes in Busting Down the Door, “…to rise to the very top, you have to be psycho and driven and bleed bravado, or you’ll die.”

In terms of surf contest success, the Hawaiian winter of 1975 was Cairns’ zenith. He and his fellow Aussies had pushed performance to a new level, but Cairns shrewdly understood that his own longevity depended upon the longevity of the sport. Pro surfing needed structure. So he set to task creating a place for Australians to compete for points, prestige and money. That year, he co-founded the Australian Professional Surfers Association with Peter “PT” Townend, basing its scoring system on Formula One racing. At the same time, Fred Hemmings and Randy Rarick were piecing together a similar series of contests in Hawaii and beyond, the International Professional Surfers association. Cairns finished first in the ASA the following year and second to PT on the IPS.

To capitalize on surfing’s growth (and propel it), Cairns co-founded the Bronzed Aussies, a team loosely based on the Harlem Globetrotters which infamously wore matching velvet jumpsuits to major surfing events. The aim was to attract corporate sponsorship by replacing the image of hippie surfers with this new clean-cut concept. Surfers didn’t buy it. Fred Hemmings recalls one “articulate” surfer who referred to them as the “bronzed anal ports.” Thus, the ill-fated team (including PT, Mark Warren, Cheyne Horan, and Jim Banks) eventually faded into the surf history books. PT would later say, “I think it (The Bronzed Aussies) ultimately failed because we stepped outside the ‘cool factor’ of surfing.”

Undeterred, Cairns continued to forge his own path as he stepped away from competitive surfing to work as a stunt double for the classic surf film Big Wednesday. His powerful surfing during the film’s climactic “Great Swell of ‘74” is instantly recognizable, standing in for Gary Busey’s character Leroy “The Masochist.” After his break, Cairns’ competitive results lagged, never again breaking the top ten internationally but still posting big wins. He won the 1977 World Cup, 1978 Pro Trials, and 1980 World Cup

But by 1979, Cairns again set a course in a new direction. Turning his focus from Australia to America, he moved to Huntington Beach in 1979 and became head coach for the National Scholastic Surfing Association (NSSA). The culminating national amateur team touted greats like Tom Curren (future two-time world amateur champion and three-time professional world champion), as well as Brad Gerlach and Mike Parsons. The US won the World Amateur Championship in 1980 and 1984.

In 1983, with substantial financial support from Ocean Pacific, Cairns commandeered control of the IPS from then “czar” Fred Hemmings and replaced it with his new Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP), staying on as Executive Director. Hemmings stepped down under the push of what he termed “competitive opportunists.” One of Cairns’ memorable accomplishments on that inaugural ASP schedule was the OP Pro held at Huntington Beach. But what began as a surfing festival with bikini contests, mammoth crowds, and historic clashes between iconic surfers (most notably Tom Curren and Mark Ochilupo) devolved into an afternoon of riots, fires, and general mayhem. Not long after, in 1986, Cairns resigned and returned to West Oz.

By the early 90’s, Cairns had returned to California as executive director of the Professional Surfing Association of America (PSAA) Bud Tour and ASP North America. Cairns was again integral in an evolutionary step in competitive surfing which linked the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS) with the PSAA, thus allowing young surfers domestic opportunities to garner points for ASP qualification. PSAA contest exposure injected energy into American surfing and accelerated the rise of stars like Taylor Knox, Kelly Slater, and Rob Machado. Around this time, Cairns also founded the U.S. Open of Surfing and U.S. Surfing. Both entities are still successful today.

Not to rest on his laurels, Cairns was executive producer of Surf the Planet, a 26 part Fox TV cable series. He founded and served as President of Broadband Interactive Group (BIG) and Bluetorch, an action sports-based website, but eventually went on to take a break from surfing for some 4 years before returning to work as a professional coach for such notable surfers as Brett Simpson, Gabe Kling, and Evan Geiselman. In June 2009, Cairns returned to coaching to fill a slot left by Joey Buran, leading the amateur team for Surfing America. Cairns helped America win its first gold in some 14 years.
Ian Cairns was inducted into the WA sporting Hall of Fame in 1985, the Australian Surfing Hall of Fame in 1993, and is the obvious inspiration for the Ian Cairns award, which recognizes outstanding Western Australian surfers. Cairns was married twice. His second wife, Alisa Schwartztein, was a former NSSA surfer and world amateur champion in 1980.

Traveling without a map is always difficult, but a true trailblazer makes his own path where none exists. Before Ian Cairns, the direction of competitive surfing lacked true bearings, but his participation and leadership helped bear both fruit and purpose. Cairns’ career is a testament to vision and ambition, but as with all surf stories, it began with a kid who loved riding waves.