Multiple world champion Mick Fanning has had quite a ride on the Championship Tour, and is still just as relevant today after retiring earlier this year from the world tour. Her sights are firmly set on cultivating connection, growth and happiness in humanity via her numerous projects.
The only surfer to claim six consecutive world titles, Layne’s career included 19 years on tour where she enjoyed 29 event victories.Īn officer of the order of Australia, Chair of Surfing Australia, and founder of the Awake Academy, Layne’s post tour life is a full one. Seven-time world champion Layne Beachley is widely regarded as one of the most successful competitive surfers in history and was a true pioneer for women’s surfing. Now in his 60’s, MR continues to shape beautiful surfboards, often finished with his iconic twin fin setup and throw back spray jobs.
One of the most well rounded professional surfers, Mark Richards won events in tiny waves in Australia as well as excelling in the powerful Hawaiian conditions. His “wounded gull”, knock kneed stance was, and still is one of the most recognisable surfing styles we have seen. Richards is heralded as the pioneer of the twin fin surfboard, a design that allowed him to progress his surfing to unseen levels of performance for the era. MR is one of the most dominant competitive surfers in history, setting a new precedent when he won his fourth consecutive world title (1979-1982). Next year will be his last on tour, but will not be the end of Slater as he will remain as one of the most important people in surfing for decades to come.
Slater has branched out into many different directions apart from the Surf Ranch, including food and drinks, furniture and clothing, and is the one person who totally embodies all elements of our sport. There’s very little to say about King Kelly that hasn’t been said, but the history books might start to wane a little bit on his significant contribution to the sport from winning 11 world titles, and focus more on the legacy he has created with the Kelly Slater Surf Ranch, the most perfect, longest and most intense man-made wave in the world.
Shaun went on to a career in acting (In God’s Hands) writing, film producing and motivational speaking, and enjoys popularity today with all of his endeavours. Shaun perfected a skill for riding deep in the tube by pumping with a wide stance while in the barrel, often exiting waves that seemed impossible to make. He was clean cut, good looking, intelligent and extremely passionate about the sport of surfing, and surfed and trained daily in a bid to be the best in the world. The 1977 World Champion, Shaun Tomson was the world’s answer to the hippiedom that surrounded surfing in the 70’s and 80’s. He passed away tragically in Dallas in November 2010. Hailing from Hawaii, AI was the sort of person who held family and friends above anything else, and was fiercely protective of everyone close to him.Īndy dominated when the waves got heavy and dangerous at places like Pipe and Teahupo’o but also knew his way around smaller waves, and was a ruthless competitor.
One of the most dynamic surfers to ever ride a wave, AI was a multiple world champion who wore his heart on his sleeve and never backed down for anything.