The Pros

Wave Rider in Tubescape

DR @ the holistic center

Kong was considered by his peers to be the best surfer in the world for a few years in the late eighties.  Always on the quest for extreme speed, he also excelled at wreckless motocross and snowboarding.
His powerful frame and huge talent did not readily compress into a 20 minute heat in knee high surf.
Kong persisted in pro competition for fifteen years, retiring with three World Masters Championships. 
Billy Idol was Kong’s early rock’n idol and he had the Billy snarl down.

Chelsea Georgeson photo Russi

Mind over matter:
Head over heels for Kassia Meador

Whether traditionalist or mod squad, the athleticism, style and grace of the women pros
adds luster to the hard-partying extreme-acrobatic image of modern professional surfing.

As Kirra tube groms, Peter Townend and Rabbit Bartholomew studied under master Michael Peterson.  PT branded himself with style:  pink surfboards, late drops into beautiful soul-arched bottom turns, and the Bronzed Aussies surf team.  Approaching their prime in the early 70’s, when being a pro surfer was still a dream, Peter and Rabbit were instrumental in creating the professional surfing tour that crowned them both world champions.  PT is surfing’s hardest working champ, a tireless missionary immersed in the O.C. CA surf ghetto, converting and baptizing legions of stoked neophytes to the surfer’s path with a Panish twinkle in his eye.  Bruce Lee, an early disciple of PT and Rabbit, slides into this sand-clear Goldie beauty.

Rabbit developed his crafty style in the long dredging barrels of the Gold Coast and applied the same principal of commitment to mastering backside Pipeline.  He was so good and blew his horn so hard the Hawai’ians, who prefer the ukulele to brass, took affront. So Rabbit quit busting down doors and, with the help of Eddie Aikau, learned to open and close them like the gentleman he was meant to be.  Bugs is still the leading pro surf visionary, unlocking door after door, guiding the tour to perfect waves, giving his stars their chance to shine in surf heaven and streaming live images to the earthbound masses.

Sunny Garcia is a Hawaiian power-pro champion who spent years at the top of every pecking order.

The art of surf branding
  A portfolio of current surf magazine ads gives us a good feel for the state of pro surfing at any point in time.  The photo-ads are definitely a form of art that their creators, hopefully surfers, can be proud of. 
October portfolio

For pro surfing news, good sources are: aspworldtour.com, surfersvillage.com and surfline.com

cutback | next section | float to party