Tom Curren

Around 1980, a shy, quiet, insanely talented surfer began dominating the California NSSA. He had natural wave knowledge and a smooth style as well as direct lineage to big-wave icon, Pat Curren. With his feet planted firmly on his board but his soul in the clouds, Tom Curren destroyed all in his path to ressurect American surfing from a deep slumber and send a hatchet chop through the spine of that era's Aussie domination.

On his road to his two world championships, Curren's clashes with young, upstart Mark Occhilupo became legendary. To this day, any surfer form the 80's will remember these shattering moments that were plastered across magazine pages and immortalized in videos.

Competitive greatness was not Curren's swansong, however. Instead, he fashioned a path that would lay the groundwork for many of today's pro careers. He grabbed his guitar and embarked on boat trips to unsurfed wonderlands and let Sonny Miller film them and package them as The Search series, a beautifully filmed journey spiced with jazz and rock tunes(some of which was performed by Curren himself).

Tom Curren carved the hop and pop contest routine of the 80's into a stylish journey of talent and class.