In
the sport of surfing’s
first decade of professionalism, 1976 to 1985, South
Africa’s Shaun Tomson captured more
international tour victories than any
other competitor.
He was International
Pro-Surfing’s (IPS) World Champion in
1977, and was the only surfer to hold
an IPS Top 6 ranking for 10 consecutive
years, from 1976 to 1985.
At the time of his competitive
retirement, Tomson ranked as the second
highest winner of major competition titles
and the third highest money winner
in the history of surfing.
In 1978, he was
voted Surfer of the Year by Surfer magazine,
and is one of only three world
surfers to be featured on the cover of
Surfing Magazine (the others are Duke
Kahanamoku and Mark Richards), a
benchmark in the sport of surfing. Said
Surfing Magazine: “After more than ten
years as one of the sport’s great performers
[Tomson is] the most popular
surfer of the past decade.”
Tomson, who first picked up a longboard at the age of
10 and eventually made the transition to shortboards, firmly
established himself as the most advanced surfer of his
time at Hawaii’s 1975 Pipeline Masters, Off-The-Wall
and Backdoor in the winter of 1976.
His stunning performances,
captured in Bill Delaney’s influential surfing film,
Free Ride, solidified Tomson eminence as the world’s
best.
He was voted South African
Sportsman
of the Year in 1978. |