Fred Hemmings is an American surfer, author, businessman, and politician.
The World Surf League (WSL) is the governing body for professional surfers and is dedicated to showcasing the world's best talent in a variety of progressive formats. The World Surf League was originally known as the International Professional Surfing founded by Fred Hemmings and Randy Rarick in 1976. IPS created the first world circuit of pro surfing events. In 1983 the Association of Surfing Pros took over management of the world circuit. In 2013, the ASP was acquired by ZoSea, backed by Paul Speaker, Terry Hardy, and Dirk Ziff. At the start of the 2015 season, the ASP changed its name to the World Surf League. Sophie Goldschmidt was appointed as WSL CEO on 19 July 2017. Paul Speaker had stepped down as CEO on 11 January 2017, and Dirk Ziff acted as the interim WSL CEO until Goldschmidt's appointment.
Rochelle Ballard is an American professional surfer and a veteran of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Championship Tour. She co-founded International Women's Surfing (IWS) and has appeared in several movies and television shows, most notably, Blue Crush,Step Into Liquid, and Beyond the Break.
Robert Harold "Nat" Young is an Australian surfer and author.
Taj Burrow is an Australian retired professional surfer. Taj retired from the WSL World Tour in June 2016 where he left a legacy of power and impressive surfing.
Bernard "Midget" Farrelly was the first world surfing champion.
Carissa Kainani Moore is a Hawaiian American Olympian, world champion surfer and activist. She was the first-ever winner of the Olympic Gold Medal in women's short board surfing in 2020. She was also the 2011, 2013, 2015, 2019 and 2021 World Surf League WSL Women's World Tour Champion. Moore is the first surfer in history to win a WSL world title and the Olympic title in the same year.
The International Professional Surfing (IPS) organization was the original world governing body of professional surfing that existed between 1976 and 1982. The IPS brought together a loose affiliation of surf contests around the world by forming one world circuit.
Ecuador has many beaches for surfing: the coast of Ecuador is 2,237 km long. Surfable waves are available in Ecuador year-round, and surfers enjoy the mild year-round weather, especially in the northern region where the weather conditions attract many surfers from all over the world. Within this part of South America, Ecuador's neighbors Chile and Peru also offer great surfing. Many surfers in Ecuador use a protective wetsuit. Surf tourism is very important to the local economy, and the beaches offer significant enjoyment because of top quality waves combined with affordable prices for lodging and food compared to other surf destinations. There's also a national marine reserve off the coast, which has a gigantic whale population.
James Blears, Jr was the 1972 World Surfing Champion.
Donald Moke Takayama was an American professional surfer and surfboard shaper. Originally a longboard surfer, Takayama won the Master's division of the United States Surfing Champions in 1971, 1972 and 1973. Hawaiian born, Takayama learned to surf at Waikiki Beach and moved to California in the mid-1950s. Takayama died of complications from heart surgery; he is survived by his wife and four daughters.
Adriano "Mineirinho" de Souza is a Brazilian professional surfer and also the 2015 WSL World Champion. He has been competing on the World Surf League Men's World Tour since 2005.
Laura Lee Ching, also known as Laura Blears, Laura Blears Ching and Laura Blears Cody is an American surfer.
Women's surfing is thought to date back to the 17th century. One of the earliest records of women surfing is of princess Keleanohoana’api’api, also known as Kalea or the Maui Surf Riding Princess. It is rumored that Kalea was the trailblazer of surfing and could surf better than both men and women. A few centuries later in the mid-late 1800s, Thrum’s Hawaiian Annual reported that women in ancient Hawaii surfed in equal numbers and frequently better than men. Over the last 50 years, women's surfing has grown in popularity.
Matt Warshaw is a former professional surfer, former writer and editor at Surfer magazine (1984-1990), and the author of dozens of feature articles and large-format books on surfing culture and history.
Surfing South Africa (SSA) is the governing body for the sport of surfing in South Africa, and a recognised member of the world governing body, the International Surfing Association (ISA). SSA is also an affiliate of the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC), which, alongside Sport and Recreation South Africa (SRSA) supervises all organised sport in South Africa.
Surfing was first introduced in Brazil in the 1970s.
Doug Warbrick is an Australian businessman, founder of the Rip Curl brand. and notable figure in the sport of surfing. Warbrick is credited for bringing the longest running surf event in history, the Bells Beach Surf Classic, to the professional surfing circuit. He is a founding member of the ASP World Tour, surf aficionado and athlete mentor.
Brenden Margieson, also known as Margo, is a former Australian professional surfer, considered to be surfing's first well-paid freesurfer. In 1996, he won the first ever Nias Indonesian Pro and was voted in Australia's Surfing Life, two years in a row, as "Best free-surfer in the world". Margo is often described as a stylish regular foot, smooth and powerful, which makes him an exciting surfer to watch. He remains one of Australian surfing's favourite sons.
Corky Carroll (USA)
Nat Young (AUS)
Gavin Rudolph (RSA)
Reno Abellira (HAW)