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Posted on Tuesday February 10th 2009 at 1:42 p.m.
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As electric as the act of riding waves is, it would all seem dreadfully uncharged without a character like Wayne Bartholomew. Regardless of his varied roles -- from tube riding master to professional pioneer to wily competitor to promoter to environmentalist to head of the Association of Surfing Professionals - he is at the heart of the sport. Great surfers are born, but Rabbit was self-made. Matt Warshaw summed him up best in a Surfer's Journal profile with three words: struggle, achievement, and style.
This is as true for his approach to surfing huge Pipeline waves as it is for his life. He got the nickname "Rabbit" because he used to jump between pinball machines - in the penniless days when he had to scrounge for food. He began surfing at Snapper Rocks on the Gold coast in Australia, but the story starts when he moved to Kirra at age 13. Rabbit became synonymous with Kirra, and some argue that, thanks to his formative years at the famed Gold Coast point break, no one in the world has logged more tube time than he has. By the early '70s, he was cleaning house on the Australian circuit, clashing with hometown rivals Peter Townend and Michael Petersen Rabbit burst onto the international scene in the winter of 1975. A few years earlier, he had made his first visit to Hawaii's North Shore, an annual pilgrimage he hasn't missed since. That winter, the status quo was rocked by the surfing of Shaun Tomson, Ian Cairns, Townend, Rabbit and a few others. Hawaii was no longer the exclusive domain of locals; the crew had, in Rabbit's words, "busted down the door." Tuberiding was taken to new levels and was documented by Bill Delaney's Free Ride -- shot mainly from that season.
Professional surfing was still a dream in those days, but Rabbit had the vision and the personality to sell it. His tactics, confidence and flair made him a top-rate competitor for professionalism's first decade. He was crowned world champion in 1978, remained in the top five for seven consecutive years and came within a whisker of regaining the title in 1983.
His image was David Bowie meets Muhammad Ali -- pure rock-and-roll flash -- and it gave the tour the drama it desperately lacks today. Rabbit was consummately professional, but he never let it get in the way of having fun.
Not knowing how to exit pro surfing with the grace that gave him one of history's most stylish kick-outs, he slid down the ratings until 1986, then spent a few years in limbo. By the mid-'90s, he had become surfing's global ambassador after running a series of classic events at Kirra and fighting to save our world's oceans.
In 1999, Rabbit took over the reigns of the Association of Surfing Professionals moving the corporate offices Down Under. Nearing the half-century mark, he remains an avid tube rider. At last fall's Quiksilver World Masters Championship in France, he outclassed a handful of old rivals en route to victory, proving once again that as long as Rabbit's around, surfing will always have it's own sultan of style.