Imagine if surfing had it’s own Forrest Gump.
Not the slow, lovable, “My mama always said life is like a box of chocolates,” Forrest Gump, but more the Vietnam tough guy Forrest Gump. The kind of person who, without meaning to, has a hand in every significant event in history over the past 40 years.
Well, yesterday I met that person. His name is Randy Rarick and he is a man who has shaped the evolution of wave riding, and continues to, every day. On a rainy day at Haleiwa, he was contest directing the 6 star Reef Haleiwa Pro, an event that dictated the fates of about 30 WQS and WCT surfers - depending on who won, who placed and who lost.
Rarick is nothing short of a remarkable individual, and although the movie of his life hasn’t been made yet, here are a few of the highlights for the trailer.
In the early 60’s when Rarick and friends were ruling a fun peak on an outside reef near his home on the North Shore, a skinny kid from down the street named Gerry Lopez asked if he could surf with them.
They allowed it, on one condition: “He could surf with us, just as long as he only went left.”
Lopez went on to win the Pipe Masters twice and is still regarded as one of the best ever Pipeline surfers, and he credits Rarick – and that moment - as a key influence in developing his surfing.
In 1967 Rarick graduated from High School in Oahu and left for Australia to attend Sydney Tech, studying accounting and commercial law - of course he was also surfing and learning about shaping. He travelled much of the east coast while he was there, including a stint at Byron Bay. There he worked with Bob McTavish and George Greenough on their mission to reinvent the surfboard – together creating the templates for the modern day short board.
He returned to the North Shore in 1969, the same year that one of the biggest ever swells smashed the North Shore, leaving Makaha on the West Side as the only possible place to surf. Rarick was among the handful of witnesses to watch the "biggest wave ever ridden," as Greg Noll dropped into the history books on a 35-foot wave -- still considered by many to be the biggest ever caught under one's own power.
In 1971, Rarick came to South Africa to surf the Gunston 500, and decided he wasn’t ready to return home just yet, so he started a four-year odyssey around the globe, exploring Angola, Namibia, Europe and the Caribbean.
To this day, the 58 year old has visited well more than 100 countries and surfed in more than 60 of them. On many occasions, he was the first surfer ever to ride a new break.
He returned to Hawaii in 1975, where Rarick joined forces with Fred Hemming to form International Professional Surfers – the first pro surfing circuit. He acted as director until 1982 when Ian Cairns and the ASP gained control of professional surfing. Rarick then helped to create the Hawaiian Triple Crown, the greatest surfing show on earth, which he has managed ever since.
The man is a phenomenon, who speaks eloquently and enthusiastically about his experiences, and his travels. Talking to him, and discussing his incredible achievements, one thing is clear: He’s only just getting started on this box of chocolates.
(with thanks to Surfline and Jason Borte)
