Ian Cairns "2010 Surf Champion"

PHOTO: Duke Kahanamoku Hawaiian Surf Classic.

Commanding champion power surfer of the 1970s, Ian Cairns, originally from Perth, Western Australia,

dominated Hawaii’s North Shore during his prime and later became a prominent surf contest organizer, promoter and coach.

Cairns won six Western Australia state titles (1967 – 1972), the 1973 Smirnoff Pro at Laniakea and the 1975 Duke Kahanamoku Classic held in 25-foot surf at Waimea Bay. Cairns also won the World Cup at Haleiwa in 1976 and 1980.

In 1975, Cairns co-founded the Australian Professional Surfing Association (A.P.S.A.) which consolidated the nascent Australian pro events into a domestic circuit. The following year, he won the A.P.S.A. Australia domestic tour and finished runner-up to fellow Aussie Peter “PT” Townend in the inaugural International Professional Surfers (IPS) World Championship rankings.

Cairns and Townend were two founders of the Bronzed Aussies, a professional surfing team that also included Mark Warren, Cheyne Horan, Jim Banks and Steve Jones which won the Katin Pro-Am Team Challenge in Huntington Beach twice in 1978 and 1979. The group is also largely credited as busting down the door for international presence in Hawaiian waters.

Cairns’ reputation as an articulate and passionate supporter of all aspects of competitive surfing led to him founding of the A.S.P. in 1983, serving as Executive Director of N.S.S.A. and relaunched grand-scale competitive surfing in the America with the running of the first O.P. Pro in Huntington Beach in 1982.

He also coached the USA Surf Team for a stint while raising twin boys with his wife, Alisa, in Laguna Beach, California.