Welcome, the Momentum generation. The 1990s totally re-wrote everything that went before and the revolution was led by one man, Kelly Slater. In 1992, now legendary filmmaker Taylor Steele made the movie Momentum. It was rough, cut to a punk soundtrack and the surfing was on a whole new level. It introduced Slater and a raft of other new school rippers to the world.

Unlike the movies that went before it, which were generally backed by big companies and filmed on 16mm, Momentum was filmed on the sort of camcorder that anyone could own. The difference was the level of surfing.

“The film was rough, cut to a punk soundtrack and the surfing was on a whole new level.”

Kelly Slater, Shane Dorian, Rob Machado and Aussies like Taj Burrow tore the decade a new one as they went from gromhood to manhood. The old school and their power turns were being replaced by kids who could ride barrels and do big turns but were also throwing tail and punting an ever increasing variety of airs. These guys started to take over the tour, and Slater won his first of 12 world titles in 1992.

There was increasing discontent with competitive surfing though as the nineties progressed, and although some forward-thinking companies like Quiksilver were taking contests to world class waves, the majority of the world tour still took place in crappy city locations just to get crowds to the beach. This was set to change though and in 1999 Wayne ‘Rabbit’ Bartholomew was made ASP commissionaire, and the age of the dream tour began.