If Rabbit lit the touch paper for pro surfing, Mark Richards was it’s first mega star. During his era of dominance in the late 70s and turn of the decade he won four consecutive world titles. In his first season in Hawaii he won the two biggest events at the time pocketing a massive $9000, a crazy sum for pro surfing at the time. He gatecrashed the iconic Free Ride movie, which was intended to showcase Rabbit and South African Shaun Thomson, but Richards’ radical style and solid tube riding stole the show.

Mark then turned his attention to board innovation when he started shaping his own sticks, tweaking the twin fin design to it’s absolute limit and employing his new design to win four back to back titles. An unassuming man, Mark is still revered today as the man who took elite surfing to the next level.