We’re back with our next episode, featuring Ian “Kanga” Cairns who is a former champion professional surfer, expert coach, and professional contest director.
Ian has toured many of the leading surf parks, and discusses with our host Chris Kluesener how surf parks fit into an athletes’ repertoire, what the surfing experience is like at the Kelly Slater Surf ranch, and how Ian thinks about surf parks and progression.
In addition to winning dozens of professional surfing events in his career, Ian was incredibly influential in establishing the world professional surfing circuit as we know it today including formation of the Association for Surfing Professionals (ASP). One of Ian’s roles was to develop a rating and scoring system for surf events, and he shares how surf parks will help to evolve surf contents. Ian’s role today is helping to democratize access to surfing via new projects we talk about in the show, like surfing.com.
ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Ian Cairns (born 24 July 1952 in Kew, Victoria) is a former champion surfer who was also influential in establishing the world professional surfing circuit and particularly the World Championship Tour. He was described as “the premier “power” surfer of his era who dominated the North Shore during the mid to late-seventies”.
From the age of 13 he consistently won every competition on offer, winning state Junior and Open titles. He moved to Hawaii in the early 1970s in search of big waves and before a professional circuit had established. Cairns joined the Australian team at the 1970 and 1972 World Surfing Championships and at Laniakea off Oahu in December 1973 he won the Smirnoff Pro event at Sunset Beach from Hawaiian Jeff Hakman. He won other big events in the Duke Kahanamoku Invitational Surfing Championship in 1975 and World Cup events in 1976 and 1980.
In 1975 Cairns and fellow Australian Peter Townend devised a rating and scoring system for surfing events. In 1979 he moved to California and with Townend formed the National Scholastic Surfing Association (NSSA). In 1983 he became the first director of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) of which he is a life member. He returned to Australia in 1986 where he farmed at Margaret River, Western Australia. In 1996 he returned to California where he now lives with his wife Alisa Schwarzstein, his son Jonathon (daughter Amy lives in Australia) and twin sons. Alisa Schwarzstein is a former ASP professional. She was inducted into the Surfing Walk of Fame as that year’s Woman of the Year in 2012; the Walk is in Huntington Beach, California. Cairns was inducted into the Western Australian Hall of Champions in 1990, into the Surfing Walk of Fame at Huntington Beach, California, as a Surf Champion in 2010, and into the Surfers’ Hall of Fame, also in 2010. The Western Australian Surfers’ and Waveriders’ Association awards the Ian Cairns Award to the Western Australian male surfer of the year.
