Ian Cairns (born 24 July 1952 in

Kew, Victoria Kew (;) is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 5 km east from Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Boroondara local government area. Kew recorded a population of 24,499 at the 2021 census. A city ...

) 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 hodominated the North Shore during the mid to late-seventies". He moved to

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

with his family from Victoria in early 1967, to

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

's western suburbs, attending

Swanbourne Senior High School Swanbourne is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority area of Buckinghamshire, England. It lies about two miles (3.2 km) east of Winslow and three miles (4.8 km) west of Stewkley, on the secondary road B4032. History The village ...

. Cairns dominated the surfing scene in his adopted state. From the age of 13 he consistently won every competition on offer, winning state Junior and Open titles. He moved to

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

in the early 1970s in search of big waves and before a professional circuit had established.''W.A. Hall of Champions'' inductee booklet. (2006) Published by the

Western Australian Institute of Sport The Western Australian Institute of Sport (WAIS) is an elite sports institute set up in 1983 by the Government of Western Australia to support athletes in Western Australia. Previously, if elite athletes from Western Australian needed to train or ...

Cairns joined the Australian team at the 1970 and 1972 World Surfing Championships and at Laniakea off

Oahu Oahu () ( Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over two-thirds of the population of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The island of O� ...

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 California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

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 Margaret River is a town in the South West of Western Australia, located in the valley of the eponymous Margaret River, south of Perth, the state capital. Its Local Government Area is the Shire of Augusta-Margaret River. Margaret River's co ...

. 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 is currently Head Coach of the

PacSun Pacific Sunwear of California, LLC is an American retail clothing brand. The company sells lifestyle apparel, along with swim, footwear and accessories designed for teens and young adults. As of 2022, the company operates 325 stores in all 50 stat ...

USA Surf Team. Cairns was inducted into the

Western Australian Hall of Champions In 1983, the Sportswriters' Association of Western Australia proposed a Western Australian Hall of Champions to honour past athletes from the state who had made a significant impact in their sport. The Government of Western Australia asked the th ...

in 1990, into the

Surfing Walk of Fame Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suitable ...

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.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cairns, Ian 1952 births Living people Australian surfers Sportspeople from Perth, Western Australia Sportspeople from Melbourne World Surf League surfers Australian expatriate sportspeople in the United States

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