Doug Warbrick (born 30 December 1942) is an Australian businessman, founder of the

Rip Curl Rip Curl is an Australian designer, manufacturer, and retailer of Surfing#Equipment, surfing sportswear (also known as ''boardwear'') and accompanying products, and a major athletic sponsor. Rip Curl has become one of the largest surfing compan ...

brand and notable figure in the sport of

surfing 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 suita ...

. Warbrick is credited for bringing the longest running surf event in history, the

Bells Beach Surf Classic The Rip Curl Pro, formerly the Bells Beach Surf Classic, is a WSL (formerly ASP) World Tour surfing competition held in and around Torquay, Victoria and sponsored by surf company Rip Curl. The event is based at Bells Beach, Victoria, Australia ...

, to the professional surfing circuit. He is a founding member of the

ASP World Tour The World Surf League (WSL) is the governing body for professional surfers and is dedicated to showcasing the world's best talent in a variety of progressive formats. The WSL was originally known as International Professional Surfing (IPS), fo ...

, surf aficionado and athlete mentor.

Early life

Warbrick was born on the

Sunshine Coast Sunshine Coast may refer to: * Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia **Sunshine Coast Region, a local government area of Queensland named after the region **Sunshine Coast Stadium * Sunshine Coast (British Columbia), geographic subregion of the Br ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. He began surfing as a child in

Maroochydore Maroochydore ( ) is a coastal town in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the urban area of Maroochydore had a population of 63,673 people. The city was subdivided from the Cotton Tree reserve by Surveyor Thomas O'Conno ...

. Warbrick's family then moved to

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

, where Warbrick attended

Brighton Grammar School Brighton Grammar School is a private school, private Anglican Church of Australia, Anglican day school for boys, located in Brighton, Victoria, Brighton, a south-eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Founded in ...

Career

In 1967, Warbrick opened a surf shop at

Bells Beach Bells Beach is a locality in Surf Coast Shire, Victoria, Australia. It is a popular surf beach, located 100 km south-west of Melbourne, on the Great Ocean Road near the towns of Torquay and Jan Juc. It is named after William Bell, ...

. Two years later, in 1969, Warbrick founded

with Brian Singer, shaping

surfboards A surfboard is a narrow plank used in surfing. Surfboards are relatively light, but are strong enough to support an individual standing on them while riding an ocean wave. They were invented in ancient Hawaii, where they were known as ''papa hee ...

out of Singer's garage. Later, Rip Curl started producing

wetsuits A wetsuit is a garment worn to provide thermal protection while wet. It is usually made of foamed neoprene, and is worn by surfers, divers, windsurfers, canoeists, and others engaged in water sports and other activities in or on the water. I ...

and moved into the famed 'Old Bakery'. Warbrick and Singer had discovered what

Jack O'Neill Jonathan J. "Jack" O'Neill is a fictional character in the MGM's military science fiction franchise ''Stargate'', primarily as one of the main characters of the television series ''Stargate SG-1''. Richard Dean Anderson played O'Neill in all th ...

had learned a few years earlier: cold-water surfers need wetsuits. In 1980, Rip Curl moved to its current headquarters on the

Surf Coast Highway Surfcoast Highway (and its northern section within Geelong as Torquay Road, and its southern section as Surf Coast Highway) is a semi-rural highway in Victoria, Australia, connecting the city of Geelong with the coastal town of Torquay. The hi ...

Torquay, Victoria Torquay ( ) is a town in Surf Coast Shire, Victoria, Australia, which faces Bass Strait, 21 km south of Geelong and is the gateway to the Great Ocean Road. It is bordered on the west by Spring Creek and its coastal features include Point D ...

. Warbrick was an original member of the Australian Surfing Association (now

Surfing Australia Surfing Australia is the governing body for the sport of surfing in Australia. History The Australian Surfriders Association was founded in 1963, and was renamed Surfing Australia in 1993. In 2013, for its 50th anniversary, Surfing Australia ...

) in 1963 and was a committee member and vice-president of Surfing Victoria in the 1960s and 1970s. He was also a founding member of the

and the

Surfrider Foundation The Surfrider Foundation is a U.S. 501(c)(3) non-profit environmental organization that works to protect and preserve the world's oceans, waves and beaches. It focuses on plastic reduction, water quality, beach access, beach and surf spot preser ...

Australia. Warbrick was responsible for bringing the Bells Beach Surf Classic (now known as the

Rip Curl Pro The Rip Curl Pro, formerly the Bells Beach Surf Classic, is a WSL (formerly ASP) World Tour surfing competition held in and around Torquay, Victoria and sponsored by surf company Rip Curl. The event is based at Bells Beach, Victoria, Australi ...

), held during

Easter Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...

each year at Bells Beach, to the professional surfing circuit. Warbrick has mentored notable athletes such as

Tom Curren Thomas Roland Curren (born July 3, 1964) is an American former professional surfer, known for being the first American to win the World Surf League Title. He secured three World Titles in 1985, 1986, and 1990, and achieved 33 event wins in his ...

, Michael Peterson and

Mick Fanning Michael Eugene Fanning (born 13 June 1981) is an Australian professional surfer who was crowned champion of the Association of Surfing Professionals/World Surf League (ASP/WSL)'s World Tour in 2007, 2009 and 2013. In 2015, he survived a shark ...

Awards

In 2008, Warbrick was inducted into the Brighton Grammar Hall of Fame. In 2010, Warbrick was inducted into the Australian Surfing Hall of Fame. In 2024, Warbrick was inducted into the Surfing Walk of Fame in Huntington Beach, California.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Warbrick, Doug Living people 1942 births People educated at Brighton Grammar School Australian businesspeople Australian surfers Surfboard shapers