Patrick Shane Dorian (born July 19, 1972), or "Shane", is an American surfer from
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
Kailua-Kona is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Hawaii County, Hawaii, United States. It is also known as Kailua (a name it shares with a community located on the windward side of Oahu), as Kona (a name it shares ...
. He spent 11 years touring on the World Championship Tour as a professional surfer. Dorian quit competition surfing in 2003 to focus on big waves. He is currently a
big wave surfer
Big wave surfing is a discipline within surfing in which experienced surfers paddle into, or are towed into, waves which are at least 20 feet (6.2 m) high, on surf boards known as "guns" or towboards. Sizes of the board needed to successfully su ...
Dorian lives in Holualoa, Hawaii with his wife Lisa, his son, and his daughter. He enjoys taking care of an orchard that consists of 110 fruit trees at an elevation of 4000 feet above sea level.
Surfing career
Dorian started out on a
bodyboard
Bodyboarding is a water sport in which the surfer rides a bodyboard on the crest, face, and curl of a wave which is carrying the surfer towards the shore. Bodyboarding is also referred to as ''Boogieboarding'' due to the invention of the "Boogie ...
alongside friend, and future bodyboarder champion, Mike Stewart. Dorian received his first surfboard, from his dad, on his fifth birthday. He soon abandoned the bodyboard to focus on surfing.
In 1987, Dorian had his first major success at the Gotcha Pro competition at Sandy Beach. He was able to beat some big names, made it through four rounds, and received some media exposure. Since 1995, Dorian has directed the Shane Dorian Keiki Classic for surfers 17 and under. Dorian has been a long-time member of the
Billabong
Billabong ( ) is an Australian term for an oxbow lake, an isolated pond left behind after a river changes course. Billabongs are usually formed when the path of a creek or river changes, leaving the former branch with a dead end. As a result ...
U.S. surf team, his main sponsor.
World Championship Tour
Dorian joined the ASP World Tour in 1993, where he hovered outside of the top 10 for a number of years before a fourth-place world finish in 2000. He has also won a number of events in his career, including the Rip Curl Pro in 1999 and the 2000 Billabong Pro at Mundaka. In 2004, Dorian retired from the WTC tour, but not from a being a professional; choosing to focus on becoming a better surfer.
After retirement, Dorian started to concentrate on
big wave surfing
Big wave surfing is a discipline within surfing in which experienced surfers paddle into, or are towed into, waves which are at least 20 feet (6.2 m) high, on surf boards known as "guns" or towboards. Sizes of the board needed to successfully su ...
, mainly towing into big waves via jet ski, which was the norm then. However, over the years, he and his fellow big wave surfers have preferred paddling into big waves. Dorian took the top prize at the 2008 Global Big Wave awards in California.
In 2011, Dorian was awarded "Ride of the Year" by the World Surf League for paddling into a giant Peahi "Jaws" barrel on 3-15-2011 estimated to be 57 feet tall by the World Surf League, and biggest wave ever paddled into at that time.
Surfing statistics
*2001 – 2nd place - Quiksilver in Memory of
Eddie Aikau
Edward Ryon Makuahanai Aikau (Kahului, Hawaii, May 5, 1946 – March 17, 1978) was a Hawaiian lifeguard and surfer. As the first lifeguard at Waimea Bay on the island of Oahu, he saved over 500 people and became famous for surfing the big Hawai ...
big-wave contest (
Waimea Bay
Waimea Bay is located in Haleiwa on the North Shore of O'ahu in the Hawaiian Islands at the mouth of the Waimea River. Waimea Valley extends behind Waimea Bay. ''Waimea'' means "reddish water" in Hawaiian.
History
Captain Charles Clerke a ...
,
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� ...
)
*2000 – 4th ranked overall on World Championship Tour (WCT)
*2000 – 1st place - Billabong Pro (France/Spain)
*1999 – 1st place - Rip Curl Pro (Australia)
*1998 – 2nd place - Rip Curl World Cup (WQS-Hawaii), Billabong Challenge (Specialty-Australia)
*1996 – 1st place - O'Neill Surf Challenge (WQS-France)
*1994 – 1st place - Nescau Surf Energy (World Qualification Series: WQS-Brazil)
Awards
*2016 – WSL Big Wave Awards: Surfline Best Overall Performance
*2016 – WSL Big Wave Awards: Billabong Ride of the Year for his big wave ride on Jaws in Peahi, Hawaii
*2015 – WSL Big Wave Awards: Surfline Best Overall Performance
*2015 – WSL Big Wave Awards: Billabong Ride of the Year for his big wave ride on Puerto Escondido, (Mexico)
*2013 – WSL Big Wave Awards: Billabong XXL Ride of the Year and ''Pacifico'' Tube - May 3, 2013 for his big wave ride on Jaws/Peahi (Peahi, Hawaii)
*2012 – WSL Big Wave Awards: Waterman of the Year by the Surf Industry Manufacturers' Association
*2011 – WSL Big Wave Awards: Billabong XXL Monster Paddle Award - March 15, 2011 for his big wave ride on Jaws in Peahi, Hawaii
*2011 – WSL Big Wave Awards: Billabong XXL Monster Tube - March 15, 2011 for his tube-ride in
Maui, Hawaii
The island of Maui (; Hawaiian: ) is the second-largest of the islands of the state of Hawaii at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2) and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is the largest of Maui County's four islands, which ...
*2010 – WSL Big Wave Awards: Billabong XXL Men's Overall Performance Award
*2006 – WSL Big Wave Awards:
Billabong XXL Monster Tube Award – September 11, 2005 for his big wave ride in Teahupoo, Tahiti
*2005 – WSL Big Wave Awards:
Billabong XXL (Global Big Wave Awards) Surfline/ Jay Moriarity Best Overall Performance Award
*2000 – 2nd place - ''Surfer'' Magazine Readers Poll Awards (runner-up to his friend and fellow professional surfer
Kelly Slater
Robert Kelly Slater (born February 11, 1972) is an American professional surfer, best known for being crowned World Surf League champion a record 11 times. Slater is widely regarded as the greatest professional surfer of all time. Slater is als ...
the Malloys
The Malloys is the working name of music video and film directors and brothers Emmett Malloy and Brendan Malloy. They have been with Superprime Films since 2010.
Videography
*"Holiday" by Vampire Weekend (2010)
*"Love Dealer" by Esmée Dente ...
.
* ''The Blueprint'' (2005)
* ''Solid: The Two Days That Teahupoo Blew Minds'' (2005)
* ''Campaign 2'' (2005)
* ''A Fly in the Champagne'' (2009)
* ''Momentum Generation'' (2018)
In the documentary ''Solid: The Two Days That Teahupoo Blew Minds'', fellow surfers gave him a standing ovation for his wave conquering rides.
Television
Dorian is featured in an
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
on ABC television series three-part special called ''World of X-Games: Big Wave Hellmen'' that premiered on October 26, 2014, and ran until November 9, 2014. It follows Shane along with five of his ''Big Wave Hellmen'' competitors: Grant "Twiggy" Baker, Ryan "Hippo" Hipwood,
Mark Healey
Mark Healey is a British video game developer from Ipswich, Suffolk. Healey started his career making games for the Commodore 64 home computer – his first published game was ''KGB Super Spy'' for Codemasters, which led to developing the educati ...
and Greg Long touring the biggest and best big wave breaks in the world competing for the big wave world title. A panel of judgeds, one will be crowned "Big Wave Hellmen of the Year". They spent a year around the globe chasing monster swells to hunt down and ride the most dangerous waves they could find. And in the end, determined by a panel of expert judges, who include legendary big wave surfers,
Greg Noll
Greg Noll (' Lawhead; February 11, 1937 – June 28, 2021) was an American pioneer of big wave surfing and a prominent longboard shaper. Nicknamed "Da Bull" by Phil Edwards in reference to his physique and way of charging down the face of a ...
and Mike Parsons, and author of ''Ghost Wave: The Discovery of Cortes Bank'' Chris Dixon, one will be crowned "Big Wave Hellmen of the Year".
The series featured some of the biggest wave destinations in the world, including: Belharra Reef off the coast of
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...
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 ...
, Pico Alto in
Punta Hermosa
Punta Hermosa is one of 43 districts of the Lima Province in Peru. The capital of the district is the village of Punta Hermosa. The district's main attractions are its beaches.
Geography
Punta Hermosa borders the Pacific Ocean on the west, the L ...
,
Lima, Peru
Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of the central coastal part of th ...
In December 2010, Dorian had a terrifying wipeout at Mavericks in a two-wave hold-down that almost killed him. The incident motivated Shane to design surfing's first "safety suit" to be inflated with a CO2 cartridge in a wetsuit vest during a potentially deadly hold-down. He helped develop the final product that is capable of instantly "torpedoing" a trapped-underwater surfer back to the surface when inflated.