Wayne Bartholomew

Wayne "Rabbit" Bartholomew (born; 30 November 1954) is an Australian world champion surfer, surf sports innovator, community advocate and politician.

Bartholomew is the former CEO and president of the Association of Surfing Professionals and the creator of the Dream Tour format of professional competition surfing.

Wayne Bartholomew was born 30 November 1954 in the New South Wales township of Murwillumbah to father Donald 'Bart' Bartholomew (dec.) and mother Betty Bartholomew.

He grew up in Coolangatta, Queensland, alongside his four sisters Wendy (dec.), Cindy, Heidi, Louise, and two half-sisters Tanya, and Leah.

He attended Miami State High School throughout his upbringing.

Bartholomew began surfing at age 13, during the Australian summer of 1967-1968, at his home-town beach Rainbow Bay on the Gold Coast, and the Bay's popular surf break, Snapper Rocks.

His first surfboard was a gift from local surfing brothers Wayne and Robye Deane who had heard of the young Bartholomew and his interest in surfing through their parents' friendship with the Bartholomew family, with both families involved in the local Lions Club.

The board was a cut down nine foot six inch 'Ron' longboard that had been reshaped by the Deane brothers who were aspiring carpenters at the time, and re-glassed for $20 at a local factory to produce a new seven foot long board.

Once complete, the brothers gave the re-designed board to Bartholomew.

Wayne has often credited his mother for supporting his surfing interests at a time when surfing was considered an outsider's pursuit and surfing's image was controversial.

Early on, Wayne showed a natural talent for surfing which became his daily activity of choice during his later school years, along with any competitive pursuit he could partake in including soccer.

Whilst it is often reported that he was given the nickname 'Rabbit' when he was young because of his speed as a soccer player, and his prominent front teeth, it was actually due to his demonstrated hopping style he adopted when famously attempting to play two pinball machines simultaneously at Gill's Cafe, a favourite beachside haunt in his youth years.

As a teenager, Wayne would often surf before, after and occasionally during school hours, perfecting his wave knowledge and tube riding skills on the famed Coolangatta point breaks of Kirra, Greenmount and Snapper Rocks.

Wayne once recounted of his youth surfing days living next to the beachfront at Kirra, "It was a magical existence. We lived in this little cottage 50 metres from the sea. At night my heart would beat to the rhythm of the tide. And in the morning I'd simply climb out of the window and walk into the surf."

Wayne began surfing at a competition level as a junior in the early 1970s, where he quickly made a name for himself as a fierce competitor and stylish proponent.

His first major title came when he was crowned the Australian School Boy Champion in 1972.

He would go on to win multiple Queensland Men's Open titles as a semi professional surfing competitor over the next few years.

In 1976 Wayne was part of the Original Founder Group for what is now the modern incarnation of the foremost professional surfing governing body the World Surf League (WSL), and was a cornerstone participant in the formation of a new era of world professional surfing.

In 1977, Wayne turned full-time professional and finished second behind South African surfer Shaun Tomson in his rookie year.

In that same year, he contested the first Stubbies Surf Classic at Burleigh Heads, regarded as the first man-on-man style surfing event ever contested, but was eliminated from the contest by Michael Peterson in the semi-finals.

From 1977 through to 1988, Bartholomew served as Director for the newly formed Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP), which would become the peak governing body for professional surfing competition globally in 1983.

During this time he championed reform and development of the sport including initiatives to solidify the man-on-man format of competition as the benchmark standard for surfing competition excellence — a format devised by fellow Gold Coast surfing innovator Peter Drouyn at the first Stubbies Surf Classic event in 1977 held at Burleigh Heads in which Wayne was also a prominent competitor, having made the finals in 1977 and returning to win the event in 1978.

Returning to compete in 1978, Wayne dominated the competition on the world tour and secured his first World Surfing Champion title.

In 1985 Wayne founded the Wayne Bartholomew Academy of Surfing, a pioneering surfing school and frontrunner to today's popular surfing school global movement.

Spanning a decade, Bartholomew competed on the world professional surfing tour until 1987, ranking in the top five surfers for seven consecutive years.

In his professional surfing years, he was widely considered one of the greatest surfers of the period — famed for his bold attitude, flamboyant style, fearless competitive drive and tactical insight.

Wayne's surf coaching has endured and from 1987 to 2015 Wayne where he also mentored and coached a variety of local boardrider's club teams to success including leading the Snapper Rocks Surfriders Club at thirteen consecutive Straddie Teams Assault events held at North Stradbroke Island, twelve Kirra Teams Challenge events, two Quiksilver National Surf League events and two National Australian Boardrider's Battles.

The Academy operated until 1992 with Wayne personally providing expert instruction, training and advice to many children and aspiring surfers in Australia.

Wayne was appointed as National Coach for the Australian representative surfing team in 1992.

The team competed in the 1992 ISA biannual World Surfing Championships in Lacanau, France, taking the gold medal for Australia.

From 1993 to 1998 he operated Elite Rabbit Surf Camps, again focussing on training, coaching and mentoring rising surfing talent and youth.

In 1994 Wayne returned as head coach to defend his 1992 achievement, returning the Australian team to the podium for a consecutive gold medal result.

The ISA World Surfing Championships are known widely as the Olympics of surfing sports.

In 1996 he returned to the ASP as Contest Director for the Gold Coast Billabong Pro world tour event held at Kirra Point on the Gold Coast, an event which successfully ran until 1999 with Wayne as Director and drew large crowds again to Burleigh Point and Kirra Point, attracting significant international media coverage whilst re-establishing the Gold Coast as a significant surfing destination to a global audience.

In 1999 Wayne won the ASP Masters World Surfing Champion title in France, the same year he took the helm as president and CEO of the ASP.

In the decade from 1999 until 2009, Wayne Bartholomew served as the President of the Association of Surfing Professionals, also operating as the President and Chief Executive Office (CEO) from 1999 until 2003, overseeing all operational aspects of the world tour events, business dealings and promotion of surfing as a globally revered sport and lifestyle pursuit.

During this period and under Bartholomew's leadership and contribution the sport enjoyed significant growth in the emerging digital age with high-ranking surfers becoming household names on the world surfing stage and financial investment in the sport skyrocketing.

Bartholomew introduced the concept of powered personal watercraft or jet skis to assist surfers competing in events to maximise their ability to catch waves when conditions were challenging, a practice which is commonplace nowadays in professional surfing events and big wave surfing.

He is credited as having reinvented the professional surfing tour by establishing the 'Dream Tour', a modern format that favoured surfing events being held in formidable world-class surfing conditions at premier surfing locations away from traditional populated centres, as well as incorporating extended waiting periods to ensure the best possible swell and wind conditions for surfers to compete in were realised.

In 2003 he won the ASP Grand Masters World Surfing Champion title, making him a three-time world surfing champion and further cementing his status as an icon of the sport.