Tour de Force: The ASP Turns 20

1985:
4/85 - In an awesome display of gamesmanship, 30 year-old Shaun Tomson elects to surf the trials at the Bell Beach Rip Curl Pro in an effort to eliminate fellow frontrunner Tom Carroll in first round of main event and thus snatch the world title. But Tomson's bold ploy fails when he is defeated in the trials by none other than Carroll's brother Nick. Carroll goes on to win the '84 crown. Mark Occhilupo finishes third, Curren fourth.

7/85 - Politic and Pro Surfing: Top guns Tom Carroll and Tom Curren are most prominent in a group of ASP surfers who boycott the South African leg of the tour in protest of that government's brutal apartheid policies.

8/85 - In an epic see-saw battle beneath the H.B. Pier, Mark Occhilupo beats Tom Curren in the final of the Op Pro, watched by a wildly enthusiastic mob of over 60,000 screaming fans. Pro surfing fever grips America.

9/85 - Led by the crusading Cairns, the pro tour invades Allentown, near Pennsylvania's Amish country, for the first-ever World Inland Championships held in the Dorney Park wave pool. Despite unlimited mechanical waves, the priority system is strictly enforced. When the chlorine settles, hellman Tom Carroll has won, yet at the ensuing press conference questions the relevance of surfing in the shallow end.

12/85 - Occy in ascendance wins Pipe Masters in giant 15-foot surf. Goofy-footed groms everywhere begin the cloning process.

12/85 - Four-time world champ Mark Richards comes out of retirement for a stunning win at the Billabong Pro, held in early rounds in perfect 25-foot surf at Waimea Bay. Top 32 seeds Gary Green and Bryce Ellis decline to paddle out, leaving American fans to ponder the term "soft cocks."

1986:
4/86 - Tom Curren redeems his Op Pro loss to Mark Occhilupo in the semi-finals of the Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach. During one of the best man-on-man clashes seen before or since, Curren downs Occy and in doing so wins America's first professional world championship.

4/86 - Sponsored by a leading Australian beer label, The Swan Super Series team event is held in Perth, Western Australia, and won by the Team America, comprised of Tom Curren, Mike Parsons, Dave Parmenter and Charlie Kuhn. The U.S. now hold the world's pro men's, women's and team titles. Talk about Aussie Bitter

8/86 - After police tell a topless female fan in the huge crowd to cover up, the Op Pro erupts into a full-scale party riot. Hordes of sun and beer soaked fans trash Huntington Beach, overturning and burning police vehicles and vandalizing lifeguard headquarters. The melee makes front-page news; pro surfing in America is never the same again.

9/86 - In the wake of the OP Pro Riot disaster, a disillusioned Ian Cairns resigns his post as ASP director and moves back to Western Australia."This has set us back 10 years," Kanga laments. Former interim IPS director, sports writer and Aussie contest director Graham Cassidy takes the helm.