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Randy Rarick (October 31, 1950-) |
 The Largest Surfing EncyclopediaA-Z: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Advertisement
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Imagine a Forrest Gump of the surfing world. A person who inadvertently has a hand in every significant event of the past 40 years, from telling a pubescent Pipe Master to "go left" to catching a contact buzz from the architects of the shortboard revolution to being among the handful of witnesses for the "biggest wave ever ridden" to working behind the scenes of the fledgling pro tour. Randy Rarick was there, only his presence was deliberate. He's surfed in more countries than any other surfer, and he's still there, directing the greatest surfing show on earth, the Hawaiian Triple Crown.
Born in Seattle, Rarick relocated to Hawaii with his family when he was five, landing in Kaimuki. His father owned a golfing supply business, and the Rarick's eventually settled in the Niu Valley in southeast Oahu. Schooled in surfing at age 10 by legendary Waikiki beach boy Rabbit Kekai, Rarick was also a Boy Scout with perfect attendance at all meetings. That is, until he caught a surf movie in 1962. He began patching dings for Greg Noll Surfboards in 1964 (earning the name "Super Patch") and became a Hawaiian state champion in 1967. Surfing an outside reef near his home, Rarick and friends ruled the peak, and when a skinny kid from down the street named Gerry Lopez wanted to surf with them, they allowed it so long as he just went left. At the Haleiwa Theatre, Oahu's link to the world of surfing via surf films, Rarick rose from hanging up posters around the North Shore to selling tickets and eventually running the movies, sending the proceeds back to the mainland. By steering away from the prevalent drug culture, he stayed focus and saved enough money to travel extensively. He graduated and left for Australia to attend Sydney Tech, studying accounting and commercial law as well as surfing and learning about shaping. In Australia, he traveled much of the east coast, including a stint at Byron Bay where Bob McTavish and George Greenough were reinventing the surfboard. Rarick returned to the Islands in 1969 and opened his own Dewey Weber shop in Honolulu. During the legendary swell that winter, he was on the beach with a few other surfers as Noll dropped into the history books on a 35-foot wave -- still considered the biggest ever caught under one's own power. Easily transitioning into the shortboard era, Rarick's own ability was peaking, and he experienced moderate success in early professional competition. He routinely made the semifinals, was chosen to represent Hawaii at the 1970 World Contest and earned invites to the Duke Classic and later to the Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau. When his shop bombed, sending him into hefty debt, Rarick dug himself out by shaping and working the night shift as a fiberglass sprayer in Pearl Harbor. In 1971, a trip to South Africa to surf the Gunston 500 was parlayed into a four-year odyssey around the globe, exploring Angola, Namibia, Europe and the Caribbean. In all, Rarick has visited well more than 100 countries and surfed in more than 60 of them. On many occasions, he was the first surfer ever to ride a new break. He also wrote several magazine articles depicting his travels (later working with Fred Hemming to create the Illustrated Encyclopedia of Surfing published by a Japanese magazine and appearing completely in Japanese). Returning to Hawaii in 1975, Rarick joined forces with Hemming to form International Professional Surfers. He acted first as competitor and director, then simply director, until 1982 when Ian Cairns and the ASP gained control. Rarick then helped create the Hawaiian Triple Crown, the premier leg in professional surfing, which he has managed ever since. Primarily, Rarick works as a shaper, operating under the exclusive license for Bear Surfboards as well as Hawaiian Designs. Since picking up a planer in 1964, he has crafted more than 8,000 boards. He and wife Jacque have an adopted son, Aaron, who is a marine. The Raricks live at Sunset Point, in a house that Rarick rented in 1975, and then purchased 10 years later. Few have dedicated their lives to surfing the way Rarick has, and few have reaped as many rewards. While his involvement in organized surfing won't last forever, his enjoyment certainly will. -- Jason Borte, November 2000
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