Cheyne Horan (August 8, 1960- ) |
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No one has finished second more times than Cheyne Horan. Despite the dubious distinction, he remained a dedicated competitor for as long as some pro surfers have been alive -- 18 years. In the face of uniformity, he held fast to his beliefs and, in the end, came out on top.
Born in Sydney, the son of an Australian speed skating champion, Horan began surfing on a Coolite at Bondi Beach at age 10. He won the New South Wales Juniors title in 1974 and was the Australian schoolboys champion in 1976. That year, he captured the Coke Australian Open Skateboard Championship. Professional surfing's first tour, the IPS, launched the same year with 16-year-old Horan jumping aboard. In his debut at Sydney's Surfabout, he finished seventh. The teenaged speedster soon became the youngest member of the Bronzed Aussies -- a team of professionally minded competitors intent on gaining mainstream exposure for the sport. Horan finished runner-up to Wayne Bartholomew for the 1978 world title, winning the Waimea 5000 in Brazil and appearing set for the top. Unfortunately for Horan, Mark Richards was beginning his run of four consecutive titles, pushing Horan's record of runner-up finishes to four. During that stretch, he was the fastest surfer alive, refusing to relinquish single-fins to jump on the twin-fin or the thruster bandwagon. A staunch advocate of Geoff McCoy's needle-nosed, wide-tailed Lazor Zaps, he was at times unbeatable in small to medium surf. He gained independence from the clone-like Bronzed Aussies in 1980 and pledged his life to vegetarianism and yoga. A radical surfer for his era, Horan won the inaugural Op Pro in 1982 with a crowd-pleasing backhand 360 in the final. His popularity culminated with a win in the 1983 Surfer Poll and a spot in a widely distributed Sunkist soda commercial. With McCoy and designer Ben Lexcen, Horan developed a winged keel fin based on an America's Cup sailboat design. By the time the two Toms -- Carroll and Curren -- had assumed MR's mantle, Horan's results were becoming spotty on his increasingly unorthodox equipment. By 1985, Horan was openly touting the benefits of psychedelic drugs while living on a communal farm and sliding down the ratings. He produced a movie, Scream in Blue, chronicling his life and views in 1987. In 1989, facing extinction on the world tour, he won the final event of the season, the Billabong Pro, and reemerged in the Top 16 -- this time on conventional equipment. The $50,000 win was his first in Hawaii, an area that had plagued his title chances in years past. Before ending his world tour career in 1993, Horan accumulated 12 victories and seven top-five, year-end finishes. He relocated to Oahu's North Shore where he ended his career-long relationship with Gotcha and started his own label, Rainbow Rock. Six years after leaving the pro tour, Horan found a shot at redemption with the Quiksilver World Masters Championship in France. Never wavering in his dedication to fitness and competition, he out-dueled his old adversaries in perfect beachbreak barrels and claimed the under-40 world title. Emerging from the water, he proposed to his girlfriend Paulina, and they were married in May of 2000. -- Jason Borte, October 2000 Click here to find all the Cheyne Horan photos and editorial on Surfline.
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