Shaun Tomson

Shaun Tomson (born 21 August 1955) is a South African and American professional surfer and former world champion, environmentalist, actor, author, and businessman. He has been listed among the top ten surfers of the century, and was the 1977 World Surfing Champion.

Early life and education Tomson was born in Durban, South Africa, and is Jewish. His mother, Marie (1930 - 2021), grew up in Malta, where she survived the Siege of Malta, bombing raids by the air and naval forces of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany and was evacuated to South Africa. She later converted to Judaism. His father Ernie (Chony) Tomchinsky (1930 - 1981), was born to Jewish parents, with Shaun's grandfather, Samuel Tomchinsky fleeing pogroms in the Russian Empire (present-day) Latvia in the early 1900s. Ernie was a world class swimmer, whose sporting career was cut short by a shark attack. Shaun had his Bar Mitzvah at his familial shul, Temple David, a Reform congregation.

Tomson was educated in Durban, first attending Clifton Preparatory and then completing his high school education and matric at Carmel College, a Jewish High School. He later enrolled at University of Natal, where he received a Bachelor of Commerce degree majoring in Business Finance. He graduated from Northeastern University with a Master of Science in leadership with a focus on social change.

He learned to surf in the beachbreaks in and around Durban under the watchful eye of his father Ernie, and alongside older cousin Michael Tomson and brother Paul Tomson.

As a Jewish athlete, he was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1995.

Career Tomson went on to dominate amateur surfing competition in South Africa and began venturing over to Hawaii in the late 1960s, courtesy of a bar mitzvah present from his father.

Tomson won 19 major professional surf events, has been listed as one of the 25 most influential surfers of the century and as one of the 10 greatest surfers of all time. During his career he was both the youngest and oldest surfer to win a pro event, and is considered to be one of the architects of professional surfing.

On a performance level, Tomson changed the way the tube section of the wave was ridden, using a style of pumping and weaving through and around collapsing sections of the barrel. A quote of his from the period was, "Time is expanded inside the tube." An aspect of Tomson's inventiveness was his in the tube punch throughs where he escaped unscathed from hideous closeout sections over a shallow reef.

Accolades and honours

In 2014 Tomson was inducted into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. He has also been inducted into the Huntington Beach Surfing Walk of Fame (1997), the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame (1998), the South African Sports Hall of Fame (1977), and received the SIMA Environmentalist of the Year Award (2002) and the Surfrider Lifetime Achievement Award (2009). The ceremony included speeches from Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, and Tomson was honoured among other sports figures such as Jody Scheckter, Ali Bacher and Joel Stransky.

Other ventures Tomson founded, managed, and sold two multi-million market-leading clothing brands, with the Surf focused Instinct in the 1980s, and Solitude in the 1990s.

Tomson is also the author of Surfer's Code – 12 Simple lessons for riding through life and The Code - The Power of I Will. He also authored Bustin' Down the Door – Revolution of '75, a companion to the film of the same name and Krazy Kreatures – Under my Surfboard!, a collection of illustrated rhymes for children.

Personal life Family In 1980, Tomson relocated to California. He was joined by his mother Marie, sister Tracy and brother, Paul.

The Tomsons' son Mathew died at 15 years of age on 24 April 2006 in Durban, South Africa, from an accidental death caused by playing the "choking game." In his autobiography, published in 2022, Tomson wrote about reconnecting with his Jewish faith in the wake of the tragedy of his son's death and returning to Temple David.

Filmography Tomson has appeared in films, including Free Ride, Fantasea, Many Classic Moments, and In God's Hands. Tomson also co-produced an award-winning full-length feature film about the benchmark mid-1970s surfing era called Bustin' Down the Door, which premiered in early 2008. He wrote and narrated a documentary about Jeffreys Bay called A Pure Line.