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angle

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Bermuda

High-voltage pro surfer from Carlsbad, California; world-ranked #7 in 1983 and winner of the 1984 Pipeline Masters; founder of the Professional Surfing Association of America. Buran was born (1961) in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of a career marine sergeant father, grew up on military bases in Virginia and Guam, and moved with his family to Carlsbad in 1972, where he began surfing the following year. He was California's top-rated boys' division surfer in 1976 and 1977, and the top junior in 1978.

After finishing sixth in the 1978 World Surfing Championships, the raspy-voiced 17-year-old goofyfooter dropped out of high school, gave up his amateur status, and quickly won the California Pro—an achievement marred slightly by the fact that his $3,000 first-prize check, as surf journalist Steve Pezman wrote, "bounced higher than his off-the-lip." Two months later Buran flew to Hawaii and placed fifth in the Pipeline Masters, finishing the year ranked #27.

In 1980, Buran placed fourth in the Masters and won the Waimea 5000 in Brazil—becoming the first California male surfer to win a world pro tour event—and his year-end rating jumped to #13. A small number of other West Coast surfers were on the circuit, but none had anywhere near Buran's success; he was known as the "California Kid," and remained the state's pro circuit standard bearer until Tom Curren turned pro in 1982.

The white-blond Buran (5' 8", 155 pounds) was a perpetual motion surfer, riding out of a low, bandy-legged stance, his legs, arms, shoulders, head, and torso almost blurry with expansion and contraction. Depending on Buran's performance (or the viewer's preferences), his method was either exhilarating or exhausting. His peak moments were at Pipeline, where his line was smoother, his energy focused, and he was able to make full use of his considerable tuberiding skills.

In 1981 he again finished 13th in the world, in 1982 he dropped to 14th, then in 1983, spurred by the fast-rising Curren, Buran put in one last sustained effort and finished the year ranked seventh—one place ahead of Curren. He quit touring the following year, but nonetheless won the Katin Pro-Am in Huntington Beach. That December he rode to a stirring victory in the Pipeline Masters, defeating Tom Carroll, Mark Occhilupo, Derek Ho and Wayne Bartholomew in the final. (As of 2016, Rob Machado, 2000 Masters champion, is the only other California surfer to win the Masters.)

By the end of 1984, Buran had developed and launched the Professional Surfing Association of America, the country's first domestic pro tour, but the effort wore him down, and Buran had what he later called "an emotional breakdown" while directing the circuit in 1986. He sold the tour later that year. In 1991, three years after getting married and more than 10 years after becoming a born-again Christian, Buran and his new family moved to the East Coast where he spent nearly six nonsurfing years working as a pastor in a series of Calvary Chapel churches.

The Burans moved back to California in 1996, Buran began surfing again, and in 1998 he won the Masters World Championships (for ex-pro surfers 36 and older), held in thumping Pipeline-style waves at Puerto Escondido, Mexico. After a brief work stint with surfwear giant Billabong, he returned in 2000 to full-time ministry work. Buran coached the ISA-sanctioned USA Surf Team from 2007-2009. In 2009, he was inducted into the Surfers' Hall of Fame in Huntington Beach. 

, a documentary, was also released in 2009.

Buran also appeared in a small number of surf movies, including 

 (1983), as well as the religious-themed surf videos 

 (1990). He is married with four children.

Buran, Joey

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