"Gavin Rudolph in Hawaii," no author credit, ran in an early 1972 issue of Surfing World magazine. This version has been slightly edited. 

Gavin Rudolph has become the most controversial boardman of modern competition surfing by winning the 1971 Smirnoff Pro-Am Surfing Championships. Representing South Africa, and on his first visit to the Hawaiian Islands, the possibility of Rudolph even getting to the final amongst such august company as the super-experienced big-wave merchants of Hawaii seemed extremely remote. However, to the great satisfaction of the progressive South African team, and riding with the refreshingly direct style peculiar to the Africans, he proved conclusively that anything can happen.

Eighteen-year-old Gavin Rudolph took one look at the 12-foot monster waves thundering down on to Hawaii's Sunset Beach and admitted to himself that he was scared. Never had he ridden such large and powerful waves in his native South Africa.

And to make the problem worse, Rudolph was armed with an untried brand-new board because his favorite stick had been smashed in transit. Apparently none of this perturbed the boy from Natal, for he went out into those boiling twelve-footers and coolly captured the first-place prize of $2,500. Not only did he win, he defeated seven Hawaiian surfers in the final and came home on one wave that gave him a perfect 20-poing score with the crowd on the beach literally jumping up and down with excitement.

As that one wave subsided, Judge George Cassidy mumbled almost in disbelief, "I've just awarded a surfer 20 points for the second time in my life."

 later reported: "He rode the great wave back and forth, across the shoulder and back into the curl, out again and back again, at times almost seeming to work it in the manner of a matador with an intractable bull."

Ironically, the wave that won the championship for Rudolph also lost it for Hawaii's Billy Hamilton, who finished second to pick up $1,000 for his efforts. The 23-year-old former Californian also paddled for the big wave but Rudolph was positioned closer to the curl and technically had right of way.

Rudolph recalled their urgent conversation deep at sea. I said, "Please Billy, give me this wave." And Billy did, and it won it for me.

"Rudolph kept saying, 'This is my wave, this is my wave,' Hamilton recalled, and reluctantly he kicked out. "I remember thinking I just gave him the first-place money."

The young South African went into the event as a virtual unknown, but at Sunset Beach, which lies 50 miles north of Honolulu and just above Oahu's feared Banzai Pipeline, he proved that the contest philosophy can be the strongest part of any good athlete's repertoire.

Rudolph comes from Port Elizabeth, where his father is a retired supermarket operator. The young surfing whiz was born on April 22, 1953, and his first taste of international surfing came when he represented South Africa at the 1968 World Championships in Puerto Rico in. He had just turned 15.

Rudolph won the 1969 Durban 500—South Africa's biggest surfing event—and finished fourth in the same event last year. Also last year, he competed in the World Championships held in Victoria, but was eliminated in the quarterfinals. He later captured the South African Junior Title.

Then came the Smirnoff Champs at Sunset Beach.

As well as the $6,000 dollars in total prize money, there were also free trips to South Africa for the top six finishers, making it the richest surfing event ever. Rudolph finished second in his first heat, second in the semi-final and then swept the field in the final with his perfect ride. He received a bonus $150 dollars for the most points in the final round.

The total haul of $2,650 dollars was a windfall for the teenaged surfer. "I had expected to go home to South Africa and look for a job," he said. "Now I can stay for a while and surf some more."

Besides admitting he was scared of the big waves, Rudolph also confessed that the surf in South Africa was nowhere near as good as Hawaii. "The waves at Sunset were the biggest I've ever seen or surfed on. Those twelve-footers are so much more powerful than anything I've seen at home, but once I had managed a couple of rides I began to unwind, and was looking for something to cut loose on."

The upcoming contests in South Africa will give the top-placing Hawaiians a chance to turn the tables, and in the beautiful surf that is a feature of Africa's East Coast, there should be no excuses.

Gavin Rudolph, however, may prove to be one hell of a hurdle to climb over.

"GAVIN RUDOLPH IN HAWAII," SURFING WORLD (1971)

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