Maybe it's going too far to say that Richard Cram was the sanest man in pro surfing when he quit the tour, in 1985. Maybe not. There were 21 events on the upcoming schedule. Niijima, Japan, to start things off. Then the Dorney Park World Professional Inland Surfing Championships (you read that correctly), in Allentown, PA. After that came a trans-hemispheric flight to apartheid-age South Africa for three contests, then France and England, then west to Huntington, east to North Carolina, west again to Oceanside, back to Japan, then four events in Australia, and two in Hawaii. Oh wait, that's right, after Hawaii how about 

 in Australia, with the season's grand finale taking place in late-summer shorebreak dribblers at Manly Beach.

Cram was 24, at the height of his powers, and ranked #10 in the world. He had a forehand cutback to make Zeus himself whimper with envy. 

On the other hand, as Nick Carroll noted, Cram was in possession of a "supremely level head." He looked at that world tour schedule, talked it over with his wife, and cheerfully threw in the towel. More or less. Cram did a bit of WCT peekaboo, like Dane Reynolds, which only reaffirmed his decision: he put his back out groveling in small waves in Chiba and resented his 6:30 AM heat at the Op Pro. "People who win contests," Cram said to Carroll, "sometimes I look at 'em and think, 'Gee, they've got qualities which I'd really appreciate in myself.' Then other times, the majority of times, I think they've got absolutely nothing that I'd really aspire to. Winning could never be my sole goal. And that's what it's gotta be, your sole goal. The guys who are way up there get really weird sometimes."

That's probably the best way to describe Richard Cram. The least-weird pro of his generation.

Dorney Park? No thanks. Cram took his Mount Olympus cutback and got on with his life.

RICHARD CRAM: QUIET MIND, THUNDERING CUTBACK

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