Rasta, OTW. It’s not easy to make a humpback whale mating call with your twin fins, but you’ll be all the better for trying. Photo: Joli

The best all round waterman Australia has ever produced. From the alaia (the ancient Hawaiian finless wooden surfboard), to the single fin (he regularly wins single fin contests), twin fin (his performance a few years back on a Dick Van Straalen shape at big, stormy off The Wall was seminal), surf mat, paddle board (he won the pairs division of the gruelling Molokai Challenge), hand-plane, and of course the thruster, you’ll struggle to find a surfer as naturally in sync with the water anywhere in the world or anytime through history as Dave Rastovich. Likewise, the wide variety of conditions he excels in. From two foot beach breaks to eight-foot Bank Vaults on a single fin, to Hawaii, and the pristine point breaks of his native Australian east coast, Rasta’s surfing can take the shape of each of them with unrivalled aplomb. A former World Junior Champ and promising Australian Junior Series surfer in his youth, Rasta competed with success against the future competitive heavyweights of Joel Parkinson, Mick Fanning and Dean Morrison. As is the case with so many of surfing’s most supreme talents, however, the thrill of surfing to a sometimes stiffling criteria was not his calling. Instead he turned to the pure art of mastering style and later became a passionate member of certain leftwing environmental movements. Among them was the film The Cove – one of the most shocking exposés of animal cruelty in history. Rasta is as real as they come, his impeccable surf style matched only by his substance on land.

– JS