SURFING REVOLUTION " BRAD GERLACH "

Gerlach was born in Miami in 1966. He toured the carnival circuit with his dad, Jumpin' Joe Gerlach, a former Olympic high diver and stuntman. When off the road, his home was Encinitas, where Brad learned to surf at age 10.

Brad made a splash from day one as a cocky teenager on the NSSA National Team. At 15, his attitude conflicted with coach Ian Cairns -- who didn't bother inviting Gerlach back for a second year. The setback motivated Gerr to show the homogenous ranks what he could do, so he dove headfirst onto the pro tour fresh out of school.

With his performance at Oceanside the next year, Gerlach vaulted up the ratings and qualified as a seed for the 1986 ASP Tour. He soon rose into the top 10 in the competitive rankings, and well beyond that in the nightlife division. Never one to turn down a good time, Gerr led tour cohorts on all-nighters around the world. His storytelling and impersonations, from cartoon characters to top surfers, kept everyone in stitches.

Gerlach buckled down in 1991 and made a serious run at the world title, finding the winner's circle in Australia's Coke Classic and Durban's Gunston 500. Despite leading much of the year, he finished second to Damien Hardman after disappointing campaigns in Europe and Hawaii. Almost immediately, he lost interest in competition.

At 25, Gerlach quit the tour and became a surfing gypsy, citing a need for creativity beyond the confines of contests. For several years, he roamed the globe, somewhat out of the media's eye. But the spotlight proved irresistible. In the late '90s, he returned intent on requalifying for the world tour in his mid 30s. But instead of becoming a 'contest dude' - he teamed up with one, Mike Parsons. Although the exact opposite of "Gerr" in terms of personality, the soft-spoken perfectionist and former heat machine was the perfect mate for big wave charging: prepared and relentless and in his pursuits. In 2001, the two conquered Cortes Bank together on it's now infamous first 'real' session with -- Gerr whipping Snips into his XXL winning 66-foot wave. Four years later, Brad cash his own check for $68,000 when Snips returned the favor at Todos Santos.

But Gerlach was still driven to shake-up traditional competition. And in an odd role reversal, he rebelled by mimicking mainstream professional sports and developing the National Surf League -- aka "the Game -- creating a team format that used "periods" instead of heats and encouraged cheering and booing, and featured names the San Diego Sea Lions and Orange County Octopus for two short seasons. But it worked best when the rivalries were real and heartfelt -- most notably, the X-Games, where a legitimate East vs. West battle carried interest for four years only to be benched in 2008 for budgetary reasons. Today, the same energy continues in series like the Red Bull Riders Cup, which pits high school surf teams against each other.

When not pursuing The Game -- or working on the "Carveboard," a skateboard that he and his father designed to mimic the gyrations of surfing -- from his Leucadia home, Gerlach keeps his surfing dream alive on PWC big-wave missions. And, of course, he still keeps everyone in tears as he continues to imitate life perfectly.