Raw Files | 77' World champ Shaun Tomson on the loss of a child and the day surfing stopped being about winning

Explicit content warning

11/19/24 • 44 min

"First is first and second is nothing." That's how Shaun Tomson saw the world as a '77 world champion in our final edition of Raw Files from our Mental Health chapter. Victory meant silence. Strength meant swallowing loss. But when his 15-year-old son died playing a schoolyard game, no amount of competitive grit could fill the void.

Today, Tomson walks into maximum security prisons, board rooms and surf competitions with twelve blank lines. Each starts with "I will." The toughest inmates break down, writing "I will forgive myself."

Through his own darkest hours, Tomson discovered that real strength lives in vulnerability - a revelation that mirrors professional surfing's evolution from forced stoicism to a world where champions dare to say "I'm not okay."

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Previous Episode

Raw Files | Rock bottom, addiction & the pro tour with Beyrick De Vries

As part of our Mental Health chapter, Pro surfer Beyrick De Vries drops the hammer on pro surfing to reveal the darkness that nearly swallowed him whole.

No sugar-coating, no BS – just raw truth about how the competitive circuit's party culture and pressure cooker environment pushed him to the edge.

From using humor as armor to finding unexpected salvation in rehab, Beyrick's isn't the usual feel-good redemption story.

It's a gut-punch reminder that sometimes hitting rock bottom is the wake-up call we need.

Whether you're struggling or know someone who is, this episode might just be the light in the darkness you've been looking for.

Want more of Duct Tape Theory?

--> Listen to Chapter 5 - Mental Health ⁠here⁠

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Next Episode

Pulse Check | "The money's gone". Inside the surf industry's multi million dollar collapse with O'Neill's VP of Sales Paul Harvey

The champagne's flat, the party's over, and someone has to explain how we ended up here.

Welcome to Pulse Check - a brand new addition to the Duct Tape Theory content series, where we talk about the beautiful mess we all love - our industry.

In our first installment, O'Neill's VP of Sales, Paul Harvey, is going deep down the rabbit hole into the current state of the surf industry and how we went from signing deals on private planes to fire sales and licensing agreements.

This episode's so current it's practically bleeding, with Billabong now joining the Quik license O5, and RVCA is moving to the license group United Legwear. Both will no longer be with the Liberated Group.

Strange times indeed.

Want more of Duct Tape Theory?

--> Listen to Chapter 5 - Mental Health ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠

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