Resurgent Sunny Garcia Partners with Legendary Shaper Spider Murphy

Surfing legend Sunny Garcia, the 2000 World Champion and six time Triple Crown winner, has signed up with Safari Surf Company, the home of Spider Murphy and Spider Performance Surfboards in Durban, South Africa.

Sunny and Spider met at the Quiksilver Pro at New Pier, Durban in April this year, and they immediately clicked. The resulting creative partnership is focused on refining existing performance surfboard design, similar to Spider’s partnerships with former World Title holders Shaun Tomson (1977) and Martin Potter (1989) for their successful campaigns.

The results are coming in for Sunny and the 38 year-old Hawaiian is well on track to regain his place amongst the world’s top 45 ranked surfers on the ASP World Tour for 2009.

“Sunny is very serious about his surfboards,” Spider said. “During both the Quiksilver and Mr. Price Pro’s in Durban this year he was in our factory every day working with me on new designs and giving me immediate feedback. The results are five new Sunny (Garcia) signature models.”

A 20 year veteran of the ASP World Tour, Sunny was crowned World Champion in 2000 and holds the record of six victories in the Hawaiian Triple Crown. Since he first burst onto the competitive surfing scene as a 16 year-old in 1986, he has consistently been ranked in the top 10 in the world. Known for his mastery at powerful surf breaks, Sunny is one of the most famous and respected surfers in the business.

weight: 154 lbs (70 kilos)

height: 5'8" (173 cm)

stance: Natural (regular) foot

sponsors: Red Surf clothing, Oakley eyewear, Spider surfboards and Island Style accessories

shaper: Spider

quiver: 6"0" x 18 1/8" x 2 1/8"

home break: Queensberry Bay

favorite waves: Queensberry Bay, Yellow Sands and J-Bay

favorite maneuvers: Tube rides and anything solid

weak spot: Super technical aerials

favorite surfers: Kelly Slater and Tom Curren and Andy Irons