Occy is an icon. A living legend. He’s been an integral part of surfing for decades now, and he’s not slowing up. Billabong has been making him gear for most of those years, so the brand decided they’d shine a light on some of them.
Mark Occhilupo has a very defined style. One needs nothing more than a silhouette to pick the guy out of a crowd, despite the fact that his style has drawn the outline for a million goofy-footers. “The best style to me,” he said, “is no style at all.”
Back when he was still a grom, Occy was figuring out how he surfed. It’s an ongoing process, of course, but in the ’80s he was just starting out on the road to finding his personal style. People said his style was weird at the time, and, looking back, it’s not a sentiment that Occy disagrees with.
“After looking over the footage from this time, my arms are actually all over the place,” he said. “It wasn’t until Gordon brought me up to the Gold Coast when I really learned how to smooth out my style.”
Then Tom Curren arrived on the scene. And Occy, like so many others, was inspired. “It wasn’t until I saw Tom Curren come,” he remembered. “I really loved the way he surfed and wanted to surf like that.”
Then, though, came that weird bit of time when Occy sort of faded away. He didn’t leave altogether, but it was clear that something wasn’t right. “I didn’t fall out of love with surfing,” he remembered. “But I was falling out of love with life.”
Luckily, he was dragged from his funk to surf perfect waves because he was one of the best in the world and no one wanted to see him wasting away. He got back on the horse and kicked it into a gallop. He began surfing waves that he loved — big, hollow, and powerful ones — and realized that he was in prime form to surf on the tour again.
Now, all these years later and a world title under his belt, Occy has never been happier. He’s in his fifties, fit as a fiddle, and still surfing extraordinarily well.
“These are the twilight years, the really good years,” he said. “Every session is a blessing, and that’s what keeps me psyched.”
