Mark Occhilupo has been around for a long time. By 1984, when he was just 17 years old, Occy had made a name for himself in surfing as one of the best. He was young, fit, and hungry to win. Soon though, after a few years on tour, something changed. He partied a little too hard. Drank a little too much. Put on a little too much weight. Surfing stopped being the focus of his life, and it seemed, for a few years, at least, that Occy’s light had faded. In the early 1990s, he dropped off the tour. He still showed up in a surf movie every now and then, but the spotlight moved on. He famously sat on his couch for a year and ballooned to a rumored 250 pounds.
Then, something changed again. The Raging Bull decided he needed to begin the journey back to being his old self. Over the course of two years, he dropped the weight and returned to form. By 1995, he was surfing competitively again. Then, in 1999, he finally won a world title. He hovered at the top of surfing’s best for six more years, then hung up the jersey in 2005. Still, even all these years later, Occy remains relevant in the surfing sphere. His backside approach is widely lauded as the best ever. He’s still surfing better than 99.9 percent of the world. And now, he’s dropped two shapes that are fitted to the surfer who’s not exactly slight of frame. At 5’9 and weighing 210 pounds, Occy needs a little more foam—which, if we’re being honest, is something most people could probably use.
The models, made by JS, are called The Raging Bull and the Bullseye. The Raging Bull, by the way, is the board he rode in the Bells heritage heat that he won against Tom Curren. The Bullseye is a step-down model. Both feature “a strategically generous distribution of volume throughout the board that goes hand in hand with thicker stock dimensions.” And for the everyday surfer, more foam often equals more fun. Watch as Occy (and a little Parko for good measure) prove the theory on The Raging Bull.
