International Professional Surfers (IPS)

The world professional surfing tour's original governing body, created in 1976 by Fred Hemmings and Randy Rarick, both of Hawaii. An informal circuit of pro contests in Hawaii, Australia, and South Africa—sometimes called the "gypsy tour"—had taken shape by 1975; because the events weren't linked together, however, there was no year-end champion and not much uniformity from contest to contest. In ...