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Mark Occhilupo

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Mark Occhilupo
Born (1966-06-16) 16 June 1966 (age 58)
Kurnell, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
SpouseJessica Crawford
Children4 boys
Personal information
ResidenceTweed Heads, New South Wales, Australia
Weight194 lb (88 kg)
Surfing career
Best year1999 ASP World Tour
Career earnings$652,125
SponsorsBillabong, FCS traction and fins, JS Industries surfboards, Globe (historical), Oakley (historical),
Major achievementsWorld Surfing Champion 1999
Surfing specifications
StanceGoofy-footed
Shaper(s)Jason Stevenson (current). Rodney Dahlberg (historical), Rusty Preisendorfer (historical),
Favorite wavesBells, Kirra, G-Land, J Bay
Websitemarkoccy.com

Marco Jay Luciano "Mark" Occhilupo (born 16 June 1966) is an Australian professional surfer and winner of the 1999 ASP World title.[1][2]

Occhilupo, also known as "Occy", began his professional career in the World Championship Tour (WCT) at the age of 17. In September 2019, he made a brief return to the international surfing circuit and took part in the So Sri Lanka Pro 2019 tournament which also marked his first visit to the country.[3][4]

Life and career

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Occhilupo was born on 16 June 1966 in Kurnell in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Occhilupo's father was Italian and his mother was originally from New Zealand. Marco began surfing at the age of nine, and soon moved to the neighbouring suburb of Cronulla, where he was previously enrolled into Cronulla High School in Sydney’s south.

He won his first amateur schoolboys' contest at 13 and followed up with two Cadet State Titles. After the tenth grade, he left home as an ASP trialist. Virtually unnoticed, he advanced to the Top 16 at year's end and secured a seed for the following year.

In 1984, at age 17, Occhilupo's high performance standards took him to the top of the ASP ratings. At Jeffreys Bay, his powerful and aggressive style were an advantage in backside surfing. Occhilupo hovered around the top five in the rankings, and was becoming popular in the United States when Tom Curren was at the peak of his career. The two were rivals in surfing's biggest spectator event, the OP Pro, which Occhilupo won in 1985 after beating Curren in a three-heat final and again in the 1986 OP.[5][6] Aspiring to be an actor, Occhilupo played himself in the 1987 Hollywood Cult-Classic, North Shore.

The young surfer struggled with depression and substance abuse during his years on the tour,[7] and eventually, exhausted by his lifestyle, he threw a quarterfinal heat at the Op, headed home to Cronulla, and quit the World Tour.

Over the next several years, he made a couple of half-hearted comeback attempts and remained in the public eye as a repeating star of Jack McCoy's Billabong videos. He married Beatrice Ballardie in 1993 and built a house near Kirra. After reaching a weight of 111-kilos, he began a training program under McCoy in Western Australia that helped him shed 34 kilos and regained his form.

Occhilupo re-entered professional surfing in 1995, and re-established himself as a top competitor on his first full season back on the ASP World Tour in 1997, finishing the tour as runner-up to Kelly Slater.[8] Occy's comeback was solidified at the Bells Beach Super Skins event that year. Although a non-rated event, his form earned him 11-straight heat victories and more prize money than the winner of the Bells Beach Pro WCT event that year. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest surfing performances of all time, with Mick Fanning declaring that Occy's performance would still garner perfect scores on the tour today. He carried this momentum into the following year at Bell's to claim the 1998 Rip Curl Pro - his first WCT event victory in 12 years and tied with Barton Lynch and Johnny Boy Gomes as the oldest WCT event winner at the age of 32.[9] [10]

After some further major wins he won the world title in 1999 at age 33. He has since retired and lives in Bilambil Heights, New South Wales, with his wife Beatrice and stepson Rainer. He made a comeback return for an international surfing event in 2019 after 20 years and competed in So Sri Lanka Pro 2019. However he recorded a modest score of 8.74 and was knocked out of Round 3 of the event.[11]

Career WCT victories

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Occhilupo has won 12 WCT events, placing him 12th in all-time wins as of 2024.

ASP World Tour Wins [12] [13]
Year Event Venue Country
1984 Country Feeling Classic Jeffreys Bay, Eastern Cape  South Africa
1984 Tutti Fruitti Lacanau Pro Gironde, Nouvelle-Aquitaine  France
1984 Beaurepairs Open Cronulla, New South Wales  Australia
1985 Gunston 500 Durban, Natal  South Africa
1985 OP Pro Huntington Beach, California  United States
1985 Swan Margaret River Thriller Margaret River, Western Australia  Australia
1985 Pipeline Masters Banzai Pipeline, Oahu  United States
1986 OP Pro Huntington Beach, California  United States
1998 Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach, Victoria  Australia
1999 Gotcha Tahiti Pro Teahupoo, Tairapu, Tahiti  French Polynesia
1999 Quiksilver Pro Fiji Namotu, Tavarua  Fiji
1999 Billabong Pro Anglet/Mundaka  France Spain

Post surfing

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Occhilupo is currently a presenter on the Australian cable television channel Fuel TV.[14]

He was a contestant in the 2011 season of the Australian version of Dancing with the Stars on Channel Seven, and was partnered with Jade Brand. They were the third couple to be eliminated from the competition.

His surname, Occhilupo, is Italian and means "eyes of the wolf." However, his nickname is "The Raging Bull."

He currently resides with his family in Bilambil Heights, a hillside suburb of the Gold Coast neighbouring town Tweed Heads.

He currently operates a successful podcast called the Occ-Cast which features Occhilupo talking to some of the most famous and interesting people in surfing, including Kelly Slater and Mick Fanning.

References

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  1. ^ "Pro Surfer: Mark Occhilupo". World Surf League. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  2. ^ Jay follows in surfer dad Mark Occhilupo's footsteps
  3. ^ "1999 world champion Mark Occhilupo to compete at So Sri Lanka Pro Surfing". Sunday Times. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
  4. ^ "Huge International Field Arrives For So Sri Lanka Pro". World Surf League. 24 September 2019. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  5. ^ Bruce Anderson (8 September 1986). "Getting Amped on the Coast". SI.comVault. Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on 22 July 2019. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  6. ^ "Surfing's Greatest Rivalries". Archived from the original on 19 December 2008. Retrieved 17 December 2008.
  7. ^ Jake Dean (10 August 2018). "Has surfing learned anything about drug abuse since Andy Irons' death? | Jake Dean". The Guardian. Guardian News & Media Limited. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  8. ^ https://noosatoday.com.au/news/02-04-2024/occy-and-jack-come-to-noosa/#:~:text=At%20the%20start%20Jack%20took,occasion%20with%20the%20surfing%20tribe.”
  9. ^ https://www.surfer.com/news/throwback-when-occy-ruled-bells
  10. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq6y-ERPsCI
  11. ^ "Occy at A-Bay". World Surf League. 28 September 2019. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  12. ^ 1998 Media Guide & Statistics Book. Association of Surfing Professionals, Faircount International, Inc. 1998. p. 7.
  13. ^ "Mark Occhilupo – JS Industries AUS". JS Industries. Retrieved 2 June 2025.
  14. ^ Occhilupo works as Australian cable TV presenter
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Achievements
Preceded by Association of Surfing Professionals World Champion (men's)
1999 		Succeeded by
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