ROB BAIN, 46, O’Neill Australia CEO.
For Rob Bain, 11-year tour veteran and current CEO of O’Neill Australia, his first taste of success came not in the soggy cotton of a surf comp rashie but on the bloodstained turf of the Rugby League paddock.
“That’s my earliest memory of feeling a real sense of achievement,” explains the now 46 year old. “When I was 12 I made the District Manly Warringah rep team and I just couldn’t believe it. I loved to tackle. I loved to line blokes up and chop them in half.”
Coupla years later, Rob scored a hella gig as a platinum grommie longhair in the Coca Cola Australian Skate Team, (our commercial one-piece jumpsuit-wearing answer to the badass leopard-skinned icons of the Dog Town Z Boys) and along with Cheyne Horan he helped take sidewalk surfing to the masses. “I’d already been surfing for a few years and for me skateboarding was a full extension of it. Pulling into bushes, big Larry Bertlemann’s up driveways and stuff. After a while we started to get into tricks: jumping over numerous people, multiple board handstands, 360s and all the shit that was in around ’75. I think half the reason I made the team was cause I looked like a girl but good things came of it. I did a television ad with Stacey Peralta who I was in awe of and I skated with Rory Russell in this big Pipe out at St Ives. He was the Pipeline Master at the time and here I was, this kid hanging out with him.”
Despite his love for competition (“I don’t know where it came from I just get off on the adrenalin of taking someone on) and surfing, Bain never felt the urge to pull on the coloured singlet. Eventually, Queenscliff Boardriders pulled him up after a freesurf and asked him to join up. “I originally said, ‘Well I don’t really like you guys. You always drop in on me.’ But they got me in and it all took off from there.”
In the blink of an eye, Bob had qualified for the Aussie Team and had scored a government paid trip to America to compete in the ’84 World Amateur Titles. He dudded out big time but instead of heading back to his factory job (chopping wood in the Brookvale Industrial Estate) Bob decided to sweat it out in the States till the Pro Tour rocked into town. “It was a pretty big call in retrospect. I didn’t know anyone cause I’d never done junior comps so I was basically sleeping on couches and getting by however I could.” The risk paid off. Bob struck gold in his first pro event by winning the trials which led to sponsorship, a ticket to the next comp and eventually a pro career which would include four professional victories (including winning the Coke Classic in pumping waves in front of friends and family at Narrabeen) and see finish him finish as high as fifth in the world in 1990.
Competitively Bain was a squat little blonde haired pit-bull but his career was punctuated with moments of superfly that even the new monarchs of cool, Bruce and Dane, would struggle to match. Like ripping the skin off a Marlboro Red only moments after being rag-dolled by a 30-foot Waimea close-out set in the legendary ’86 Billabong Pro. Or being washed through the jungle by the ’94 G-land tsunami while still inside his collapsed tree house. Or scoring the first perfect 10 of his career to wax G-land specialists Tom Carroll and Kelly Slater in his CT swansong event (worth noting here he was the oldest cat on the thing!) The list goes on.
“Those pinnacle moments mean more to me now than a lot of the contest results. Experiencing those things gives you different perspective on success.”
Even so his post retirement comp results include a third place in the ASP World Longboarding Titles, an Australian Title and a fourth the IS World Surfing Games. Now nine years with O’Neill and living at Avalon with his wife Cath and kids Bill, (15), Lachlan (12) and Gabby (9), Bain considers the challenge of balancing work and family the ultimate key to success. “A happy family and a good career is all you need. Doesn’t matter how much money you earn or contests you win. If you can pull those two off I think you’re laughing.” – Adam Blakey
Rob’s Top 5 Tips For Success
Stay Healthy
Nothing worse than not being able to do something cause of poor health. Stay fit and rip in. It’s not that hard.
Be a good person
You see a lot of successful people who aren’t very nice. I’m a strong believer in Karma and you don’t need to sacrifice being kind and compassionate to get ahead in this life.
Stay Happy
People can have nothing and kick a can down the street but if they’ve got a smile on their face they're killing it. Being happy is the true definition of success to me.
Don’t sweat the small stuff.
I haven’t made a lot of money, we still battle to pay the mortgage but at the end of the day I have a strong relationship with my family and I enjoy my work. I think you can get too caught up in career and goals. Finding a healthy balance is a hard thing to come to terms with in today’s society.
Believe in what you do
Jack O’Neill invented the wetsuit so he could stay out in the surf longer. And who doesn’t want to stay out in the surf longer? It’s such a simple concept. The company was born from that one idea and that’s exactly why I believe in it.
