Machado cutback, Lower Trestles, California

Robert Edward Machado (born October 16, 1973) is an Australian-born American professional surfer.

Early life

Machado attended San Dieguito High School. He describes himself in interviews,

vlogs A video blog or video log, sometimes shortened to vlog (), is a form of blog for which the medium is video. Vlog entries often combine embedded video (or a video link) with supporting text, images, and other metadata. Entries can be recorded in ...

and social media as a "

soul surfer A soul surfer (term invented during the 1960s) is a surfer who surfs for the sheer pleasure of surfing. Although they may still enter competitions, winning is not the soul surfer's main motive, since they scorn the commercialization of surfing. T ...

," or freesurfer,. He was largely active in the competitive surfing scene from 1993 to 2000, and was still competing in

World Surf League The World Surf League (WSL) is the governing body for professional surfers and is dedicated to showcasing the world's best talent in a variety of progressive formats. The World Surf League was originally known as the International Professional ...

events until 2012.

Career

Machado hosts and participates in an annual event held at his home reef called the Rob Machado Surf Classic and Beach Fair, which is an amateur competition for the locals of all ages, and it includes demo sessions with Machado and other pros. Machado portrayed "

himself A reflexive pronoun is a pronoun that refers to another noun or pronoun (its antecedent) within the same sentence. In the English language specifically, a reflexive pronoun will end in ''-self'' or ''-selves'', and refer to a previously ...

" in the 2007 animated picture, '' Surf's Up.'' Machado also starred in his own feature film released in the late 90s titled "Drifting". Additionally, Rob wrote and starred in the 2009 film, '' The Drifter''. Machado is a 2011 inductee into the Surfing Walk of Fame in

Huntington Beach, California Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County in Southern California, located southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. The city is named after American businessman Henry E. Huntington. The population was 198,711 during the 2020 census, mak ...

in the surf champion category. On December 31, 2019, Machado announced he would no longer be associated with Hurley International after having been sponsored by the surf company for nearly 20 years, due to the new ownership group's desire to cut spending. He is now sponsored by Vuori, Reef, Dragon and Firewire.

Environmental activism

Machado formed the Rob Machado Foundation, an organization focused on

environmental A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scal ...

causes.

Career highlights

Machado has won the Hawaii's Pipeline Masters (Triple Crown of Surfing), and the

U.S. Open of Surfing The U.S. Open of Surfing is a week-long surfing competition held annually during the summer in Huntington Beach, California. Generally held on the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier, the U.S. Open is part of the qualification process for the ...

, the largest surfing event held on the U.S. mainland.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Machado, Rob 1973 births Living people Sportspeople from Sydney American surfers American people of Australian descent American sportspeople of Mexican descent World Surf League surfers