Shane Dorian

In 1987, Dorian had his first major success at the Gotcha Pro competition at Sandy Beach. He was able to beat some big names, made it through four rounds, and received some media exposure. He became friends with a couple of the up-and-coming surfers on Oahu, Brock Little and Todd Chesser who played a role in the development of his surfing.

Dorian joined the ASP World Tour in 1993, where he hovered outside of the top 10 for a number of years before cracking the barrier with a fourth-place world finish in 2000. He has also won a number of events in his career, including the Rip Curl Pro in 1999 and the 2000 Billabong Pro at Mundaka. In 2004, Dorian retired from the WTC tour, but not from a being a professional; choosing to focus on becoming a better surfer.

Since 1995, Dorian has directed the Shane Dorian Keiki Classic for surfers 17 and under.

In December 2010, Dorian had a terrifying wipeout at Mavericks in a two-wave hold-down that almost killed him. The incident motivated Shane to design surfing's first "safety suit" to be inflated with a CO2 cartridge in a wetsuit vest during a potentially deadly hold-down. He helped develop the final product that is capable of instantly "torpedoing" a trapped-underwater surfer back to the surface when inflated.

In 2011, Dorian was awarded "Ride of the Year" by the World Surf League for paddling into a giant Peahi "Jaws" barrel on 3-15-2011 estimated to be 57 feet tall by the World Surf League, and biggest wave ever paddled into at that time.

Dorian is featured in an ESPN on ABC television series three-part special called World of X-Games: Big Wave Hellmen that premiered on October 26, 2014 and ran until November 9, 2014. It follows Shane along with five of his Big Wave Hellmen competitors: Grant "Twiggy" Baker, Ryan "Hippo" Hipwood, Mark Healey and Greg Long touring the biggest and best big wave breaks in the world competing for the big wave world title. A panel of judgeds, one will be crowned "Big Wave Hellmen of the Year". They spent a year around the globe chasing monster swells to hunt down and ride the most dangerous waves they could find. And in the end, determined by a panel of expert judges, who include legendary big wave surfers, Greg Noll and Mike Parsons, and author of Ghost Wave: The Discovery of Cortes Bank Chris Dixon, one will be crowned "Big Wave Hellmen of the Year".