Adrian Buchan

After a rapid ascent from Gromminator to who knows how high, Adrian Buchan had a bit of bad luck in the last year. In terms of American baseball, Buchan battled for four years in the minor leagues and made the Big Show, only to have a leg injury wreck his Rookie Year and send him back to the farm league.

Buchan is in his 20s, he is from Australia. He surfs. Need to know more? Okay, he comes from Avoca Beach on the central New South Wales coast, an area that has produced Aussie legends the likes of Bryce Ellis, Mark Sainsbury, Ross Clarke-Jones and Shane Powell. Buchan is a product of the Australian club system, having been brought up from Grom to Prom by the Avoca Boardrider's Club. As a grom, Buchan won the World Grommet Junior Championship in 1997 and again in 1999. And he did the same for the Australasian Pro Junior Champ, winning it in 2000 and 2001.

Buchan is another Aussie kid whose dad is big on Rugby and maybe would rather his son was a great dropkicker or headbutter or something, and maybe that is what is behind Adrian's drive: proving to Pops that surfers aren't wankers.

An ankle injury sidelined Buchan for the start of the 2006 WCT Tour. Buchan made it back into the water in August of 2006, for the Five-Star Rip Curl Pro Boardmasters and then he caused a bit of a stir when he took down Bruce Irons at Lower Trestles for the Boost Mobile Pro Presented by Hurley.

At Trestles Buchan took down Bruce Irons only to meet Kelly Slater in Round Three, but it was left to another Australian - Bede Durbidge - to pull the Cinderella story and beat Slater in the final.

Buchan's Cinderella story got ashed a bit by that ankle injury, and now he must face disappointment and another year on the WQS Tour. He put in all that work only to get a couple of starts in the bigs, but now must return to the minors and battle his way back for 2007. It's going to be tough, but Buchan has proven he is a competitor and if he is destined for greatness, then what is greatness untested?