Shaun Tomson was one of the greatest riders in the history of surfing. In 1979 Tomson founded Instinct, a surf-sportswear company that was one of the pioneers of the booming surf industry thru the '80s. He sold the company in 1990 and retired from professional surfing. He later worked as the Merchandise Director for Patagonia & then moved on to work as the Marketing and Sales Director at O'Neill Sportswear. He currently owns surf clothing company Solitude with his wife Carla.