Career
He was described as "the premier “power” surfer of his era dominated the North Shore during the mid to late-seventies". He moved to Western Australia with his family from Victoria in early 1967, to Perth"s western suburbs, attending Swanbourne Senior High School. Cairns dominated the surfing scene in his adopted state.
He moved to Hawaii in the early 1970s in search of big waves and before a professional circuit had established.
In 1975 Cairns and fellow Australian Peter Townend devised a rating and scoring system for surfing events. In 1979 he moved to California and with Townend formed the National Scholastic Surfing Association (NSSA).
In 1983 he became the first director of the Association of Surfing Professionals (Association of Software Professionals) of which he is a life member. He returned to Australia in 1986 where he farmed at Margaret River, Western Australia.
Alisa Schwarzstein is a former Association of Software Professionals professional.
She was inducted into the Surfing Walk of Fame as that year"s Woman of the Year in 2012. The Walk is in Huntington Beach, California. Cairns is currently Head Coach of the PacSun United States of America Surf Team.
The Western Australian Surfers" and Waveriders" Association awards the Ian Cairns Award to the Western Australian male surfer of the year.