TC is surfings GOAT IMO.
At his peak he went AWOL and essentially gave up contests and forgo logos on his boards. Seeking out obscure waves. There are also many stories of waves seeking out to be ridden by Tom Curren not the other way around.
He really helped usher in more sensible board shapes in the 90s also. When everyone was trying to grovel on 6'1" x17" rocketed out glass slippers, TC was rediscovering the fish.
But for me, its the way he links turns. No one links turns in such a fluid way as Curren. Before or since.
https://vimeo.com/26300820 Surfing a twin keel, way before the interest in retro boards reemerged.
I liken him to Gonz, like I said in the first post, because it seems they both would be incapable of functioning in the modern world without their chosen craft. They can't communicate with words. They communicate with their surfing/ skateboarding and they've communicated more than their peers through their chosen medium. Genius, basically. There's more than a little magic going on.
https://www.surfer.com/features/mythology-tom-curren/ Pretty rad collection of Curren anecdotes.
First Gay Marriage, then legal weed and now a goddamn skatepark in PC.