CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
This is a story of a beach man… deAction Man, Brian Talma & deAction World. At 17, Brian shifted his surfing interests to what was then a new, cutting edge water sport called windsurfing. After graduating in 1988 from college with a BA in Business Administration he returned home to open his deAction Surf Shop on deAction beach, Silver Sands. That same year he represented Barbados at the Soul Korea Olympics, (he also represented his country in the 1992 Olympic games in Barcelona Spain). In 1989, Brian jumped on PWA (Professional Windsurfing Association) tour and in 1991 he finished 3rd in the Hawaiian Break Out, the biggest wave event on the circuit. From then on, he enjoyed a string of top 10 finishes and rapidly became one of the most familiar water sports personalities on the tour. Living between Maui and Barbados by 1992, Brian won the Barbados World Cup windsurfing events in both 1993 and 1994. He was awarded the prestigious Barbados Service Star by the Barbados Government in recognition of his promotion of windsurfing and Barbados. In 1995, Brian launched his annual Caribbean Island Travelogue series covering Cuba, Anguilla, Jamaica, Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Antigua, Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago. This developed into the Beach Culture World Tour promoting this lifestyle throughout the world and entertaining visitors to Barbados through Brian’s deAction World.
Then in 1998, Brian, along with fellow international windsurfing personalities Josh Stone and Robby Seeger, played a significant role in the PWA’s launch of its freestyle tour, cementing Brian’s long-held belief that freestyle was the future of windsurfing. Then in 1999 Brian joined an elite group of board riders to compete in the renowned artificial Swatch Wave Tour, traveling to Norway, Australia, Germany, South Africa, Austria and the US with the likes of Kelly Slater, Tony Hawk, and Christian Fletcher, to name a few. Exploring new creative outlets, Brian recorded his first song, “Irie Man Action”, in Jamaica, in 2000 and has continued to produce music to tell his story as a beach man.
Having single handedly introduced SUPing to Barbados in 2005 and then rest of the Caribbean, Brian went on to be one of the key personalities to introduce the sport into Europe. In 2007 he began to compete internationally, in Holland, Germany, Austria and the U.K and quickly becoming a SUP personality. partnering with international hotel
such as Club Roberson in Turkey & the Maldives to promote their destinations and the sport. Brian re-developed his deAction Surf Shop in 2007, by adding accommodations and a restaurant. He also started to developing his Beach Culture Art, painting and writing his poetry onto his shop, canvases and wooden signs scattered across the island. He has also incorporated his art into the design of his deAction brand of beach wear which is a line of board shorts, bags, t-shirts and other beach essentials. deAction World is fully stocked with the latest Naish SUP, Windsurfing and Kiteboarding equipment. Naish International has always played a role in Brian’s career by sponsoring him at his first pro event in Oahu, Hawaii in 1986; this continued during the kiteboard revolution in 1999. In 2008 he formerly joined their windsurfing and SUP team. Brian had shaped himself into one of the most diversified, exciting water sports personalities in the world. He plans to continue his Beach Culture World Tour to promote windsurfing, SUPing, Surfing, Kiting and it’s related sports, whilst entertaining visitors to his deAction World in Barbados… also producing travels stories, Beach Culture Art & Music.