Martin "Pottz" Potter (born 28 October 1965 in Blyth, Northumberland, England), is a former professional surfer.
He became a pro in 1981 and In 1989 after claiming 6 tour victories from 25 events he became "World Surfing Champion".
'Pottz' redefined competitive surfing through performing technically high-risk moves such as aerials (where a surfer is able to use the energy of a wave to launch themselves free of it together with their surfboard, and to land back down onto the water and continue on) and 360's (the surfer and surfboard rotate on a wave 360 degrees before continuing on), which were previously only performed in the domain of free surfing (as opposed to competitively).
From his success as a world champion, he led the call for a new form of competitive surfing; a judging format based on "risky surfing" - i.e. higher scoring being given to bigger and more critical maneuvering - which eventually became an accepted standard on what is now known as the World Championship Tour (WCT).
[1] Potter lives in Australia on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, with his wife and two children.