Kalani Robb's mission as a world tour surfer is accomplished.

After 11 years on the tour, Robb made enough money to purchase his own home on O'ahu's North Shore, and help his parents buy a home in Kapolei.

Now, Robb can surf happily ever after, away from the World Championship Tour.

"I don't have as many trophies on the wall as I would have liked," Robb, 28, said. "But my mom has a nice house, I have my own house, and we're living good. I'd say that made it all worth it."

Robb said he is retiring from the world tour after this year. The Rip Curl Pro Pipeline Masters, which begins its holding period today at the Banzai Pipeline, will be his last event on the tour.

"It's not that I'm over surfing; I'm still going to be surfing every day," he said. "But I'm over competing."

It brings to an end one of the most dynamic competitive careers for any Hawai'i surfer.

Robb, who grew up in various areas of O'ahu, was considered a surfing phenom as a teenager. He won several state and national championships as an amateur surfer, and was already competing regularly in professional contests by age 16.

At 17 in 1994, he qualified to compete on the World Championship Tour (only 44 surfers qualify for the WCT each year). He remains the youngest surfer ever to qualify for the elite tour.

Robb has been on the WCT every year since.

He was named Rookie of the Year in 1995, and finished in the top 20 of the year-end rankings nine times in his 11 years on tour. His highest finish was at No. 5 in 2001.

"As far as the world title that a lot of people expected me to have, that's probably the only thing I would want to have," Robb said. "But I'm fine with not winning one. I've done more than I ever imagined I could do already. I had a lot of good results and came close a couple of times."

Robb said he lost his drive to compete early this year, and it shows in his current No. 35 ranking.

He made it as far as the quarterfinals in only one contest this year.

"I didn't feel like competing at a lot of the events, but I went anyway," he said. "My results fit what my attitude was. I just wasn't in it."

Several other veteran surfers are retiring from the world tour this year, including former world champion Sunny Garcia of Wai'anae, and Australian standouts Mark Occhilupo and Luke Egan.

Much has been made in surfing magazines and Web sites about the other retiring surfers, but Robb has remained relatively quiet.

"I don't want people to make a big deal out of it," he said. "That's why I didn't want to tell people about it. It was my own deal."

Robb is still considered a top contender in virtually any contest he enters. And he said he will still enter selected events, including future Vans Triple Crown of Surfing contests.

"It's not like people will never see me surf again," he said. "In fact, you might see more of me. My sponsors want me to do a lot more stuff as far as TV and photo shoots, so I'm still going to be involved in a lot of surfing. It's still going to be my job."

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.