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Logan Richards
Mrs. DeBock
English 4
November 2, 2014
History of Surfboards
Nothing compares to the experience of coming out of a gnarly barrel, feeling the salty
mist spit out behind the surfboard. Surfing has been around for well over hundreds of years. It
may not seem like it when someone goes to the beach to watch them, but it has been the main
sport for many Hawaiians for many years. One day surfing was introduced all over the world
from Asia to North America, and has been effecting people subsequently. Since the beginning
surfing has took so many changes to become what it is today. The shapes of surfboards have
changed so much over the years from their length and width to how many fins they have as well
as what materials they were created of.
Firstly, no one knows exactly when surfing had actually began, only that it had been
started in Polynesia. According to McCarthy, crewmen of Capt. James Cooks HMS Discovery
became the first European record of surfing in 1778 (McCarthy). This was the worlds first small
nibble into what surfing was and even could become. Surfboards have evolved so much since the
time of James Cook. For example, The boards were as long as 20 feet and weighed about 150
pounds (Voeller). As the years progressed boards began to become lighter and a lot shorter. As
stated by McCarthy, in 1926, a man named Tom Blake changed the

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world of surfing forever when he drills holes into his 15 foot redwood board to reduce its weight
which eventually becomes the first mass-produced surfboard (McCarthy).
Next surfing changed even more with the interdiction of balsa wood surfboards.
According to McCarthy, in 1932 balsa decreases surfboard weights from 100 to 30 pounds
(McCarthy). In 1926 Tom Blake then invented the first skeg, or fin this helped surfers control
their boards (Voeller). As reported by Crossingham, Skegs allow surfers to turn and pivot more
sharply, with skegs a whole new world of moves became possible (Crossingham). Surfing
began to transform into what it is today. According to research, in 1946 Preston Peterson builds
the first fiberglass surfboard (Crossingham). This modernized surfing forever, surfboards today
are dominantly formed of fiberglass. For example These surfboards were lighter and easier to
handle than the hollow, wooden surfboards (Voeller).
By the 1950s no one ever expected surfing to change as much as it did from wood to
fiberglass. As Crossingham states in 1966, Australian Nat Young changed surfing forever when
used the first shortboard for a surfing competition in California. By the end of the 1960s most
surfers were using boards as small as 6 feet long. After the short board came a second skeg,
twin fins hit surfboards in the late 60s (McCarthy). Surfers began to get irritated and tired of
losing their boards during a bad wipe out. A man named Jack Oneill has the solution. Based on
research by McCarthy Californian Pat Oneill, son of wetsuit designer Jack Oneill, comes up
with a solution suction cup + surgical cord = surf leash (McCarthy). Lastly in surfboard
innovations came the modern three skegs. In 1981, Surfboards with three skegs are introduced,
giving surfers even more control over their board (Crossingham).

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As one could see surfboards have changed so much over the years from their length and
width to how many fins they have as well as what materials they were created of. Every
innovation described in this research has helped change surfing to what it has become. Surfing
has alimentally became a serious sport. The innovations of a surf leash to a fiberglass shortboard
are used in the surfing world every day. Surfing has lasted for so many years and it will continue
to last for many to come.