Lust
in the Dust An Era of Big-Wave Equipment
Evolution by Dick Brewer
Extract:
Brewer, Dick:Lust in the Dust -An
Era of Big-Wave Equipment Evolution. Surfer Magazine Vol 30 No. 10, 1989, page 105.
The modern big-wave
board design - consisting of a foiled shape, low rails in the tail,
and single or multiple fins - came from Bob Simmons. By 1957 Wally Froiseth and Woody
Brown had smoothed the design, reduced the area in the tail and developed
the pin-tail. Froiseth and George Downing proved
the design at Makaha. Joe Quigg and Pat Curren were the
artisan boat builders of surfing. Quigg represented the lightweight,
soft- edge school. Pat was noted for his hard-edged,
flat-bottom boards. When Curren visited me at Surfboards
Hawaii in Haleiwa during 1963, he had a 9'4" full gun, an 8'4" semi-gun
3" thick, and a 4'6" twin-fin kneeboard. All these boards were ahead of their
time. In 1965 John Peck introduced the
low rail nose on a small-wave board. In 1966 Mike Doyle introduced the
low
rail nose and tail on the 10'5" gun he won the Duke contest on. In 1967 Gary Chapman rode Sunset
Beach on a 9'7" Brewer, then an 8'6". Barry Kanaiaupuni rode Chapman's
boards, and said, "This is what's happening-R.B.. small guns." This was six months before Nat Young
and Bob McTavish would show up with their 9' deep vee- tankers. The Brewer team traveled from Oahu
to Maui, then to Kauai to be creative. With Reno Abellira, Gerry Lopez,
the Chapman brothers, Jock Sutherland, Joey Cabell, Jimmy Lucas, Jackie
Eberly and Mike Hynson, it was quite a scene when they showed up at the
beach. The tri-fin was invented by myself
and Reno Abellira in 1969, after working with David Nuuhiwa at Greek Surfboards,
where he designed the first fish. By 1972, unable to get publicity
for my tri-fin work, I shelved development until a later date. Simon Anderson finally showed us
where to put the fins in 1979. In 1970 Terry Fitzgerald and I thinned
out the tail, boxed the rails and came up with the beginnings of the modem
big base fin. In late 1971 I shaped the first
modern foiled surfboard blanks for Clark Foam: the 7'4", the 8'1" and the 9'2". Today, the leading exponent of the
kick-tail/kick-nose school of surfing in Hawaii is Pat Rawson. In California it's Gary Linden. This rocker is an extension of what
Herbie Fletcher and I did at Hobie's in 1965. We had Sandy Banks glue up blanks
that had totally flat bottom rockers in the middle, with a super kick-nose
and super kick- tail, and a Camel deck. Joyce Hoffman rode one of these
- "the Batman board" - successfully in competition. Technically, my Waimea guns are
the same as 10 years ago. However, small changes have given
us more bite and maneuverability. Working with Owl Chapman, I have
used test riders Roger Erickson, Darrick Doerner and Ace Cool to produce
a new Super-Gun. The result is the new Clark Foam
10'9" Brewer Blank. The tri-fin dominates up to 15'. Above 15', as tails get narrower,
the single-fin becomes more efficient. Roger Erickson is now riding a slot-fin
on his Waimea board, exactly like the fin on my sailboard. Tbe slot ehminates spin-outs and
helps maneuverability.
Brewer, Dick:Lust
in the Dust -An Era of Big-Wave Equipment Evolution. .Surfer
Magazine Vol 30 No. 10 October 1989, page
105.
Image Top :
Owl Chapman, Waimea Bay. Photograph : Jeff Hornbaker
