A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SHORTBOARD

Since1967 - 1968 the Shortboard has gone through many changes. In 1969 - 70 we were riding 5’9'' to 6’3'' semi full noses with wide ”D" tails, commonly know as Pocket Rockets . When Rolf Arness won the 1970 world championships on a 7’6'' at Bells Beach, we had to rethink and consequently board sizes increased to 6’6'' to 6’9'' and 7'0'' area pintail single fins.

Through the 70’s the Twin Fin came and went and so did the Single Fin with lengths up and down to suit riders. The Campbell Bros from USA brought out the Bonzer, a double concave tailed three fin board. The tail fin was 8'' with 2 triangle forward fins set on the edge of the concaves. It had a lot of potential but it soon faded, the Stinger also came and went with a Swallow tail board with Flyers (also known as wings or steps) up about 22'' from the tail on the rail line.

With Mark Richards Dominance of the Pro Circuit in the mid to late 70’s riding a Twin Fin the board came back into popularity , it sold next to the Single Fin with tails varying from Area Pin Tails, Rounded Squares , and Swallow Tails. The outlines also changed from single flyers to double flyers. The bottoms were basically slight vees or flat with the occasional either 2, 4, or 6 clinker channel bottoms, these were shaped around the last half of the surfboard.

Then all of a sudden Simon Anderson Won Bells on his new Thruster (3 fin) and the surfing world changed forever. Through the 1980’s boards became slightly thinner and narrower. It wasn’t till the 1990’s that the high performance models really took off in a big way as blanks became lighter so board thickness reduced to 2'' and 2½'' widths 17'' to 18½'' and Lengths 5’9'' to 6’6''. Other changes included extreme rockers (Nose and tail lift), bottoms went from slight vees to flat reverse vees, concaves, double concaves and single to double concaves.

At the moment design has levelled out with boards reaching a more middle ground as more surfers are demanding surf boards that are easier to paddle and catch waves. This has seen a return to the 70’s and 80’s styles and surfers are enjoying the new ride. The modern Shortboard will always be going through changes, as each new generation of surfers refine their techniques on quality equipment, while their surfing dreams are inspired by the champions of today.