Attributed with numerous great leaps forward in design such as the first twin fin, the first foiled boards (they were previously planks), shaping the first Styrofoam blank in ‘48, it was Simmons the oddball surf character as much as the designer that makes him stand out. A kind of eccentric guru to a crowd of would-be greats including Buzzy Trent, Matt Kivlin, Peter Cole and Joe Quigg, Simmons was also one of surfing’s original mysto-man recluses, roaming the California coast alone dawn patrolling, scouting for waves. He had a handle on the fundamentals of surf forecasting, and used them to stay one step ahead of the game before drowning at Windansea in 1954, before he could invent anything else.
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