The father of modern surfing, Tom Blake’s various achievements and inventions took surfing from being the ancient Hawaiian passtime into the modern sport we recognize today.

Big call, right? oK then, let’s have a closer look. Blake was the world’s first surfboard designer, in 1925, re-thinking olos and alaias and experimenting with rockers and tail shapes. In 1926, he invented the hollow surfboard, won the first Pacific Coast Surfriding Championships using his own design.

In 1931 he launched the first ever surfboard model, the ‘Tom Blake Approved’. In 1935 he put a fin on a surfboard for the first time. He invented the windsurf board, wrote and published the first ever surfing book ‘Hawaiian Surfboard’. He developed the first water housing for surfing, his photos being published in National Geographic and the LA Times, the birth of legitimate surf photography. He introduced thousands to the sports while lifeguarding up and down America’s East Coast during WW2, and was the first person to surf Malibu. Yep, it’s pretty much all his fault. Any questions?