Perform a Google search for “who invented the thruster surfboard” or “who invented the tri-fin surfboard”.
Never mind, we’ll do it for you:
In each and every instance (or at least until this article reaches the masses) Google AI and Wikipedia (et cetera) will return Simon Anderson as the sole result. However, in being true to our mission at Surf Museum Hawaii (SMH) we are beholden to provide the global surf community with added insight that evidences Hawaii’s direct influence on developments in the design of surf craft – thruster included.
Was a Hawaii-based board builder ultimately behind the development of the tri-fin?
The evidence being presented today comes in the form of a surfboard shaped under the Dick Brewer label. Pictured above and below, is an experimental 6’4″ three-fin that was designed by Hawaiian surf legend and shaper Reno Abellira in 1971. The board features a standard-sized single fin that was common to pin-tailed and pin-nosed surfboards which appeared during the shortboard revolution of 1968. On either side of the single fin, are two smaller fins of equal proportion, akin to what some may refer to as “fin bites” in modern times. For all intents and purposes, this board is a tri-fin, and it was released a full DECADE before Simon Anderson’s thruster. It also predates the Campbell brother’s BONZER (1974) which some argue to be the subconscious inspiration for Anderson’s thruster.
Of added interest, is Brewer and Abellira’s involvement in bridging the gap between this 1971 creation and Simon Anderson’s 1981 thruster. In 1976, Reno Abellira transported a Steve Lis’ double-finned fish to Australia and showed it to an up-and-coming Australian pro-surfer Mark Richards. Concurrently, Dick Brewer had been mentoring Richards in designing a competition board that featured a pair of six-inch-high fins. This new twin-fin not only helped Mark Richards win four consecutive world titles, it influenced fellow Aussie, professional surfer, and shaper Simon Anderson to develop the tri-fin, which he dubbed the thruster. He stated that he coined the name because of the feeling of propulsion that the three-fin set-up provided, although, there may have been proprietary motivations for differentiating the board from its predecessors.
But there’s more.
While the lavender plumeria label indicates “Dick Brewer Surfboards”, the Brewer family took to Instagram after SMH shared a montage of the board, not just to show appreciation, but to indicate the Owl Chapman also partnered with Brewer on this experimental design:
For the uninitiated, Owl Chapman was a surfer from the North Shore of Oahu. He was not only famous in the early- and mid-’70s for his tuberiding at Sunset Beach, he had made a mark as an experimental board builder as well. As the Brewer family exclaims, both Dick and Owl were exploring a three-fin set-up a full decennium prior to when Anderson’s creation, or more aptly evolution, had been thrust upon the surf world.
Between ABC (Abellira, Brewer, Chapman) innovations regarding the tri-fin, one finds yet another example of how Hawaiians evolved all aspects of board design and the act of wave-riding. Today’s featured artifact has been made available for SMH exhibit via the Greg Lui Kwan collection.
SMH Appraisal Value: $8,000 USD
