Short Surfboards

History of the Shortboard:

In 1960, Bob McTavish couldn't afford a 9 foot surfboard so he bought a 6 foot surfboard. Bob started shaping his own surfboards a couple years later and pretty much stuck to longboards until he met George Greenough surfing a kneeboard with some fins on it in 1964. Together they mocked up a shortboard with the width of a longboard they named "Sam." Robert "Nat" Young rocked "Sam" in the 1966 World Contest in San Diego and shocked everybody with how easily the board seemed to handle.

The next year in 1967, they took the board to Hawaii where it was hit or miss. Master craftsman Dick Brewer picked up on the shortboard and made some refinements by adding a tear drop shaped pintail and refined the concaves with the mini-gun. Seemingly overnight board lengths were cut by three feet and if you were a young, hip surfer seeking a thrill ride, shortboards were what to ride. Over the years, more tweaks have been made to crank out as much speed and performance as possible keeping shortboards the go-to choice for intermediate to pro surfers everywhere.