CLARK FOAM Photo Credit to: SURFERTODAY.COM Clark Foam was a pillar of the surf industry for over four decades. Founded in 1961 by Gordon “Grubby” Clark, the company made the vast majority of surfboard blanks used by shapers throughout much of surfing’s modern history. Grubby Clark grew up in California and surfed the heavy redwood boards of the 1940s and 1950s. While he was still a teenager, Clark worked for legendary surfboard designer Tom Blake, who invented the first surfboard fin. He also worked as a glasser for Hobie Alter while studying for his bachelor’s degree at Pomona College, placing him at the heart of the surfboard industry in the late 1950s. By the late 1950s, balsa wood had become the industry standard for surfboard construction, but Hobie was a visionary and had been experimenting with polyurethane foam blanks, and put Clark in charge of that project. They released the first foam-core surfboard to the market in 1958, and by 1960 these boards had become ubiquitous. In 1961, Clark started his own company to supply blanks for the surf industry’s shapers, naming it after himself and calling it Clark Foam. The company had a number of creative innovations, including cement...

The History of the Surf Leash Photo Credit to AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL SURFING MUSEUM Today, surfboard leashes (or “leg ropes,” in the Aussie vernacular) are a ubiquitous part of the surf experience. But this hasn’t always been the case. In fact, prior to the early 1970s, the concept of a safety net for surfboards didn’t even exist. It was Pat O’Neill, son of famed wetsuit inventor Jack O’Neill, who is credited with creating the first leash—a piece of surgical tubing tied around his wrist, and attached to the board with a suction cup. Pat took his leash public at the 1971 Malibu Invitational, and was laughed out of the water by his competitors, who called his leash a “kook cord.” Many people believed that chasing your board was an integral part of the surf experience, and that the ability to swim to shore after a wipeout demonstrated one’s ability as a waterman. There were also reservations about the dangers of being attached to a heavy piece of fiberglass. In fact, Pat’s legendary father Jack actually had one of his early leashes snap and whip back into his face, blinding him in one eye and resulting in the legendary eye patch that...