Tom Blake
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The surfboard was originally invented in Hawaii hundreds of years ago. However, it wasn’t until 1926 when Tom Blake invented the hollow surfboard that he turned a mere curiosity and hobby into a global phenomena and lifestyle.
For the father of modern surfing, Tom Blake grew up in a rather contradictory region, born and raised in Wisconsin, a rather land locked state, he was brought up by family after his mother passed away. After high school, he left his home and set out on the road. That year he ended up in Detroit and met Olympic Gold Medal swimmer Duke Kahanamoku. He was so inspired by the man that he decided to follow his footsteps and take up the water sports of swimming and surfing.
Blake saw surfing as almost a religion. He believed that every atom in the water, in the air, and in the wood of his board was a manifestation of god, and he devoted his life to it. His true inspiration for his series of inventions would come in 1926, when came upon a small number of ancient Hawaiian surfboard in the storeroom of a Hawaiian museum. He replicated the general shape and design of these ancient masterpieces while creating a hollow center and then covered them with a shell of marine plywood. Blake had created the first hollow surfboard, making them lighter and more accessible to the public and manufacturers.
In 1928 he unveiled his boards at the Pacific Coast Surfing Championships in California to laughter and criticism, similar to what Robert Fulton might have faced, with his boards mockingly being called “cigars”. However when he came from last and won one of the races by more than one hundred yards, most likely this laughter subsided somewhat.
In 1930, Thomas Blake patented this design under the name of the “Hawaiian Hollow Surfboard” and its commercial production began, spreading the sport’s popularity across the world due to increased accessibility, easier mobility, and less difficulty due to the lighter more maneuverable boards.
The innovation did not stop there however. In 1935 he invented the skeg, which would allow surfers to gain greater control over the board and provide it with a more defined forward direction. Previously, surfers had to use the toes of their back foot to provide stabilization, but Blake eliminated this difficulty, further opening the sport to the mainstream.
Blake made dozens of other contributions to the world. Just the idea of his innovations alone contributed to the revolution of surfing, with new ideas coming from all corners of the globe, fueled and inspired by Blake’s innovations. He also wrote the first book dedicated