Up late and thinking..geeez shouldnt do that.., but with Mark Richards closing the shop it got me thinking about board development. Now not having a big history in surfing, I may be way off base with somethings.
I seems the industry took major steps based on a few individuals
1- Bob McTavish..... development of the fore-runner to the modern shortboard
2- Mark Richards.... development of the twin fin (watched MR surf at Margret river Thriller..in a word.... once WOW)
3- Simon Anderson. development / refinement of the thruster
4- Murray Burton.... development / refinement of the quad??
5-.....................................................????????????
So what is or who is next??
As I said, I may be off with the names, please correct me
Curious here to see what others think?
Climber
George Greenough.......................short boards, fins, hot dogging, cameras etc The original grandmaster.
As for whats next I am not really sure.......but I would hope that we could make some significant breakthrough in technology at some point soon. For a long time we used the same old PU products - until the mighty blank operator closed his doors one day. In recent yrs expoxy and carbon strips etc have become more popular and some nice product has been launched. But given the age of this industry it strikes me that innovation has been pretty slow / poor on the product side of the equation. There have been some dramatic changes in shapes, designs, fins etc but the actual process of making most surfboards and the elements involved have not changed that much at all. Its time for someone to start thinking outside the box I reckon.
Here's the back end of mine. The front fins are toed in with the back ones straighter. It looks a bit busy back there but it seems to work.
This list could be never ending a few i can think of with the other thread on hulls are bob Simmons and also with twins, swallow tail type fish's Steve lis, deserves a mention. http://www.surfmuseum.org/html/steve_lis.html
But if your talking changed an industry then gidget 
I remember a fella in NZ having a quad way back in the late 80's when I was starting out - right around the time when Mr X used to flaunt those paddle gloves of his. I always enjoyed his surfing. He did really good at Pipe one year (think Robbie Bain was also in the final) which silenced a few of his doubters from memory. He was a madman!!!
Tell us some more Sharpie.......
I have 5 short boards in the shed - 4 are quads. One of them is a MB and I love it. A mate of mine has a 6'6" Silver Bullet quad which I reckon is the ultimate one board travel quiver for me. Ok in the smaller stuff and can handle all the way through to double over head. Perfecto as a light travelling quiver. In recent yrs I have been a fan of taking one board away - esp when I am away with work and will only get a few sessions here and there. Although I was glad I took two away to WA as I smashed up the POD one morning!
There was Ben Lexen that got the star fin going that Cheyne Horan was riding and every now and then I see one. Did anyone ever try one of those ? And what about that tunnel fin ? That seems like a hoax.
Just watch the movie / doco on Al Merrick called Flow. Apparently he invented everything!
No, I don't believe that, I believe all of it post redwood boards from the Duke were Aussie innovations..... 
I have heard alot of people talk about MR for the twin, but have been told he was more famous for riding them...in no way was he the first to shape and use them???
just what I have heard
Its signed by him to me and he did ask not to sell it
I did post a picture a long time ago
Yeah Bob Simmons was riding twin finned hydrodynamic planing hulls with concave and planing rails in 1946....
In 1949 he was making EPS cored, timber veneered sandwich construction, this is before PU foam!!!
He is credited as the father of the modern surfboard, only about 20 years ahead of his time..
i want to see this rip curl movie with all their spin out cameras
