Sunday, August 11, 2019

Tom Blake (1902-1994)

Aloha and Welcome. My Tom Blake chapter is one of the longest chapters in my collection and is based on the definitive Blake biography Tom Blake: The Uncommon Journey of a Pioneer Waterman, which I co-wrote with Blake biographer and friend Gary Lynch, published in 2001.


To read, please click on the image below:

Contents

Introduction
Blake Beginnings
Malibu First Ridden with Sam Reid, 1926
Hollow Board Evolution, 1926-29
  Drilled-Holes, 1926-29
  Pacific Coast Surfriding Championships, 1928
  Carved Chambered Hollows, 1929
Surf Photography, 1929
Ala Wai Canal Contests, 1929-1931
Further Board Developments
Surfer Lifestyle Pioneer
Longest Rides, 1930 & 1936
Early 1930s Innovations
  The Sailboard, 1931-32
  Collapsible Surfboard, 1932
  The Leash
Santa Monica Guarding, 1932-33
Catalina Crossing, 1932
Production Boards
USA East Coast
  Miami, 1933-34
  Nassau, Bahamas, 1934
  Long Island, New York, 1934
The Skeg & Other Innovations
Palos Verdes & Miami 1939-41
World War II and After
Early 1950s
Surfing’s End, 1955
1960s
  “Voice of the Wave,” 1968
1970s
Last Years


“When I was a young man, I fell from social grace, or rather was pushed into deep water. Thereafter I became a rebel of the society that had so taken advantage of a well meaning youth. I soon found that even deep water supports a rebel, if he has the will and ability to swim, regardless of race, color or creed. At times I found the water good, better than the land I was cut off from; the blessings of nature, superior and more honest and productive to happiness than the striving to conform: was thus I came to know my god.”

-- Tom Blake, July 16, 1968

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