Posted on 05/30/2015 7:48:07 AM PDT by bob_denard
The first time Dave Sweet went surfing, in 1945, he was 16 and his wooden board weighed more than he did.
A decade later, he was launching a revolution that would turn those bulky boards into relics.
Sweet, who played a pioneering role in introducing the foam surfboard that transformed the sport and helped propel it into the mainstream, died of renal failure May 18 at the Veterans Affairs West Los Angeles Medical Center, said his son, Greg Sweet. He was 86.
The development and marketing of the foam surfboard has often been credited to Orange County surf entrepreneurs Hobie Alter and Gordon "Grubby" Clark. Sweet didn't bother to claim credit for decades, but he began manufacturing and selling polyurethane foam boards in 1956, more than a year before the other two began mass-producing theirs.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Sharks approve...picking foam out of your teeth is much easier than splinters.
Love Hanalei...love that pic!
I had one of his boards c1965 up here in Wash state. I did not know I had a legend! (story of my life!!)
Nice. Go big or go home.....
especially if you're an old fat guy ...
I agree that long boards rule, but I grew up in the 70’s in Hawaii and everyone had short boards.
I don’t know this inventor, but I had a foam Morey boogie board in its early days. Changed my life. Boogie boarding for me as a wahine at Bellows Beach is still my idea of nirvana. Thanks Morey.
RIP.
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