Tom Blake was maybe, okay, definitely the most important surfer in modern surf history. He invented not only the surf fin, but also the concept of turning on a surfboard. Besides that, he invented the idea of the surf bum. The surfer who puts waveriding above everything else in life, as a kind of philosophical principle. In the 1930s, Blake’s new hollow surfboards, much, much lighter than the solid redwood planks that came before, were cutting edge surfboard tech. Lots of surfers copied the design, and would show up at the beach in, for the time, large numbers, all holding their copies of Blake’s hollow board. “Kookboxes” those boards became known as, named after the ancient surf term kook, for derided newcomer to surfing.
This lovely film features a modern-day Blake devotee making a kookbox of his own, testing it out in Baja, Mexico, drawing modern lines on a century-old design.
