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The surfboards we ride today have come along way to become as good as they are. Many men have dedicated their lives to the pursuit of shaping/developing a better board. Advances in surfboard design over the years range from size, weight and shape, to fins, to the materials used, to different boards designed for different waves.

Surfboard design has always been a very personal thing. Shapers tend to be surfers themselves, and board design is as much an engineering feat as it is a love for surfing. Professional surfers work closely with shapers, as each surfer rides waves differently, and they know better than anyone how their surfboard needs to perform. The design process of a surfboard has always been a case of trial and error. A template is designed, and then experimented with in the water, then feedback is considered and alterations are made accordingly.

In the early days of surfing in ancient Hawaii. Surfing was a deeply spiritual affair, from the art of riding waves itself, to praying for good surf, to rituals surrounding building a surfboard. Surfing was not only a recreational activity, it was also a training exercise for Hawaiian chiefs and a means of conflict resolution. There were two kinds of surfboard in these times, an 'Olo' (rode by the chiefs or the noblemen known as the 'Alii') and a 'Alaia' (rode by the commoners). The wooden boards were made using the Wili Wili, the Ula and the Koa tree's. And ranged from 10 to 16 feet long depending on social class... 10-12 feet for commoners and 14-16 feet for the noblemen and chiefs.

In the late 18th century the arrival of Captain Cook to the Hawaiian Islands and later in the mid 19th century when the western/white missionaries arrived surfing almost died out in the islands. At the start of the 20th century the missionaries influence over the islands began to decline and Hawaiians along with the new European and American settlers began surfing again. One of these was George Freeth, who through his surfing, experimented with board design, and cut his 16 foot Hawaiian board in half. Making the typical solid redwood Hawaiian board of the time to around 6 to 10 foot long. George took his shorter board to California and became the first professional surfer, promoting a railway company in Los Angelos, California.

The next major change in surfboard design was in 1926 when one of the most famous names in surf history; Tom Blake designed the first hollow surfboard. The board was constructed of redwood, it had hundreds of holes drilled in it and was encased with a thin board of wood on top and bellow the board. The board was 15 foot long, 19" wide, 4" thick and weighed 100 lbs. This new design was at first ridiculled by local Hawaiian's jokingly calling it the 'Cigar Board', until they saw how much faster it was in the water. Blake's hollow surfboard became a great success and became the first mass-produced board in 1930. Blake also created the 'fixed fin' in 1935. This was a small fin attached to the bottom of the board at the tail to allow surfers to manouevre better and give the boards more stability.