This great piece of history is for sale at the
California Gold Vintage Surf Auction - September 26th
Seminal post-World War II surfboard designer and shaper from
Pasadena, California; a primary architect of the modern surfboard who
almost singlehandedly brought into play the now-fundamental principles
of nose-lift, foil, and finely sculpted rails. the lanky 6’2″ Simmons
was compelled, almost from the moment he began surfing, to create better
equipment. He learned the fundamentals of board-building in the
mid-’40s from the talented but surly Gard Chapin (stepfather to surf
icon Mickey Dora); in 1946 he acquired a copy of a lengthy MIT study on
planing hulls, and began applying its complex equations and theories to
surfboards.By 1949, the typical Simmons board was wide (around 24
inches), with a thin, squared-off tail, finely turned and calibrated
rails, and a broad spoonlike nose. Pre-war boards for the most part had
been redwood-balsa composites coated in varnish; Simmons, working out of
his garage in Pasadena, used balsa only and was one of the first to
cover his boards with a layer of resin-saturated fiberglass. On
September 26, 1954, in eight-foot waves at San Diego’s Windansea,
Simmons was struck in the head by his own board and drowned. He was 35.
This board belonged to legendary San Diego lifeguard and TJ Sloughs surfer Dempsey Holder.
Allen “Dempsey” Holder was one of the earliest surfers in San Diego, California’s south county. He was one of the first surfers to ride the big surf off the coast of the Tijuana sloughs. Dempsey was also head of the Imperial Beach lifeguard services for many years. The Public Safety building that houses sheriff and lifeguard services is now named after Dempsey for his important contributions to surfing and public safety.
THIS BOARD HAS IT ALL : Pedigree, Provenance & Patina.
For more info on this board and others on offer :www.thevintagesurfauction.com/sneek-peek
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