Simon Anderson

Simon Anderson (born 7 July 1954) is an Australian surfer and surfboard shaper, noted for creating the Thruster design of three equal-sized fins on a surfboard, a design now used on practically every shortboard made.

Anderson grew up in Collaroy, Sydney, the second oldest of four brothers. All four were surfers and strong swimmers, and competed in Surf Life Saving competitions. Anderson's surfing skill stood out from his brothers, and in 1972 he was a surprise winner of the junior division at the Bells Beach Classic Easter competition. In that year he also started shaping, with Shane Stedman and Fitzgerald in the Sydney suburb (and surf-factory hotbed) of Brookvale near his home.

Anderson's surfing style was powerful and graceful, reflecting his size (over six feet tall, the same as his brothers). His laid-back attitude to life seemed to limit his success in competition though. In 1975 he started his own surfboard factory, Energy Surfboards, in Brookvale.

In 1977 he had a burst of competitive success, winning first the Bells Beach Classic competition, then the Coke Surfabout in Sydney. Those wins, on single-fin boards, put him into the top 10 on the world championship tour and gave him a chance of taking that title, until the twin-fin intervened. Mark Richards had created a twin-fin design which greatly helped sharp turns on steep waves, by always having one fin deep in the wave. Within months surfers on this design were winning all competitions, but it was badly unsuited to Anderson's size and style.

Over time he experimented with various board and fin setups, and in October 1980 arrived at a three-fin system with approximately equal sized fins, one centred at the back and one on each rail about 11 inches forward and angled slightly inwards, a design which Anderson called the Thruster.

This wasn't the first time three fins had been used on a board, Anderson was aware of the Tri-fin by Bob McTavish from 1971 and the Bonzer from 1974, both of which were like a single fin with two small outer fins. But the Thruster was the first with equal size fins. The idea was to have the manoeuvrability of a twin-fin, but the stability and drive of a single-fin, in particular enough stability to prevent the tail drift found on twin-fins in big waves.

He took that first Thruster to Hawaii for that 1980/81 winter on the North Shore, then on to California where he signed on to be sponsored by Gary McNabb at Nectar. McNabb wanted an Australian surfer because they were making a big splash in the world of surfing at the time.

The Thruster was met with scepticism initially, thought perhaps merely a gimmick, or only for Anderson's particular size and style. Back in Sydney in early 1981 Anderson made two more Thrusters at his own factory and using those he won the double of the Bells Beach Classic and the Coke Surfabout in Sydney, for a second time, then later the Pipeline Masters in Hawaii.

Those victories silenced the critics and brought the thruster to everyone's attention. For the rest of 1981 competitions still had single-fins and twin-fins in use, but from 1984 onwards every world champion has used a thruster. Today practically every shortboard made uses the design, and some longboards do too (mainly smaller ones).

Anderson began to sell his new design with Energy Surfboards and it is thought that Philip Briggs from Nsw Australia was the first to buy the design. All the thruster boards are now worth about $2500 as they are very rare

Anderson never sought to patent or trademark his design, so despite it becoming ubiquitous he never directly profited. He labelled boards from his factory as "The Original 3 Fin Thruster. Concept and Design by Simon Anderson." but that was all. He said in later years that he "couldn't be bothered" exploiting the concept commercially. Though Nick Carroll remarks that perhaps his natural generosity meant it was simply not in his nature to deny it to others.

A small kind of homage to his gift to the world of surfing holds that every surfer with a thruster should give Anderson $1 as thanks. Derek Hynd did that circa 1993, $55 for the boards he owned. Lost Surfboards USA did it for every board they sold in 2003, which was about $5000.

Today Anderson lives with his wife and two sons in Newport Beach, Sydney, a few suburbs north of where he grew up.

References

• Simon Anderson profile at surfline.com, by Nick Carroll, October 2000

• Simon Anderson page, at surfresearch.com.au

• The Tri-Fin: Did God Mean It To Be?, Dougall Walker, Tracks magazine, May 1981, reproduced at surfresearch.com.