John Whitmore (1929 - 2001) Started building his first surfboard in 1954. Their instruction came from an article by Hawaiian surfing legend, Tom Blake, in a 1939 edition of Popular Science Magazine they had come across. As from that day an introduction to surfing was done on the African continent.

A few years later after discovering many surf breaks he met Dick Metz who made fun of his surfboards on a first introduction and was part of the famous ‘Dana Point Mafia’, one of the most influential groups of surfers in US surfing. Dick and John became blood brothers and upon Dick return to the US he promised to send some nice Clark foam to John. As such John became Clark Foam supplier in SA and was the first person who could make polystyrene boards on the African Continent.

Get John’s full story here: https://web.archive.org/web/20140808215744/http://surfingheritage.co.za/site/miles_masterson

Get the story by Dick Metz on 1:00:00
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUdbmL4tBzA



The board displayed was believed to be manufactured in the 60’s for SA Springbok and Whitmore team rider Peers Pittard and was taken to the Puerto Rico 1968 ISF world championships. The board is labelled with the number 585. The numbered boards of Whitmore are a rare commodity these days.

If you want to own this board you can contact: +27 (0)72 1080 113

* Dimensions of the board are estimates
* Contact us if you have more information, we would be happy to add it to the story