Thousands celebrate surfboards
Hawaii’s Pat Rawson took top honors during Sacred Craft’s “Tribute to the Masters Shape-off” honoring Dick Brewer.
Rawson bested legendary shapers Reno Abellira, Ricky Carroll, Gary Linden and Dennis Murphy in the two-day event, part of the weekend-long celebration of the surfboard.
“I’m absolutely stoked,” Rawson said. “Brewer mentored me, so to win this event shaping one of his classic guns, with Dick here to help judge it, it’s absolutely fantastic. To shape with this great grouping of friends, all of whom respect and appreciate RB’s expertise, well, it has been a wonderful weekend for all involved.”
More than 5,000 surfers, shapers, designers and surfboard lovers attended the two-day Sacred Craft Surfboard Expo. Beautiful Brewer boards were everywhere, but the legendary Hawaiian shaper wasn’t monopolizing all the fun, as the Wyland Expo Hall was packed with a cornucopia of surf craft.
Anonymous surfboard experts walked the show floor and awarded Australia’s Daniel Tomson of Tomo Surfboards with “Best of Show” for his unique, performance-oriented 5-foot-3-inch hydrofoil concept model that truly characterized what Sacred Craft is all about: cutting-edge innovation, exquisite manufacturing and passionate out-of-the-box design.
Gene Cooper’s Agave Special and a Dewey Weber Performer, complete with detailed fabric art, were honorable mentions. For Tomson’s efforts, Tomo Surfboards will get a free booth at the next Sacred Craft Surfboard Expo.
Legends were on hand in Del Mar including Donald Takayama, Mark Richards, Bing Copeland, Mike Hynson, Junior Seau, LJ Richards, Rob Machado, Brad Gerlach, Joel Tudor, Jamie Mitchell and many others.
Legendary boards came out of the woodwork during the vintage surfboards antique road show, which offered collectable board appraisal by experts such as Steve Pezman, Sam George, Bird Huffman, Barry Haun, Joe Tabler and Dan Pincetich from the Surfing Heritage Foundation.
“The surfboard road show was a tremendous success. We didn’t really know if one board would turn up or if 300 boards were going to show up,” Sacred Craft Director Scott Bass said. “Luckily there was no shortage of gorgeous classic boards on hand. The results were so good it looks like we’ll have a nice little auction next year.”