Shaper Interview with Dan Thomson

In this episode we speak with Dan Thomson from Tomo Surfboards.

Dan is arguably the most creative surfboard designer of the last 20 years.  The art of surfboard shaping and designing was handed down from his father, Mark Thomson.  Dan and his father would discuss all aspects of hydrodynamic theory to improve their understanding of real surfboard design.

In the mid 2000's Dan moved to America after a chance encounter that led to him riding a selection of 'fish' boards from some of the industry's best.  Around the same time Dan was thinking a lot about the 'Golden Rule' or Fibonacci sequence and how it could be applied it to his surfboard designs.  It wasn't long before this way of designing boards made complete sense to him and the idea of what surfboards may look like in the future became clear.

The result was a series of boards such as the Vanguard, Deathstar and Vader.  Dan's creativity over the next 10-15 years was some of the most prolific in surfboard history.  If you look at his various model in his range, nearly every board is unique with its own purpose.

When Dan teamed up with Firewire the racks in surf shops seemed to change overnight and looked very different with an array of plan shapes, rockers, concaves and channels.  I was really excited to speak with Dan as his unique board designs and creativity is an inspiration to me, as I am sure it is to others.