Finless

Looking to the future with an eye firmly on the past, Tom Wegener has reintroduced the transport of kings to surfing's elite. His boards are works of art, but it's his veg patch that really floating Tom's boat right now...
Words: Tommy Leitch Photos: Jamie Bott

Albert Einstein once said: "To look to the future we must first look back upon the past. That is where the seeds of the future were planted."
We as surfers have continually looked toward the future, striving for advancement since the birth of our sport in the islands of Hawaii those many, many years ago.
Our attention was first fixed on concaves and rail shapes, then materials, foam and glass fibre. Then the templates became our focus, refined to suit different waves from Waimea to Malibu. Length fell as shortboards were spawned and soon after fins were the 'next big thing'. Every aspect was analysed until nothing was left of the surfboard's former self, its present day incarnation a result of mathematics, chemistry and modern technology.
Tom Wegener has been entrenched in the surfing industry for many years. He has seen the end of the age of logs, the dawning of the thruster, the rebirth of longboarding and the insurgence of commercialism. When longboarding resurfaced in the mid-80s, Wegener was leading the pack advocating the merits of a craft that had been cast aside in favour of performance, speed and manoeuvrability.