Larkin, Joe (1933 – 2017)

Pioneering Australian surfboard manufacturer and archetypal back-slapping hard-drinking "surfie" of the 1950s and '60s. Larkin was born in Sydney (1933), and was taught how to bodysurf at a young age by his father. At nine he began board-riding, and by 15, already a skilled carpenter, he was building hollow plywood "toothpick" boards for himself and friends, working out of the family garage. "There'd be five or six guys helping out when we got around the screwing the deck on," Larkin recalled...