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academia and surfing

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advertising and surfing

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alaia board

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Low-key, forward-thinking surfboard shaper from North Coast, New South Wales, Australia, best known for his small high-performance designs, and his willingness to re-interpret nearly any board-related curve or surface. "Thomson makes the most bizarre, intriguing surfcraft in the world," 

 magazine said in 2016. "Things that look as if they'd been transported to our time from a distant, mathematically oriented surfing future."

Thomson was born (1981) and raised in Lennox Head, on the wave-rich North Coast. Mark Thomson, Daniel's father, was taught how to shape by shortboard innovator Bob McTavish, and was both friends and neighbors with George Greenough. Mark would go on to make boards for world tour stars Brad Gerlach and Tom Curren, among others.

Daniel learned to surf early, and in his late teens moved to Queensland's Gold Coast in hopes of launching a world tour career alongside Mick Fanning and Joel Parkinson. But as Thomson later said, "I don't have the spirit of a competitor." He'd been tinkering with surfboards since childhood, then started making his own boards at age 14, using the world-class pointbreaks near his home to refine his work.

At age 22, Thomas rode his first Steve Lis-style fish, which fired his interest in alternative surfcraft, and using the shorter, split-tailed fish as a starting point—as well as hull theories pioneered 70 years earlier by California boardmaker Bob Simmons—he sailed off to new, uncharted design waters. Thomson was soon producing boards with near-parallel rails, rectangular noses, wickedly forked tails, and deep concaves. He gave them names like "The Fractal," "Death Star," and "Vader." They were tiny—around 5' 3". In general, the boards worked best in small waves, were fast and responsive, glided beautifully, and turned on a dime. Still, as of 2016, the Thomson-style board were still regarded by most surfers as a fringe item. Thomson himself believed this was largely a matter of aesthetics. "It's easy for me to understand that people look at these boards and see them as gimmicks because they look so different. But in fact the designs are functional and intuitive. They're actually easier to ride than regular high-performance boards. As far as looks go, for me, when I look at a pointy nose board these days, it grosses me out."

Mass-produced surfboard giant Firewire partnered with Thomson in 2012 to produce boards under his "Tomo" label. In 2016, eleven-time world champ Kelly Slater announced that some of Thomson's designs would be produced under Slater's new "Slater Designs" label.

Filipe Toledo, Rob Machado, Stu Kennedy, and Tom Curren are among the dozens of A-list surfers who have added Tomo boards to their quivers.

Thomson, Daniel "Tomo"

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