Whitmore, John

Gruff and industrious surfer-boardmaker-organizer from Cape Town, South Africa; often described as the "father of South African surfing." Whitmore was born (1929) and raised in the beachfront suburb of Sea Point, near Cape Town, and began bodysurfing as a teenager. In 1949, the 19-year-old Whitmore, having seen photographs of surfers, began to make hollow plywood boards for himself and a few frie...