Mark Fragale's article on the development of the hot curl design ran in the April 2002 issue of Longboard. This version has been slightly edited and shortened.

The summer of 1937 was a special time to be a surfer in the Hawaiian Islands. In a world devoid of instant communication, the hours and days slipped by at a slow pace. Geographic isolation intensified the mood. Shifts in the architecture of surfboard design were equally slow to come about. However, a sweeping change would soon take place.

The art of crafting surfboards was a personal affair. Surf shops didn't yet exist, and board ownership came about in one of two ways: Build it yourself or buy an existing board.

Oahu was the epicenter of surf culture in the ’30s, and surfboards of the day were most often constructed of redwood or a mix of different woods cut from lumber stock. Board blanks were made from a single piece of woods, or from multiple wood strips glued up in a press, or doweled together, to be made ready for shaping. A variety of tools were used to carve these enormous hunks of lumber, from saw to draw knife, spoke shaver, and adz, among others.

Two primary surfboard archetypes dominated in the 1930s. The "Waikiki" or "plank" board was usually 10 or 11 feet long, made of solid wood, with exaggerated wide tail dimensions. The Tom Blake "hollow" was made of wood-rib and casing construction. The Blake-style boards were often 12-feet or longer, with boxy square rails and a drain port to cope with the inevitable leaks that plagued the design. Also referred to as "cigar boxes” or "kook boxes," they found additional use as paddleboards or lifeguard rescue equipment. Both designs were all but rocker-free. Decks were flat and the bottoms sometimes rounded, creating a belly that swept outboard.

As the waves got bigger or more hollow, the boards of the day became increasingly difficult to control. The most challenging aspect of riding these period boards was to set and hold a line on a wave, and thus keep the tail of the board from spinning out—what surfers of the era called "sliding tail" or "sliding ass.” Without sufficient drag, especially off the back of the board, the tail often broke loose, and the result was almost always a loss of control, especially in bigger surf. Dragging a foot off the tail, or positioning the rider's weight aft of optimum trim, could sometimes thwart a spinout. But the fact remained that as the surfboard gained speed, controlling it became increasingly difficult.

John Kelly was fortunate enough to grow up surfing on the South facing beaches below Diamond Head in the 1920s, and later became one of the first people to experiment with cutting down tail dimensions to prevent the board from sliding out. "The narrow tail surfboard that later came to be known as the 'hot curl' found its origins back in ’37 and was contrived out of necessity," says Kelly. "It all began one day when Fran Heath and I went out at Browns Surf. It was a beautiful day; glassy conditions and the surf was just huge. These bluebirds" Hawaiian slang for big waves rising out of the deep blue waters—"were lining up nicely across the outer reefs. But as all this energy jacked up on the reef, it made for especially steep takeoffs. We had these big, heavy, wide-tailed wood plank boards, and became quite discouraged after several hours. The boards had worked satisfactorily in the small-to-medium-size surf, but this day, we were just getting pounded. The longest rides lasted maybe several seconds. Most every wave we attempted to ride found us spinning out before we had the chance to complete the drop down the face of the wave. After each wipeout came the long swim in to get the board. Fran and I were exhausted and frustrated. We decided to do something about it."

"During a lunch break after our first surf session, we examined our boards up close and came to the realization that there was simply too much aft planing surface for the board to hold in the wave. I decided to cut out several inches off each side of the tail of one of the boards, immediately reducing the otherwise wide plan shape to a more streamlined profile.”

From there, Kelly and Heath faired in the new outline shape, integrating it into the existing bottom contours of the board. "We ended up drawing a rolled, high rail line that reached all the way up to the flat deck. When we finished, the lower part of the board looked like a boat bottom.’’

The newly renovated board was ridden upon completion that very same afternoon. The results were promising. Kelly called the new design the "narrow tail." Soon thereafter, the board was also referred to as the "hot shape” or "hot slope,” but ultimately came to be known as the "hot curl.”

Rather than build a new board from scratch, many hot-curl-seeking surfers just cut down their existing boards as Kelly and Heath had done.

Initially, the hot curl appealed primarily to the younger generation surfers while most of the older surfers continued to ride planks and hollows. Many of the hot curlers speak of "Scooter Boy” Kaopuiki who, during that same time period, was riding a long Blake-style board and performing some amazing moves. The disparate surfboard designs co-existed for several years.

Legendary surfer and elder statesman of the sport Rabbit Kekai vividly remembers cutting down the old boards. "After the hot curl caught on, I had gathered up maybe six big old redwood boards and made them all into hot curls,’’ says Kekai. "I’d cut the boards down in size to a range of about 9' to 9’ 8". When they were done, I took all the boards out to Makaha and gave them to the boys. One for Buff' [Richard ’Buffalo’ Keaulana], one for Henry Preece, and so on. Those reshaped logs were a big hit with the gang at Makaha. The boys shared them with other surfers on the beach and those boards were in the water most every day from morning till night.

"But there were only so many old boards to cut down. We needed fresh wood to make more boards, and we found it at a place called Lewers & Cooke in Honolulu. Redwood was our favorite material to make the boards from, and the very best stuff was straight grain and kiln-dried, which was lighter and easy to work. With the best wood, I sometimes got the weight down on my finished boards to 35-pounds. The kiln-dried redwood slabs were only sold in a 5" thickness, so I had the wood milled down to 4" before I began building a new board. When finished, the thickest point in the surfboard was real close to 3.5" or less. Some of the other guys put strips of white pine and other woods together, then glued them up. The different woods looked real nice, and sometimes made the boards lighter."

The finished boards were covered and sealed with kukui nut and other oils to preserve the wood. "Somewhere along the line we began using a spar varnish," Kekai adds. 'We'd lay down a base coat, then sand it smooth. On top of that coat, several more coats—then sand again.” The process was repeated until a thick build-up was established.

The reduction of tail area and narrowed beam made the hot curls less buoyant than planks and hollows. California surfboard designer extraordinaire Joe Quigg refers to some of the most extreme design hot curl boards as the very first "sinkers."

"Matt Kivlin and I came to Hawaii in October of 1947. The crew there, including Rabbit, Wally Froiseth, and George Downing really
welcomed us into their group and made us feel like part of the gang—just an incredible bunch of guys,” explains Quigg. "Anyway, Rabbit let me try his board one day. Here we were, fresh in from California with our relatively lightweight and buoyant boards. I got on Rabbit’s board and it just sank down under my waist. I could actually stand in still water and pin it to the sandy bottom. Rabbit ripped on that board. I had my hands full just trying to paddle it. To my thinking, nobody rode the hot curl better than Rabbit Kekai. His bold moves on what we considered a sinker board were impossible to duplicate.”

"I can still remember how well the hot curl board set up on the wave," says Kekai. "Lean back, stall, hold and continue to stall as the wave built up. At just the right moment, trim forward and just fly so fast. It was amazing."

Russ Takaki’s take on the hot curl adds more perspective. Takaki began surfing after World War II, on a hot curl. "Our boards were between 9-11 feet long and very streamlined," remembers Takaki. "I started surfing with Wally, George, John Kelly, and others. The tails of our boards had a vee-shaped into the bottom, creating drag that worked sort of like a fin. The boards would still ’slide-ass’ to some degree, but it was all rather controllable. Looking back, it’s amazing how we rode those boards at places like Makaha Bowl, but we managed. The biggest waves I rode on my hot curl may have been 12-to-15 feet and, all things considered, the board worked well."

Takaki then tells a great story about his 1949 sailing adventure. "We did an ocean crossing from Hawaii to San Diego in a sailboat race. George, Wally and I went as crew. The captain was actually quite pleased with us as mates, in spite of our lack of competitive sailing experience. The voyage took about two weeks and we brought our board along. After the race, we started in San Diego and worked out way north, surfing Windansea, San Onofre, Huntington, and up to Malibu, riding our hot curls all the while. Our stop at Malibu was particularly memorable. The waves were exceptional, with sets up to six feet, sometimes connecting from the outside point almost to the pier."

"Everywhere we went, surfers were curious about our boards. They really stirred up attention. The balsa malibu boards had just started to kick in, but many surfers there were still riding these big old heavy boards. My hot curt was near 11' long but had this very wide strip of balsa down the center, with redwood rails, and it weighed about 50 pounds. George's board was even lighter and shorter than mine. George was young and strong, and caught the waves easily on his board—he really stole the show in California. Anyway, on several occasions, guys would ask to trace the outlines of our boards and they'd do their best to remember how all the curves and rail lines fit together. I suspect they made boards like ours after we left. Upon our return home. I continued to ride my hot curl board until foam boards with skegs came along.”

Little has been chronicled over the years about the uniquely Hawaiian hot curl, which is remarkable, considering what a vital and historic part the design played in the ongoing evolution of surfboard architecture. Conversely, volumes have been written and recorded about the California Malibu board.

"Every phase of the modern Malibu board was in place prior to our trip to the Islands in 1947," says Quigg. Yet he admits that, while in Hawaii, he switched over to the hot curl design. "Several factors drew me in that direction. Truth be known, my Malibu board was ridiculed. We very much wanted to fit in with the Hawaiian gang, right down to stacking the finless boards on the roof of the car. Besides, it was something new and exciting to try. Wally let me use his garage and I built myself one. The hot curl experience gave me a lot of fresh ideas and a deep urge to experiment. After returning from our trip to the Islands, and as a result of my hot curl exposure, I immediately took two inches out of the center of one of my boards and glued it back up.” Quigg's experiences and explorations with the hot curl would later become a key component in his development of the big-wave gun.

One constant theme that pervades the sparse archival recordings of the hot curl is how riders referred to its ability to "grip" the wave. Kelly says that the best hot curls created a trough or groove that allowed the finest them to hold on the wave. Froiseth speaks of the "controlled drag” that comes from tuning in the correct amount of vee in the aft portion of the hull.

Quigg's Malibu chip board, fully developed in California by 1947, overlapped with the ongoing development of the hot curl in Hawaii. The two breakaway designs were separated by thousands of miles of ocean, each with a differing interpretation of a new and advanced wave-riding vehicle. The two distinctly different wave environments most certainly influenced the contrasting concepts. In California, the waves at the most favored surf spots broke quickly, and relatively close to shore. In Hawaii, the opposite was often true; as South Shore waves broke on outer reefs, allowing for longer rides prior to the wave reaching its critical state. By the mid-’50s, the hot curl reached its full development and was by and large replaced by the Malibu board. However, the hot curl's best attributes were retained and became the foundation of the big-wave surfboard.

The very essence of the hot curl was the design's special ability to trim like no other before it. This in turn allowed the rider to explore and find parts of the wave that had not otherwise been covered by the plank boards that preceded it. 

"HOT CURL SURFBOARDS: THE BOTTOM LINE," BY MARK FRAGALE (2002)

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