Who is responsible for the creation of the Modern Surfboard?

March 2010. It’s an intriguing ‘David Vs Goliath’ tale that, after 42 years, still rages across the Pacific, set to once again re-ignite when Australian feature film GOING VERTICAL hits the big screen nationally from late March 2010. Will one of the surfing world’s biggest questions finally be answered? Which country is really responsible for the shortboard revolution?

The shortboard is the surfboard that is commonly used today. Why is there such an incredible fuss over what is simply used for one of Australia’s most popular and loved sports?

At the centre of this debate are two men, now in their ‘60s: Australian Bob McTavish and American Dick Brewer. Which of these men was truly responsible for kicking off this surfing revolution during the tumultuous 1967 ‘summer of love’ that turned the sport around the world, literally, upside down? Was the pioneer, as legend has it, Dick, who lead the way to shortboard commercialism in the United States, or was it the brainchild of Australian surfing legend and surfboard designer Bob and a few of his mates such as Nat Young and George Greenough?

Over the last four decades, dozens of books, movies and magazine articles have presented differing views of this most important moment in surfing history. Did Australia lead the way? Is the claim true? Not according to a groundswell of opinion that’s erupted recently in the United States, reigniting the debate.

Filmed in Australia, Hawaii and California, and featuring extraordinary archival footage of surf legends of the past four decades as well as the hottest surfers of today, GOING VERTICAL, for the first time, tells both sides of this compelling and fascinating story.

Today, Bob McTavish is the youngest 65-year-old big-wave barrel-rider on the planet. But back in 1967 when he was a wild larrikin and leading Australian surfboard shaper, discovering breaks even before the sport’s big names surfed them, it has been widely claimed that he led the Shortboard Revolution after he cut three feet off the average length of a surfboard. He took the new designs to Hawaii and California, and claims to have ignited the fuse that led to the surfboards of today.

Thousands of miles across the pacific, American Dick Brewer quickly established himself in Hawaii as a big wave rider by charging big Waimea Bay and Sunset Beach. A master toolmaker, aircraft designer and model aircraft champion, he found his calling making boards in 1961, establishing Surfboards Hawaii and creating the ‘Dick Brewer Gun’. During his famous Bing Pipeliner era, he continued to shape shorter boards. He met Bob McTavish in Hawaii in 1963, where a life-long rivalry between not only between both men, but both countries, erupted.

Set to a powerful 5.1 surround soundtrack including new surf music sensation The Break (featuring members of Midnight Oil and Violent Femmes), plus tracks by Pearl Jam, Powderfinger, Spoon and Boards of Canada and iconic artists from the summer of love including Manfred Man, Russell Morris and Thunderclap Newman, GOING VERTICAL is the story of a pivotal era of our time, of a revolution and the outrageous characters who made it happen.

Official Website: http://www.goingvertical.info

GOING VERTICAL is narrated by one of Australia’s finest exports, Simon Baker, produced by Robert Raymond (Schindler’s List, Somebody’s Sweetheart, Lust in the Dust) and directed by one of Australia’s best-known and highly regarded film-makers, two-time Academy-Award nominee David Bradbury (Frontline, The Battle for Byron, Public Enemy Number One, Chile: Hasta Cuando).

Jason Blewitt
Blue Seas Films/Going Vertical
24 Willis Court Mermaid Waters 4218 QLD Australia
jb@jasonblewitt.com

This release was published on openPR.