Renny Yater -
1932 -
He is, perhaps, the coolest surfer in the world. And we mean that by the strictest definitions of the term. “Cool: Un-self conscious aplomb in overall behavior with discernible bodily movements, postures and voice modulations that take on strategic social value.” That’s Santa Barbara’s Reynolds Yater right down to the t-band. Has any surfing personality maintained an unvarying reputation for style and excellence quite like Yater? Throughout a half dozen decades this quiet, master surfer/shaper/designer/innovator/waterman has fostered and remained true to an aesthetic that in this ever-changing sport/lifestyle has been one of the only things we can count on.
This is a man who began shaping surfboards when that meant a trip to the lumberyard yet today is one of the freest thinkers in the industry, pioneering the use of epoxy composite construction; who with a wallpaper squeegee began laminating balsa boards for Hobie in 1955, and who today has his polystyrene/graphite signature models vacuum-bagged for maximum strength-to-weight ratio. A guy whose “Yater Spoon” became one of the sport’s most iconic longboard designs, yet was in the vanguard of the late-’60s Shortboard Revolution, methodically adapting that period’s wild v-bottom flux into sleek, foiled pocket machines that established a template for “better wave” boards that’s still used today. A board builder sought after by some of surfing biggest names, yet who developed the reputation as the ultimate “local’s shaper”, his distinctive and enduring “Yater Surfboards, Santa Barbara, USA” logo a required entry visa into some of the Golden State’s most exclusive lineups (we’d name them but he’d probably wish we wouldn’t.) And most importantly a gentleman though it all, who has addressed virtually every phase of modern surfing with a soft-spoken authority, physical grace and transcendent aura of integrity that remains an inspiration today.
And that’s cool.
Shapers honoring Renny Yater included Matt Moore, Wayne Rich, Todd Proctor, Dennis Ryder, and Michel Junod. In 2010, at the Ventura Sacred Craft Surfboard Expo, Wayne Rich won the Tribute to the Masters Shape-off honoring Renny Yater presented by US Blanks.
* Courtesy of Matt Warshaw’s Encyclopedia of Surfing
Renny Yater Interview at Sacred Craft Consumer Surf Expo:
