Simon Anderson grew up in the 60's at Collaroy on the Northern Beaches of Sydney. He was lucky enough to witness the evolution of the modern day surfboard in his own backyard, ridden by a host of world class surfers including Nat and Chris Young, Butch and Steve Cooney, Rob Holt etc.
From the early 60's 9'6 longboard to the ultra short 5'4" single fin in '68, surfing was going through a dramatic design revolution; massive vee bottoms, trackers, tear drops, pins, double enders. Every 6 months there was a new leap forward and an extra 6" cut off the length of the board.
Simon Anderson gravitated to North Narrabeen in '69, to a culture of hardcore surfing with a strong link to board manufacturing at nearby Brookvale. He entered the industry as a ding fixer at Shane Surfboards in '70. His shaping career began at 17 after winning the '71 Australian Junior Title at Bells Beach from Peter Townend and the hottest junior of that year Andrew McKinnon.
Drawing inspiration from legendary local surfer/ shapers Bob Kennerson, Terry Fitzgerald, Geoff McCoy and Col Smith as well as the stella staff at Shane's, Frank Latta, Ted Spencer and Butch Cooney, Simon Anderson had the best possible apprenticeship.
In 1973 Simon Anderson competed in the first professional Australian contest at Bells Beach placing 3rd behind winner MP and 2nd Anthony Hardwick (NN Surfer). '76 saw the beginning of the World Tour. Simon Anderson had wins in '77 at Bells and the Coke 2SM Surfabout finishing the year ranked No 3. In 1981 he had 3 more victories the Bells/ Coke double again and the Pipe Masters on a new innovation "the Thruster", the modern day surfboard.
Simon Anderson is still motivated to improve surfboard design to benefit his own surfing, team riders and surfers in general, including Kelly Slater in 2005 who won at J - Bay and Trestles riding one of Simon's shapes. Simon Anderson uses his many years of experience in shaping, surfing and working with team riders to create the best possible boards for all wave conditions.
