A new film debuting in Hawaiʻi shares the story of the man who revolutionized the art of surfboard shaping.
"The Shape of Things: The Dick Brewer Story" is set to debut on July 11 at the Honolulu Museum of Art's Doris Duke Theatre.
"The story has needed to be told for a long time," said Jim Kempton, who helped with the screenplay. He is the former editor-in-chief of SURFER Magazine and currently runs the California Surf Museum in Oceanside.
"Dick Brewer is kind of the Leonardo da Vinci of surfboard design. He changed the world of surfboards and shapes three different times in his lifetime," Kempton said, referring to the "pipeliner," the "mini-gun" and a board for tow-in surfing.
"He was a brilliant guy, but like most people who are really, really bright, they're a little bit out there as well. And also, you know, can have sad and great things both happening to them. So it's a movie that, really, I think people will relate to," Kempton said.
Born in Minnesota and raised in California, Brewer eventually settled in Hawaiʻi in 1960. That's where Brewer began using his engineering background for surfboard shaping, Kempton said.
"One of the interesting things is in automobiles and planes, it's aerodynamics, but what Dick saw really early was that hydrodynamics have exactly the same principles, so he began to incorporate that into the design of surfboards and pretty much revolutionize them," he said.
Brewer died in Hawaiʻi in 2022. He was 85.
"I emceed his memorial out at Waimea Bay, and they had a big paddle out there, there must have been 200 people. Every single one paddled out on a Brewer."
The film is part of the Honolulu Surf Film Festival 2024 and will be showcased on July 11 and 20. The July 11 opening event is sold out, but tickets are still available for July 20. To purchase tickets, click here.
"I think that a lot of people either don't know really him and his story," Kempton said, "so I think they'll come away with a much richer, deeper understanding of the man and his challenges and his struggle and his triumphs and achievements."
This interview aired on The Conversation on July 10, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
