Simon Anderson

Simon Anderson developed the Thruster while working as both a competitive surfer and a shaper. The Australian National Surfing Museum dates his design to late 1980: three fins of equal size, paired with a broader tail and narrower nose, after he had seen a board with a small trailing center fin. The museum describes his search for more control than he found in the twin-fins of the period. His wins at Bells Beach, the Coke contest in Sydney and Pipeline in 1981 demonstrated the design across markedly different surf. Anderson's Heritage Series revisits boards from 1981–83, retaining features such as flyers, beak noses and vee bottoms with later refinements. Those models preserve specific early Thruster ideas within a broader shaping career.