The year was 1956. The day was May 5th. Many of the top surfers at Malibu made balsa wood boards right on the beach. One day one of their compatriots, Dave Sweet, showed up with a marbleized abstract pigment "mystery board" that was significantly lighter and more maneuverable than all the other boards being surfed.
Everyone marveled at the amount of control he had over the board. All of his fellow board builders had questions, but Dave just disappeared from the beach after he got out of the water. He had to get back to work on his project, which he had been working on for two years, since 1954. This went on day after day for a week or so while Dave tested his new invention. Finally he showed up with the first polyurethane surfboard ever to be manufactured for retail and he sold it on the beach at Malibu………..And surfing changed from wood to foam.
Dave Sweet was the first man to ever ride a polyurethane foam surfboard, as we know them today. He was the first man to manufacture a near-to-shape foam blank which he then hand shaped to the customers exact specifications, without losing the high density outer foam. This was a technique that none of the other later foam manufacturers ever perfected.