He’s a surfboard historian and published author who has lectured at the University of California San Diego and also curated Surf Craft, an exhibition chronicling surfboards built from the 1940s to present. Most people, however, know Richard Kenvin as director of the Hydrodynamica Project (with over 30k followers on Instagram). At nearly 60, despite breaking two vertebrae in his back after a nasty fall on the rocks near his home in La Jolla recently (you can hear about it in the podcast, below), the man still rips.
Even with a recently broken back, Richard Kenvin doesn’t break from perfectly drawn bottom turn lines. Photo: Jon Foster.
It’s in this role that Richard resurrected the work of Bob Simmons, an aeronautical engineer who died while surfing Windansea in 1954, leaving behind a trove of formulas created for optimizing speed and glide in surfboard design, hard-earned through a career focused on flight through sky.
As a Surfboard Historian, Kenvin hangs on to everything – especially his old Tomo shapes, more than 15 years old.
Richard’s work inspired Daniel Thomson (“Tomo”) in the early 2000s who used Richard’s resurrection of Simmon’s work to inform his design of the Vanguard and Vader popularized by both himself and Stu Kennedy, eventually earning acknowledgment from Kelly Slater in 2012.
By 2015, Kelly’s interest had lead to a direct collaboration with Tomo on the Sci-Fi and later the Cymatic and more.
Speed Line. Photo: Erik Derman
“RK resurrected the planing hull movement and played a huge roll in inspiring my design direction,” Tomo says. “I would not be where I am today without his guidance and support. Forever grateful.”
Eyes In The Right Place: forty years of surfing have taught Kenvin to enjoy the spray while it’s happening. Photo: Jon Foster.
A look at history proves Tomo’s statement true in many ways – it was Richard who personally brought Tomo to the U.S. in the early 2000s to live at his home in San Diego while Tomo began building his brand in North America.
Richard and Tomo remain close to this day, and you can hear Richard with me on the latest “Wire Podcast,” below.
Kenvin, tubed. Photo: Jon Foster.
Richard Kenvin is on The Wire Podcast, which can be found on Spotify and iTunes, or listen to it below:
