Got word that Dave Sweet died on Monday. Not as well known as some other 60s board builders, he was an innovator and forward thinking individual. Began shaping in 1949 and one of the very first to use polyurethane foam. He was the first to use adjustable molds and thus did the first “close tolerance” blanks, as they came to be known.
I remember when EVERYBODY bailed on their balsa boards to get a "Sweet"....That was when I scored my first board $40.00 Velzy Jacops balsa cause nobody wanted em anymore because this other guy had FOAM.....BAMM the whole thing changed. I hope the younger guys do not go "who was Dave Sweet ?" Never met him too bad.
RIP Foam Man
I bought one of his DIY surfboard kits. I don’t know, sometime in the late 60’s. picked it up at his shop/skunkworks in Santa Monica. He gave me a tutorial. On how to do the whole process. I went home and proceeded. First board I ever did that wasn’t a cut down. Years later I ran into him a one of Brawner’s auctions. I told him the board turned out great. He said I was the only guy to ever give him a report on how it went with the kit. He said he had sold hundreds of them. Lowel
He continued to advertise his kits and such after the Dave Sweet label receded from print media. He also offered shaped blanks that you could glass yourself. He seemed to be a proponent of the DIY ethic.
Was he not in cahoots with Harold Walker early on? Or am I confusing him with another shaper?
Everybody here owes that man.
Met him once.
Didn’t know who he was at the time.
I learned later in my career.
Innovator.
R.I.P.
His blanks that he was doing at the time were so close tolerance out of the mold that all you had to do was skin them with sand paper and screen. He later made a little $$ making foamie radio controlled gliders. He was one of the early shaper/board builders. At one time he had every Malibu & So. Bay surfer on his team.
He was way ahead of the curve. He did adds featuring members of his team way before Velzy/Jacobs or Hobie. Mostly So. Bay, Malibu, Ventura and Santa Barbara. A lot of those surfers moved on later to ride for Jacobs, Dewey,Yater etc. I remember a couple of adds that listed all the people that rode his boards . Like a “Who’s Who” of Surfing. Big proponent of the Step Deck and probably did it before anyone else. I don’t think he worked with Walker. I could be wrong. I think he independently came up with about the same time as Hobie and Grubby Clark. Maybe even a little before. His brother went out on his own and did boards under the Robertson/Sweet label. Financial backing from “Moondogie” himself AKA Cliff Robertson. Although Dave didn’t move into the short board era as a builder himself; his surfboard kits were in the 7- - 8 ft. Range. My kit was stringer less and had a Waveset box and Hynson fin. Dave was outside the loop of the Dana Point Mafia. His thinking and innovation was independent of others. He shaped a few longboards in Santa Cruz during the '80’s. I remember seeing them in hairs I think it was. I think he had family in the area. When I ran into him in Newport at the auction he was living in PV. Maybe Sammy could grace Sways readers with a few scans don some of those early adds. Please with sugar on it. Mahalo
Hauts. Damned phone. No edit function and forgot preview.
The Dave Sweet I remember at Hauts around 68 - 71 became a carpenter .
Were there 2 ?
I lived on the Eastside during the '80’s. ever hear of Sweet’s Furniture in Soquel??
And not the Same Dave Sweet. He was still down South at that time.
I was in Hawaii
The Dave Sweet I knew was tall , and a super mellow guy .
He moved to Kauai in the late 60’s and came back twice ending in 71
First time he came back he was making 17" wide boards , Larry Strada infuence from his stay on Kauai . Around 1968-9
Next time I saw him was around 1971 and he stayed . He wondered why I got a board from my friend Mike because he liked mine better 
Thats what I thought .
Stepdeck, Speedster
Back in my day Dave’s dumpster was a gold mine.
Aloha Kawika
I was in my usual spot pimping for SHACC at the boardroom on Sunday when somebody brought this Dave Sweet Bat Wing in for appraisal.
Now I wish I’d shot a picture of the deck and label.
Found this
He was doing foam blanks two years before Hobie.
Thay was my thinking. He was ahead if the Dana Point guys. Like Tom Morey; forward thinking, maybe even Genius, but such a nice guy. Lowel
Greg – Actually the name of the furniture shop was “Sweet’s In The Nude”. It was an unfinished furniture shop. All I remember is someone telling me Dave Sweet was in SC and made the occasional board. If my memory serves me well(more not than often) I think I saw a couple in Haut’s Shop. Lowel
Only thing about Dave’s foam was that it turned a nice “Root Beer” brown in about a year. Lowel
I really liked the guy. Tom Morey is similar. And also very like able and easy to talk to. I had a nice conversation about the old days on Front Street with Tom at the Board Show. Lowel