005 - The Value of Perseverance: Pat Rawson

Welcome back to Creators & Innovators, where we seek to distill the character traits, motivations, and the daily rituals of creatives in hopes of developing a blueprint for how to disrupt norms and innovate in one’s own space. Today we bring you a conversation with iconic surfboard shaper (and accomplished jazz pianist) Pat Rawson. Pat talks us through his origin story, from selling papayas to Dick Brewer to building boards for world champs. He details how perseverance and hard work has allowed him to make significant contributions to surfboard design through each decade of the past 50 years. We hope you enjoy the show.

Follow @RawsonSurfboard and PatRawsonSurfboards.com

Supported by Vissla.com @VisslaSurf

Rawson winning the Icons of Foam tribute to Dick Brewer in 2009

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Here’s a ‘92 “bloke shot” at my Sunset Point shaping room. I forget why Art Brewer got all of us together so early in the morning, but it ended up the 6 of us in my shaping room somehow! Right to left: Geoff McCoy, John Carper, Al Merrick, Maurice Cole, Rico De Souza, PR? Photo credit- Art Brewer @artbrewer @jc_hawaii_surf @cisurfboards @mcsurfboards @ricodesouzaoficial
A post shared by Pat Rawson (@rawsonsurfboard) on Nov 15, 2018 at 11:23am PST

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Trip Forman and Matt Nuzzo of Real Watersports @realwatersports in Rodanthe island Outerbanks, NC have loyally supported my boards from my Slingshot/Rawson kiteboard days in their first tiny outerbanks Kiteboard Shop in 2000, to the present massive shop they operate now. Trip and Matt ride my boards themselves and it’s refreshing to have a kick-ass retail operation still buying and promoting my brand all these years!!
A post shared by Pat Rawson (@rawsonsurfboard) on Aug 13, 2018 at 1:51pm PDT