Reynolds Wood "Renny" Yater (born 1932 in Los Angeles) is an American

surfboard A surfboard is a narrow plank used in surfing. Surfboards are relatively light, but are strong enough to support an individual standing on them while riding an ocean wave. They were invented in ancient Hawaii, where they were known as ''papa hee ...

builder. He was one of the first commercial surfboard builders of the 1950s and is best known for his noserider, the Yater Spoon. At that time, it was the thinnest and lightest board available. Prior to opening Yater Surfboards in 1959, he worked with both

Hobart Alter Hobart "Hobie" Laidlaw Alter (October 31, 1933 – March 29, 2014) was an American surf and sailing entrepreneur and pioneer, creator of the Hobie Cat catamarans, and founder of the Hobie company. He created the Hobie 33 ultralight-displacement ...

and

Dale Velzy Dale Velzy (September 23, 1927 – May 26, 2005) was an American surfboard shaper, credited with being the world's first commercial shaper. He opened the first professional surf shop in Manhattan Beach, California, in 1950, personally hand fashion ...

, two of the pioneering surfboard builders in that era.

Early life

Yater was born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, California in 1932 and grew up in

Laguna Beach Laguna Beach (; ''Laguna'', Spanish for "Lagoon") is a city in Orange County, California, United States. Located in Southern California along the Pacific Ocean, this seaside resort city has a mild year-round climate, scenic coves, and environ ...

. His parents renovated houses and they lived in

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial d ...

for a short time. He spent his last two years of high school at

John Muir College John Muir College is one of the eight undergraduate colleges at the University of California San Diego (UCSD). The college is named after John Muir, the environmentalist and founder of the Sierra Club. It has a humanitarian emphasis focused o ...

and briefly attended

Claremont Colleges The Claremont Colleges (known colloquially as the 7Cs) are a consortium of seven private university, private institutions of higher education located in Claremont, California, United States. They comprise five undergraduate colleges (the 5Cs)� ...

. He surfed for the first time at age 14 on a "plank" at

Doheny State Beach Doheny State Beach (known colloquially as Doho) is known as the first state beach in the California state park system. Located on the Pacific Ocean in the city of Dana Point, the beach is adjacent to several surf spots and scenic beaches includ ...

and built his first surfboard in 1953. He also worked as a lifeguard in his late teens.

Career

Yater began working for Hobie Surfboards in 1955, primarily

glassing Glassing (or bottling in New Zealand) is a physical attack using a glass or bottle as a weapon. Glassings can occur at bars or pubs where alcohol is served and such items are readily available. The most common method of glassing involves the att ...

balsa boards. He worked with Bobby Patterson, Jimmy Johnson, and Phil Edwards. He moved to

San Clemente San Clemente (; Spanish for " St. Clement" ) is a coastal city in southern Orange County, California, United States. It was named in 1925 after the Spanish colonial island (which was named after a Pope from the first century). Located in the O ...

in 1957 to work for

, where he learned shaping techniques from Velzy himself. In 1959, he moved to Santa Barbara, due in part to the fishing opportunities there. He opened Yater Surfboards on Anacapa Street and trademarked the brand that fall. The shop moved to Summerland in 1961, then back to Santa Barbara on State Street in 1964. In 1967, it moved to Gray Avenue before closing entirely in 1971. A retail shop was opened in 1991 at 10 State Street in Santa Barbara with Yater's son Lauran heading the operation. Customers included Joey Cabell, Grubby Clark, Miki Dora, Felipe Pomar, Bob Cooper, Kemp Aaberg, Bruce Brown, and

John Severson John Severson (SEA-ver-son, 1933–2017) was an American editor, author, filmmaker and artist, widely known as the founder of '' Surfer'', a magazine focused on the sport and culture of surfing. Severson also created a diverse body of artwork ded ...

. The Yater Spoon, a noserider, was the most popular of his surfboards, as it was the thinnest and lightest surfboard available at the time. It was produced between 1964 and 1968. The other most popular nosedivers were the Nose Specializer and the Pocket Rocket. Yater worked as a fisherman for 40 years, as it was often more profitable than building surfboards. He variously harvested

lobster Lobsters are Malacostraca, malacostracans Decapoda, decapod crustaceans of the family (biology), family Nephropidae or its Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on th ...

abalone Abalone ( or ; via Spanish , from Rumsen language, Rumsen ''aulón'') is a common name for any small to very large marine life, marine gastropod mollusc in the family (biology), family Haliotidae, which once contained six genera but now cont ...

s, corbinas,

gobies Gobiidae or gobies is a family of bony fish in the order Gobiiformes, one of the largest fish families comprising over 2,000 species in more than 200 genera. Most of gobiid fish are relatively small, typically less than in length, and the fam ...

, and rock crabs, depending on the time of year and where he lived. He stopped fishing in the 1990s and sold his last boat, the ''New Wave'', in 1997. Yater had a role in the 1960s surf movies ''Big Wednesday'' (1961) and ''Walk On the Wet Side'' (1963). In the film ''

Apocalypse Now ''Apocalypse Now'' is a 1979 American psychological epic war film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The screenplay, co-written by Coppola, John Milius, and Michael Herr, is loosely inspired by the 1899 novella '' Heart of Darkn ...

'' (1979),

Robert Duvall Robert Selden Duvall (; born January 5, 1931) is an American actor. With a career spanning seven decades, he is regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time. He has received an Academy Awards, Academy Award, a British Academy Film Awards ...

wears a Yater T-shirt and has a Yater Spoon board (an 8'6"), the latter of which is stolen by the patrol boat crew (in a scene that was cut from the original version, but seen in the ''

Apocalypse Now Redux ''Apocalypse Now Redux'' is a 2001 American extended version of Francis Ford Coppola's epic 1979 war film ''Apocalypse Now''. Coppola, along with editor and longtime collaborator Walter Murch, added 49 minutes of material that had been removed ...

'' version). Yater was unaware he would be mentioned in the movie until after it came out. Neither of the Spoons in the film are actual Yates surfboards, but rather spruced-up second-hand boards. Yater also founded and served as the first president of the Santa Barbara Surf Club.

Personal life

Yater met his wife Sally in

in 1953 while she was attending

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

. They married the following year and had two daughters and one son. Sally died in 2013 from cancer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yater, Reynolds 1932 births People from Los Angeles Sporting goods manufacturers of the United States Living people People from Laguna Beach, California People from Santa Barbara, California John Muir High School alumni Surfboard shapers American fishermen