The founding father of Dropknee, Jack Lindholm, began riding in the DK stance when attempting to stand up on his boogie in the pounding shallows of Sandy Beach in 1975 - he accidentally ended up with one leg up and one knee down and found it be a functional method of wave riding, the rest, as they say, is history.
A true legend, Jack then took his new stance to huge Pipeline and began blowing minds in both the bodyboard and stand up surfing worlds, leaving onlookers slack jawed as he popped up into this unique stance, dropped to the bottom of heaving Pipe monsters, grabbed his outside rail and proceeded to scoop his now trademark huge bottom turns.
This haphazard, creative, slightly maverick birth of Dropknee is one of the many factors that sets it apart in the modern age - a wave riding style performed, originally, on a board that was in no way designed for this use. It was the pure originality, incredible inventiveness and phenomenal talent of Lindholm that kick started it all, something every modern Dropkneer should be both aware of, and grateful for.
Jack took his Dropknee riding to Morey World Championships at Pipe and achieved phenomenal success placing 2nd in 1982, 4th in 1983 and 3rd in 1984.
Jack went on to star in many of the Tom Boyle directed 'Bodyboarders Video Magazine' series. Hunt down (if you can find it) 'The Indonesian Experience', and enjoy the legendary 'dropknee duel' section between Jack and a young Kainoa Mcgee.
Jack Lindholm was also the first ever Dropknee rider to have a signature board model. He had a board out on Wave Rebel in 1989 (why don't they make deck colors this rad anymore!?).
To sign off, here's a short clip of Jack DKing Pipe in '94. Check out the brutal, signature bottom turn on the 2nd wave - I've never seen a DKer scoop as hard or deep as Lindholm could. He turns so hard that literally only his inside tail corner is in the water, the other 95% of the board is out! Insane...
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