Shaping the Future
The Story of Lance Collins & Wave Tools Surfboards
How one shaper and his brightly colored boards fueled the Newport Beach surf scene of the 1980s.
The story
Shaping the Future chronicles the life of Lance Collins, who pulled himself from adversity to achieve the American dream.
It documents the effect he and his innovative surfboard designs had on a hotbed of Newport Beach surfers in the 1980s, and how he was able to achieve the most important thing in life: peace and joy.
A smart, insightful portrait of visionary shaper Lance Collins and his spawning grounds, Echo Beach, aka Newport Beach in the 1980s. The surfers, the boards, the bright colors, the attitude, the influence, and, of course, the echoes — all vibrantly here in Shaping the Future.Jamie Brisick · The Surfer’s Journal
Lance Collins & Wave Tools
Lance and his wife, Terralea, started Wave Tools during the shortboard revolution. The shop is still on Placentia Avenue.
Twin-fins, swallowtails, wings, exaggerated outlines and bright airbrushed graphics.
By the late ’70s Wave Tools was synonymous with progressive Newport Beach surfing. Lance’s son Richie became one of the defining surfers of the ’80s.
Inducted into the International Surfboard Builders Hall of Fame.
Who’s in the film
Screenings
Presented by the Space Coast chapter of the Surfrider Foundation.
Friday Night Feature at the News-Journal Center.
Closing night screening and panel at the historic Lobero Theatre.
Watch Shaping the Future
Stream it tonight or keep it forever.
Want the backstory? Hear director Robert Helphand on The QuiverCast.