Fin History

The original wood surfboards were used in Hawaii and, without fins, curved hulls and the surfer's dragged foot provided the only steering control. Of course the early surfboards were prone to slide in turns and slip off wave faces, causing riders to be thrown off their board.
The first fins were permanently fixed to the surfboard by surfing founding father Tom Blake in 1935 in Waikiki. Blake pirated a metal keel from a neglected speedboat and attached it to his surfboard. The invention, even though, primitive, opened a new world for surfers and kicked off a surfing revolution.
Later that decade, Woody Brown experimented with fin design in San Diego, using stability and control fins, further advancing popularity of the sport. Ironically, there remained a segment of surfers who were convinced surf fins were unsafe. By the 1950s though, fins had become a common fixture on all surfboards.
The 1960s brought more technical fin designs and multiple fin configurations on boards which led to the overwhelming popularity of short-boards.
Even though placing multiple fins on boards was first experimented with in the 1940s by Bob Simmons, not until  the 1970s did multi-fin systems become much more widely-used, in competition and by average surfers.
Top pros at the time, including Larry Bertlemann and Mark Richards won using short-boards with twin-fin setups. The fin placement allowed for tighter turns in smaller surf.
In 1980, Australian pro surfer Simon Anderson unleashed the three-fin (Thruster) design (three fins with two near the rail about a foot from the tail, one center fin a few inches up from the tail) on the world, which remains a common standard today.
Most saw it as an advance from twin-fin configuration with greater stability,  control and lifting for speed. Not only was it a breakthrough, after Anderson   began to win competitions, surfers quickly adopted the Thruster design. It remains the most popular fin configuration for modern surfers for both enjoyment and competition.