Simon Anderson (born 7 July 1954) is an Australian surfer and surfboard shaper, noted for creating the Thruster design of three equal-sized fins on a surfboard, a design now used on most shortboards. The family moved to North Narrabeen when Simon was 16. In 1972 he also started shaping, with Shane Stedman in the Sydney suburb (and surf-factory hotbed) of Brookvale near his home. When Simon was recruited by Shane Surfboards he was given the job of shaping "pop-outs," as they were called. Simon was able to gain a considerable amount of shaping experience in a short time. He now had two things going for him. Simon was a world class surfer and he shaped his own equipment. The Shane factory at that time was the workplace of quite a few noted Australian shapers. Among them were Terry Fitzgerald (Hot Buttered), Butch Cooney, Ted Spencer (from the films "Evolution" and "Sea Of Joy") and Frank Latta. These shapers contributed to Simon learning his craft. In 1975 he started his own surfboard factory, Energy Surfboards, in Brookvale. In October '80, Simon crossed paths with Frank Williams. Simon ran into Frank as he was coming out of the water at Narrabeen with a board that was essentially a twin fin with a strange little 'half moon' shaped fin on the tail. Simon asked him what the 3rd fin was for, and Frank told him, "It helps make it more stable." Simon's instant response was, "I'm going to make it real stable!" In that moment the Thruster was conceived in Simon's mind. Being a shaper, he built his idea right away. Three fins had been done before. There'd been tri-fins (and) Bonzer's. So just to name it a tri-fin or three fin, people wouldn't know what it was. So "Thruster" is because the water gets pushed through the fins in the turn. The third fin was controlling it, controlling that thrust through the turn." He took that first Thruster to Hawaii for that 1980/81 winter on the North Shore, then on to California where he signed on to be sponsored by Gary McNabb at Nectar. McNabb wanted an Australian surfer because they were making a big splash in the world of surfing at the time. From 1984 onwards every world champion has used a thruster. Today most shortboards use this design, and some longboards do too (mainly smaller ones). Today Anderson lives with his wife and two sons in Newport Beach, Sydney where he still makes state-of-the-art surfboards.