Andrew Crockett is a surfer with a keen eye on the rearview mirror. Yeah, he'll tell you he's living in the moment, as much as we all are, but more than most people Andrew is willing to spin on his heels and pay a historian's mind to something, anything, from the past that catches his attention. And it seems to happen often.

It began twenty years ago with surfboards. “Jacob Stuth was the guy who tuned me in. I was 16 at the time in 1992. In the 1990s you could get old surfboards for a pittance at urban garage sales, even rubbish dumps! You probably still can, but the 90s were glory years for finding exceptional old surfboards for as little as $10.”

Rather than mere collecting Andrew set out on his own course of inquiry. “I would find an old single fin and it would have a decal on it that said ‘San Juan Byron Bay’ and somewhere else a shapers name, like Frank Latta or Chris Brock. After riding several Frank Latta shapes it dawned on me – his boards go great! I wanted to find more of them and I did.”

After several years of this home-tested research Andrew had a quiver with boards by surfers such as Terry Fitzgerald, Frank Williams, Bob Cooper, Frank Latta, Midget Farrelly, Wayne Lynch, Larry Bertleman, Gerry Lopez, Owl Chapman, Peter Drouyn, Mark Richards, and even Michael Peterson.

At one point Andrew owned over 100 boards, all classics of their era, stored in a shitty garage in Brisbane. A thought began gnawing away at Andrew: surfing is disregarding its own history. “The boards we were finding were handmade by the best surfers in the world at that time. The best surfers in the world!” Would any other sport treat its history the same way?

“There was a close-minded attitude about surf culture in Australia.” says Andrew thinking back. “It was all sport and no art. It was all competition, all aggro, and no style. The magazines were saturated with ego and heroes, yet all I craved was substance - some information and knowledge.”

Surfing hadn't started exploring its own history, and here was Andrew, with a shed full of boards and a thirst for knowledge.

At that moment an idea took root.

In the early years of the millennium Andrew made the decision to sell his entire collection of boards. Madness for someone as devoted as he, but he had a higher purpose in mind and needed funds. Using connections he'd made through the old boys' network Andrew made contact with the surfers whose boards he'd been collecting. He also contacted photographers, adventurers, and other historical figures. He had them tell their stories and show their photos.

The result was the first Switch-foot book, released in 2005 with the tagline: "The other side of surfing." It won Surfing Australia's New Media award the same year. It sold incredibly, sold out in fact, and received attention from across the surfing world. All of a sudden lots of people had stories to tell. That led to Switch-foot 2, 368 pages bound in similar hardcover but brilliant white where the first book was jet black.

...and then it appeared all the surfing stories were told. Andrew took his new-found penchant for book making to golf “A gallant effort to try and get more people playing golf and less people surfing,” he says of 2013's 'Bump and Run'. But people were still making contact and all the while Andrew was researching. “I'd been entrusted with the archives of some of surfing's greatest photographers.” He was still finding gold amongst the back catalogues.

So it is that Switch-foot 3 is in the offing. But with no more old boards to sell Andrew has taken the thoroughly modern means of crowd funding to raise capital. If you're interested in surfing's history then take a look at Andrew's Kickstarter page and make a pledge if you can. Pledges of $50 or more receive a copy of the book.

Switch-Foot : Surfings Golden Era 1960-1976