In the movie there was a scene where a surf contest took place at Pipeline- a treacherous, tubing, left reef break, where many drownings and injuries have taken place in past years. Dan noticed that during this contest, if a surfer fell or got caught in the "impact zone", Hawaiian Watermen/Lifeguards, such as Brian Keaulana and Terry Ahue, using stand-up model pwcs, would race out into the impact zone to the surfer in distress and help the surfer to safety. One deficiency that was noticed though, was that the surfer had to hold onto the body of the person operating the pwc; and, they both, were subject to possible injury inflicted by the pressurized water emitted from the jet pump.

Dan, working in the surfboard manufacturing industry at the time, thought that if some sort of board could be fastened to the rear of the pwc, the pwc operator, instead, could kneel or stand on the pwc stern step and operate the pwc as it was designed. The surfer, having a board to ride upon, would be able to hold onto something more secure...something that could also serve as protection from a possible injury inflicted by water pressure.

A couple of days after seeing the movie, Dan drew his ideas down on paper. Opportunity to act on those ideas did not take place until winter of 1991, when he had seen some of his local lifeguard friends cut a Morey/Doyle longboard in half and tie an end down to the stern step on one of the sit-down model pwcs. They had just received the pwc from Kawasaki through the Law Loan Program. They used this cut up board as a platform for hauling up and removing lobster traps out of the surf zone. The buoy ropes and traps posed as a drowning threat to surfers who happened to get their leashes tangled in one of them. Dan told his lifeguard friends at the time, Larry Giles and Tom Buckner, that he could build them a better one...one that could also be used for hauling and rescuing people.

So, plans were made where the City of Encinitas, in the State of California, provided the necessary funds for the materials and Dan donated the designing and engineering skills and labor. The sled was built shortly thereafter.

Not surprisingly, that same winter, those same Hawaiian Waterman that were seen in the movie five years earlier rescuing surfers were found to be prototyping and using a sled of their own design.

The evolution of the pwc and advent of the sit-down version had allowed an inspiration grow, and a concurrent reality develop for those surrounded within the surfing community. In 1999/2000, The Extractor sled was used by surfing legend, Laird Hamilton, when he introduced the world to tow surfing Teahupoo, in Tahiti. Laird, Darrick Doerner, Dave Kalama, and much of the Strapped Crew, along with many other top watermen in the world have relied on Extractor sleds.

Since its inception, the product has evolved from something that can rescue people out of the water and hauling lobster traps, to something that can also be used for transportation of military personnel, hauling equipment, fishing gear, and much, much more!