Larry Bertlemann didn’t surf so much as contort himself around a wave. Knees bent, hips low, one hand skimming the face, he’d crank his board through turns so tight and sudden they seemed to violate the basic geometry of surfing. Then he might spin around, change direction, or launch into something that the sport’s prevailing sensibilities hadn’t yet caught up with. He looked less like a surfer following a line than a cartoon character inventing one. They called him the Rubberman. On October 10, Bertlemann died in Honolulu at 71, following complications from a heart attack, his family confirmed to Hawaii News Now . He leaves behind three children, eight grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren, as well as a legacy that extends far beyond his competitive results. Bertlemann was one of the great originals of modern surfing: an athlete whose influence is easier to see in the generations that followed him than in any trophy cabinet.…