The story

||WHERE IT ALL BEGAN ||

I started surfing in 1959 at Dana Point harbor. I grew up on the beach in South Laguna, rafting, body surfing, skimboarding, fishing, and diving. My early lessons about life were taught to me by the great outdoors, watermen and ocean men. My world was rich in abundance with examples and the right choices.

My passion for surfing was extra-ordinary, and my life became that passion. The surfing lifestyle for myself, my immediate family, and my close friends have been a rich reward in several different aspects. So much so, that the book I'm writing now will do the details justice because God is in the details. I hope to finish that book in 2021.

For now, this website, creatively designed by a very talented singer and composer, Yasmyn Andrade, who lived some of her life in Laguna Beach as a professional skimboarder, will structure what I have for the marketplace.

My first vision of fiberglass and resin was in 1960 when my older brother, Gordon, borrowed my first surfboard and ran the nose into a pile of rocks. I was mortified. Gordon was three years older and knew everything about life (or so I thought).

Out came the saw for a rough amputation of about 3" of the nose. Next came the toilet set to use as a template. The nose contour was like the bow of a ship. And my 9'6 was now a 9'3. Sadly disappointed, my new board was an ugly duckling but it never pearled, and therein is the magic of design.

In 1963, at the age of 13, Mickey Munõz hired me to patch boards for his surf lesson and rental business across from Doheny behind Gay's Bait Shop.

My next and most important education would be first as a glosser for Gordon and Smith in San Diego in late 1965 and then Surfboards Hawaii in Encinitas in 1967. Sanding and finishing and then shaping under the instruction of owner John Price.

I would take this knowledge on to Hawaii to the North Shore in mid-1967 and create my own surfboard business. This was an "on the cusp" time for surfboard evolution. When I left Surfboards Hawaii, John Price and I had designed the styles I and II models. These were known as "signature models". But boards were being researched and designed in Australia by their elite surfers, Nat Young, Bob McTavish, and California's design genius, George Greenough. The outcome would be the shortboard revolution. Historically, this made the old 10-foot longboards obsolete, and the major manufactures, the big players, lost their ass holding thousands of pre-made stock longboards for the blooming east coast market. The signature era died and a whole new world of surfing was born. The brand new longboards, many of them were stripped of their fiberglass and reshaped into shorter designs. The re-shaping of the surfboard also heralded the reshaping of the entire industry of surfboard making. In a large sense, a modernization; all around the surfing world. New concepts and new design theories were being born. Names like "the twin fin", "the pocket rocket", "the egg", "the bonzer" and many more found their manifestation.

Foam, the core of all surfboards was being dramatically transformed by Magnate Grubby Clark. The surfboard weighed 30 pounds in 1960. By 1970, it weighed 12 pounds. I have been shaping all kinds of forms to ride waves for 53 years. Thousands of forms. To make a long story short, I've condensed what I've learned. Number one, if a surfboard does not float or paddle you well and if it is not loose nor fast, then you are probably riding the wrong surfboard. Think about that. Simple as it sounds, it took many, many years to truly understand that. Also, I am a tailor. I need to extrapolate a number of questions asked and answered to make... to manifest a custom surfboard. No two are the same.

At one point in my manufacturing life, I had five employees and was having hundreds of boards pre-shaped by computer for customers in Japan, Europe, and the east coast. Today, I am only one employee. I do everything by hand from scratch.

My price is based upon per foot increments. It sounds like a lot but it's actually quite competitive to the market price and because I make custom equipment, I will need to know information by speaking to you directly. That is where your surfboard is; born by communication of detail. So, please enjoy this website and if you need a custom surfboard, head over to the STORE for more information.

Aloha and mahalo,

Bill Hamilton