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Shaping Surfboards in Encinitas and San Diego

After catching my first wave in Huntington Beach, I was hooked on surfing for life. I really wanted a surfboard that I could call my own. Since I was young and couldn't afford a new surfboard, I decided it would be cheaper to learn how to make one for myself. After some trial and error, I started making surfboards at my parent's home and began selling some of them to anyone that was willing to give my shapes a chance.

A few years later, in the 70's, I headed south toward San Diego and found a place in Cardiff, where I continued shaping Sauritch Surfboards for some of the locals in Cardiff, Encinitas and Solana Beach. I loved watching somebody ride one of my surfboards, that I hand crafted on my own.

As I continued shaping, I was asked to shape for Rip Curl out at the Moonlight Glassing factory, just inland from Encinitas. It was around this time that I discovered young, Rob Machado, surfing just south of Swamis at a spot called Little Tahitis. He was riding an old board that was clearly too big for him, but killing it at the same time. He started riding for me for quite a few years and seemed to win every contest he entered. During these contests, he became friends with a Hawaiin kid named Kalani Robb, who also began riding some of my shapes.

In the mid 80's, I went to shape for Rusty Preisendorfer, where I began shaping anything from shortboards to island guns, for customers as well as several of the team pros that were on the circuit during that era. After a couple of years, I decided to leave Rusty and focus all of my attention on shaping Sauritch Surfboards, which turned out to be a good move. My business really started to pick up and has been doing so ever since.

In the 90's, I started making surfboards for people in Santa Cruz and in the Bay area. It was during that time, that I started shaping surfboards for Josh Mulcoy, who was one of the most talented surfers in Santa Cruz. Josh was known to search for surf in some of the coldest spots known to man.

I love hand shaping any type of surfboard and continue to do my best to produce a quality product for my customers, according to their own, personal specifications.


- Greg Sauritch