Original San Diego Canyon Surfboards

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The beginning of Canyon Surfboards

An original San Diego surf godfather brought together a surfboard glass shop in Rose Canyon that was struggling in the shaping bay to keep up with orders—with a young, talented, and smart shaper who needed a new glassing business and money to cover medical bills. Go by and ask at Birds SurfShed on Morena Blvd if you want to know who it was that made the introduction that in 1976 resulted in Canyon Surfboards. 

Rusty Preisendorfer was just standing there waist deep at the Shores when a rider came down from a wave and dealt him a bone deep injury, infection and hospital medical bills. He tracked down and confronted the offending surfer. Apparently, this man owned several restaurants in nearby PB and drove a nice car, but he would not award Rusty with any money. Another problem that Rusty had was that the current glass shop for his Music! line of surfboards would not be able to continue to grow with his increasing demand. It was an underground surf bulletin that traveled through the San Diego surf scene—

Canyon Surfboards TShirts

Vintage Surfboard Artwork on New Shirts

Newsflash: Rusty injured, needs money, and a new glass shop.San Diego Surf Underground 1976

Meanwhile from down in Sunset Cliffs, John Durward had turned his backyard surfboard construction passion into a commercial surf glass shop, and now a full bonafide surf brand that was fastly growing through popular demand across the United States. John was a gifted craftsmen who could freehand perfect pinlines with just an India pen.

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