Rising star surfboard shaper and heir to the throne here at Rusty Surfboards, Clint Preisendorfer has been mastering the craft, something he’s been learning from his father Rusty throughout the years. Clint is making waves (and catching them of course) in the surf industry and just recently was featured on Surfline in their “Shapers Who Rip” column. Check out some highlights from the feature below. To see the feature in its entirety, click HERE.
"I think my dad turned me loose for the very first time when I was about 15. He let me into Rick Hamon’s shaping bay and I started hacking a board apart."
"I always kind of laugh when someone asks me what my favorite board to shape is because, to be honest, it’s a pintail that I’m shaping for myself because I’m trying to get barreled on a big day. That said, we have a model called The Blackbird that we basically made for big days at Blacks and Ocean Beach. Another board I really enjoy making is a new one we just launched called The Barking Spider. It’s a swallowtail performance shortboard with a little more width. It has kind of a flat deck, which I’m really into and it’s reminiscent of the Occy ’84 model. It has kind of a flatter deck, but with more traditional dome deck rails, so it’s a blend of the two with a hip going into a swallowtail with plenty of width underneath the back foot. It’s a great everyday California shortboard."
"I definitely feel a lot of pressure. My dad has been shaping boards longer than I’ve been alive and shaped boards for world champions before I was even born. So I feel like there are some pretty big shoes to fill shaping under his label with all these other guys like Hoy Runnels, Mike Russo, Rick Hamon and Pedro Battalion. All of these guys have 30 - 40 years of shaping under their belts, so I’ve been knocking on their doors, asking for help every step of the way and they’ve been happy to give it. I feel some pressure, but as long as you focus on making the best board you can, that’s really all you can do. And I can’t see myself doing anything else. I think it’s way more rewarding than baseball. To see someone paddle out with a huge smile on their face and have them tell you that their board works great — I think that’s about all I want in life."
See the full Surfline feature of Clint HERE.
