Bill Stewart

Bill Stewart

In Bowling Green Kentucky in 1951, I’m still Kentucky’s greatest surfer ever. My family moved to Florida when I was 2. In the 7th grade my best friend’s dad pulled us from school and took us surfing for the first time. I was completely hooked. I mowed 32 lawns in 1964 to earn the $32 to buy a used Hobie 9’2", my 1st board.

I lived for surf through high school and excelled in art classes. Bought a 1963 Ford van for $500 and split for the west coast. I ended up in Encinitas where I surfed Swami’s everyday on my 5’6" Plastic Fantastic twin fin. Surfing my way up the coast, I landed at my dream location, San Clemente. I paid my dues polishing, sanding, and selling boards. I learned all I could about building surfboards, painting and shaping for Rick James. I used my airbrush skills to paint surfboards being second person to paint boards in this way. My big break came when I started airbrushing hundreds of boards for OP. I was hired by South Shore and later by Hobie for airbrushing and shaping. I continued to compete at a professional level on the Hobie team, having much success in local events.

In 1978, I started Stewart surfboards in the alley of Broken Dreams, Dana Point. I hand painted and shaped, took orders, sold tees, took the money and ran my tiny Laguna Beach shop, one customer at a time. I married my lovely bride Christy, had two children, and became very serious about building boards. At a grass roots level, we put together a great team of surfers, Mike Parsons, Shane and Gavin Beshen, and Pat Allen. Finally we scraped up enough money for an ad in Surfing Magazine, and we also got some editorial coverage.

The ball really started rolling in the early 80’s. Being the tinker that I am, I started trying to find a way to make longboards go fast and turn hard. It was my three finned, double concave, beveled rail Hydro Hull that became my cornerstone and to this day is sold and surfed worldwide.

The company grew; we opened a bigger shop in San Clemente where we still reside. We are still making hand shaped polyurethane and epoxy boards in the shop every day. We specialize in custom boards from corporate full color inlay to a nine year olds’ first board.

I still work extensively with my team riders, Julie Whitegon, Colin McPhillips, Troy Mothershead and Maggie Dunn to produce the best high performance surfboards I can possibly shape. We will now also offer alternative surfboards including a full line of surfboards from Boardworks.

For more info on Bill Stewart, please visit www.stewartsurfboards.com.