Bill Minard

 
 The summer of 1960, Bill Minard rented a 35lb. long board from a small surf shop one block north of Crystal Pier.  He then walked the ½ mile down to Pacific Beach Drive to surf without the crowds.  Twelve years later he was shaping boards for that same shop and has since gone on to become one of San Diego’s premier shapers.

Like most of the late 60’s and early 70’s underground shapers, Bill shaped boards out of his Crown Point garage under the name Matrix Surfboards.  The boards were also sold in San Diego Surf Shop from 1974 to 1984.  During 1970 most of his boards were designed like the sleek, more foiled out shapes of Mike Diffenderfer and Dwayne Brown.

In 1977, he began shaping for Channin Surfboards working with Tracey Richmond, Mike Casey, and Steve Moret.  By 1980, he was ghost shaping for Bahne Surfboards, Surfboards Hawaii, and Donald Takayama.  “One of the highlights of my career was ghost shaping for Diffenderfer from 1982 through 1984”.

In 1985, he began shaping the G&S (Gordon and Smith) team boards and also replaced the Matrix logo with Minard Surfboards.   By 1990, he was ghost shaping for most of the big names in the area although recently he has drop that down to a few select clients to allow him to concentrate more on his Minard Surfboards label.

“The Speed Egg is my most requested board.  I have been perfecting this shape since 1976 and by 1982 had incorporated tri and quad fins in to the design.  Since 1982, my personal favorite has remained the Four Fin Speed Egg.”

“I also designed the Travel Board in the late 1990 for surfers on vacation.  This board is more versatile in different kinds of surf, saving the traveler the expense and inconvenience of carrying several boards.  The travel board is a narrow Speed Egg design that will hold its own on bigger waves but will also perform well on smaller waves”.  The Big Guy Tri is designed for the mature surfer who does not want to give up performance or style.  It’s a bit wider and thicker but not much longer.

After 47 years of surfing and 37 years of shaping, I continue to enjoy the art of building custom surfboards by hand from start to finish.  I shape in excess of 1,200 boards per year and still dawn patrol 5 days a week.