Tim Bessell

 
Tim Bessell loves his job. He combines lifelong surfing experience with expert craftsmanship to create some of the best custom surfboards in the world. From world class professionals to weekend warriors, ask anyone who knows him and they'll tell you the same thing: Tim is more than a shaper, he's an artist.

Tim shaped his first surfboard in his parent’s garage when he was only thirteen years old. Only two years later, Tim began his professional surfboard shaping career when he began working at Sunset Surfboards. He was one of the youngest surfboard shapers at Sunset, but he was already making a name for himself in and around his home break of Windansea Beach in La Jolla, California.  Three years later Tim moved to Hawaii to prove he has what it takes to be a shaper on the North Shore. He began shaping custom surfboards for Lightning Bolt, one of Hawaii's premier surfboard manufacturers. In fact, Tim Bessell would later become one of the few shapers allowed to manufacture surfboards under the Lightning Bolt name.

In 1982, Tim returned to San Diego and started Bessell Surfboards. To date, Tim has produced over 43,000 surfboards. His boards have graced the covers of Surfer Magazine, Surfing Magazine, Beach Culture, and countless other surfing magazines. Many world class surfers have ridden Bessell Surfboards including: Peter King, Luke Egan, Jon Roseman, Glen Winton, Brad Gerlach, Vetea David, Ricky Irons, David MacAulay, Saxon Boucher, Debbie Melville Beacham, Ryder Mackey, Chris O'Rourke, Billy Choe, Simon Law, Juston Postin, David Eggers, Davie Miller, Richard Kenvin and more.  If you're lucky enough to visit Tavarua Island, you'll notice Tim's trademark guns are standard equipment on the island. Wherever you end up, chances are there is someone riding a Bessell.