In the world of celebrity, you know you’ve made it when you are referred to by your initials: JFK, MLK and FDR are easily matched to their full names by anyone who’s ever skimmed a grade-school history book. First name status is also a sign of Himalayan company: Arnold, Oprah, Tiger. No surname required, thank you.
The surfing world has its own list of mono handles: Shaun (Tomson), Joel (Tudor), Kelly (Slater) rank highly among them. Welcome to celebrity Valhalla. The only way of narrowing the field further would be to be known by a single letter. That unique category is occupied exclusively by one Rusty Preisendorfer, whose R. is omnipresent in lineups from D Street to Duranbah and beyond.
Not that anyone calls him R dot, but any surfer who sees the 18th letter of the alphabet stamped onto the deck of a surfboard punctuated by a period, knows to whom it refers. R period. It seems like an exclamation point indicating that nothing further needs saying.
I first became aware of Rusty in the mid ’70s when he was part of a crew of Gordon & Smith team riders emerging from La Jolla Shores. I was working the counter at a Koast Surfboards on Coast Highway in Cardiff when he walked in and introduced himself with his full name, which was unnecessary even then.
He said he was seeking work as a shaper. I referred him down the road, to the one and only John Kies, who was then head shaper for Koast, and Hank Byzak, the owner of a Leucadia surf shop known affectionately as “Pure Fun.” Grateful for my help, Rusty offered to shape me a board. The “egg” he made me was among the best boards I’ve ever ridden.
Soon afterward, Rusty began his own label, Music. These, to me, were among the finest surf craft of the time, a high note highlighting his artistic side. Music was followed by a stint at Canyon, and finally the big launch into his own brand, Rusty Surfboards.
During the 1980s, Rusty became the top choice of professional surfers internationally. While Dave Parmenter ruled the waves in California, Mark “Occy” Occhilupo, arguably the top goofyfoot surfer of all time, rode Rustys to enough victories to secure a World Surfing Championship in 1999.
Over the years, Rusty has experimented with all types of snowboards and wakeboards and a clothing company. Through it all, however, the master craftsman always returns to his first love, sculpting foam within fractions of an inch that become vehicles of joy for everyone from beginners to the best surfers in the world.
Last Saturday evening, Rusty was honored for his numerous achievements by the Windansea Surf Club at Duke’s in La Jolla. In an auction featuring collectible surfboards by Craig Hollingsworth of Lightning Bolt, a Dick Brewer big-wave gun shaped by Gary Linden, and a Hot Buttered Surfboard by Hank Warner, a custom Rusty surfboard was offered to the highest bidder.
Because of our addiction to poverty, no freelance writers raised their paddles that evening. Still, I was tempted to put in a low bid until my left hand slapped some sense into the other one. The board went for around $2,000, a long way from the 20 bucks that would send the man who was on the eve of becoming ranked among the best surfboard designers in the world into the shaping room to reveal a masterpiece after the foam dust had cleared.
I’ve never paid anywhere near that price for anything smaller than a car, but I’ve managed to pack a few Rusty Surfboards into my quiver over the years. I think I speak for everyone who ever bought and sold one of those boards in saying, “I wish I still had them.”
