Marc Andreini

Marc Andreini is a Cal­i­for­nia shaper/surfer who started surf­ing in 1962 and shaped his first board at the age of 14. Respected for his tal­ent and skills as a shaper, Andreini was influ­enced by such nota­bles as Reynolds Yater and George Gree­nough. We spoke with Marc to learn more.

What was it like grow­ing up in Cal­i­for­nia?
Par­adise! I thank God I was aware of my good for­tune and never took it for granted. Imag­ine being 7 years old and have your mom move you to Santa Bar­bara (from the San Mateo) to spend every week­end at the beach in the 50’s!

What attracted you to go surf­ing?
My mom had been at Waikiki in the 40’s and learned to surf (Napoleon was her teacher). She was an avid swim­mer and body surfer and taught my brother and I when we moved to SB.

What was the feel­ing you had when you first stood on a surf­board?
Ecstasy! I still have trou­ble sleep­ing once I start imag­in­ing the rides I may get in the morn­ing! Hooked for life after only 1.5 sec­onds stand­ing at the Sand­bar at the SB harbor!

Who did you look up to and admire when you were young?
Jeff White of White Owl Surf­boards. He took us young grems in and made us belong. I try to pass that along today. And Duke Kahanamoku of course. He was like the John Wayne of surf­ing, a noble gen­tle­man. Also Phil Edwards and Renny Yater.

What inspired you to shape boards?
I con­nected the love of rid­ing my first wave to my surf­board I sup­pose, as I love surf­boards as much as rid­ing them. That led me to repair­ing them from my first ding for­ward. Shap­ing was a nat­ural evolution.

What do you love about it?
The Holy Grail in shap­ing for me is to cre­ate sen­sual flow­ing curves that extract speed and grace from the wave. That in turn intro­duces the rider to my vision of how a wave should be experienced.

Who are some of the peo­ple who have rid­den your boards?
Almost all of my friends! To name one is to leave out ten! I am prob­a­bly most flat­tered when other shapers order boards from me!

Who/what inspires you?
Life and the God/Jesus behind it. It is the awe and won­der­ment of it all.

What is the great­est thing you have learned in your life?
It is bet­ter to give than receive. You can’t out give God, you get back more than you put out by 10 fold.

What are you most proud of?
Hav­ing some integrity. I wish I had more.

What mean­ing does surf­ing hold for you and how has it changed your life?
Surf­ing is what gave me that drive to exist and it ulti­mately shaped my whole life around itself.

What brings you the most hap­pi­ness in the world?
Being at peace. Unfet­tered by cir­cum­stances out­side my control.

Who are some of the peo­ple you feel are shap­ing the path for surf­ing today?
Danny Hess, Tom Wegener, Thomas Camp­bell, Skip Frye…

What are you cur­rently rid­ing? Your favorite surfspot?
9′, 10′ 11′, pin­tail dis­place­ment hulls/ sin­gle fins. Swift Street, Santa Cruz.

Describe your per­fect day.
Dri­ving my antique Jag to the beach with my wife Betty and our dog Bubba. We walk the dog, then I surf, my wife tells me I still have it, we go to din­ner, we drive home!

What’s next for Marc Andreini?
God will­ing, my 60’s will be my best decade of surfing!!

Find out more about Marc Andreini and Andreini Surf­boards here.