Sakal Surfboards

Shaper: Ed Sakal

Location: Huntington Beach, CA

About: Ed Sakal’s love for surfing began back in 1959, when he was 10 years old. He would rent surf mats in Hermosa Beach. Then when he was 13, he got his first real surfboard.

At 15, he joined the boy scouts and the scout master was also a surfer and took them on surf trips. His first taste of riding a big wave was on a trip down to Killer Dana with the scouts and the waves were 15 feet. Only Ed and the troop leader were brave enough to go out and Ed couldn’t get enough of those big waves.

Ed started entering WSA contests and rode for Greg Noll surf team. Later, Ed found his way to Hawaii and worked for Greg Noll, Mystic Surfboards and Lightning Bolt. This was the beginning of his love for the craft of building surfboards.

When Ed came back to the mainland, he worked for ET Surfboards in Hermosa Beach. Ed began a family, with his wife Sandy and 3 kids, Tristan, Shawna and Ryan. With more responsibility, he took his passion for building boards to the next level. He started a glassing/shaping factory, then later opened his own surf shop, Bullit Surfboards in Huntington Beach, which eventually became Sakal Surf Shop and moved locations to Downtown Huntington Beach.

Ed began to teach the craft to his son Ryan when he was about 5. He would bring home scraps of foam and sandpaper for him to mess around with, and eventually gave him a blank to shape his own board. Both Tristan and Ryan surfed in NSSA contests and Ryan eventually became a pro surfer. Ryan also started his own brand of boards, Ryan Sakal Surfboards, carrying on the legacy of Sakal. Ed’s Daughter, Shawna, has worked in the shop, and today is now running the store as shop Manager.

You can always find Ed in the shop on Saturday chatting with customers talking about his latest shapes. Ed is now enjoying teaching the third generation of surfers in the family, his grandkids.