Pyzel Surfboards began in a backyard shaping room on the North Shore in 1995 and has grown into one of the leading surfboard companies in the world.
Pyzel Surfboards began in 1995 in a backyard shaping room on the North Shore and has grown to become one of the leading surfboard companies in the world today.
Growing up in Santa Barbara, California, Jon Pyzel started surfing in junior high and quickly fell into a newfound passion. Soon after, local SB shaper Matt Moore began shaping Jon's boards and added him to his team of local surfers. Matt always helped explain the ideas and principles of surfboard design and let Jon watch him shape all of his boards.
After traveling more to surf, Jon realized he wanted better waves and warmer water and moved permanently to the North Shore of Oahu in 1992. There he found work repairing dents at Country Surfboards and quickly learned the trade and was soon working as a hot coater and laminator. Then he met master shaper Jeff Bushman, who gave him advice and encouragement to keep growing. Eventually, Jeff gave Jon a job as a back shaper, and that was the beginning of his shaping career.
A pivotal moment came a few years later, in 1997. Alex Florence approached Jon with a request to build a board for her eldest son, John John, who was 5 years old at the time. From then on, Jon and John John worked together to redefine what was possible for grom surfing. Today, almost 20 years later, John John Florence is a two-time world champion and considered the best surfer in the world - all on a Pyzel surfboard.
When we think about our company today, we consider JJF to be one of the cornerstones of our success, not only because of his amazing surfing skills and priceless feedback, but also because of his loyalty, humble attitude, gratitude and positive outlook on life.
We started all this not to become a huge company releasing as many "units" as possible, but because we love surfing and everything related to it - traveling to new countries, great friendships, adventures. But most of all we started it because we love surfboards!
Today Pyzel Surfboards has grown into an international company but is still run by the family. Jon and his wife Dali live on the beach in Hawaii with their two daughters and help run the Pyzel Surfboards factories on the North Shore and in Oceanside, CA. We take great pride in every board we build and do our best to ensure our customers get exactly the right board for what they want to do. We have trusted licensees building our boards on every continent and Jon Shapes in Australia, Europe, Brazil, Japan, Indonesia, South America and California.