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Friendly, full-sized surfboard shaper and surfwear magnate from La Jolla, California; founder of Rusty, one of the sport's largest surfboard and surfwear labels. Preisendorfer was born (1953) in Los Angeles and raised in La Jolla, the son of a Scripps Institute research mathematician father and occupational therapist mother. He began surfing at 13 and shaping boards three years later, setting up a "factory" in a neighbor's backyard chicken coop.

Preisendorfer continued to shape while going to college at U.C. San Diego (where he took a B.A. in visual arts), freelancing for San Diego mainstay Gordon & Smith Surfboards, then for Canyon Surfboards, and earning a reputation among the sport's elite by making boards for 1976 world champion Peter Townend and 1978 world champion Shaun Tomson. But his's real breakthrough came in 1983 when he shaped a plain-looking tri-fin for 16-year-old Mark Occhilupo of Australia, who rode it to electrifying effect as a world pro tour rookie.

Two years later, Preisendorfer founded Rusty Surfboards, and in 1988 he moved into clothing. The company's simple "R." script logo (designed by Preisendorfer) soon became a national, then international, beachwear icon.

Preisendorfer built his shaping reputation by making basic, slightly full-templated tri-fin boards, favored by power surfers such as Occhilupo. "I'm not interested in coming up with the next major breakthrough in surfboard design," he once said. "Trying to be consistent is what's most important." But Preisendorfer had a creative streak as well, best exemplified by his five-finned C-5 model, introduced in the late '90s; Preisendorfer shrewdly promoted the board by staging the 1999 Rusty C-5 Challenge competition at Lower Trestles, in which all entrants had to ride a five-fin design.

Wes Laine, Kalani Robb, Taylor Knox, Serena Brooke, Shane Powell, and Josh Kerr are among the dozens of top world tour pros who have used Preisendorfer boards over the years, along with big-wave riders Mike Parsons and Darryl "Flea" Virostko, and free-surf wizard Jamie O'Brien; CJ Hobgood rode Preisendorfer's boards to a world pro tour championship in 2001. Preisendorfer has informally mentored a number of popular shapers, including John Carper and Dave Parmenter.

In the face of dwindling sales numbers, Preisendorfer sold his interest in the surfwear division of the Rusty label to an Australian firm in 2006.

 magazine poll, the burly but genial Preisendorfer (6'4" 240 pounds) was named the second-best shaper in the world, behind fellow Californian Al Merrick. 

ranked Preisendorfer fifth on a 2002 list of the "25 Most Powerful People in Surfing." 

 magazine named Preisendorfer one of the "10 Best Shapers of All Time," in 2004, and their "Shaper of the Year" in 2008.

Preisendorfer, Rusty

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