If you know Griff, you know he isn't one to seek the spotlight.
He would rather be in the shaping bay than in front of a camera. He works hard, knows his craft, and would absolutely downplay both of those statements if you asked him.
Later this year marks nearly 18 years since Griffin first picked up a planer. Griff and I have been building Almond surfboards together since the fall of 2018.
Over that time we've crossed the 10,000-board mark under the Almond name.
Milestones like that have a way of making me stop and appreciate the bigger picture we're a small part of.
As you may or may not know, Griffin got his start apprenticing under Bruce Jones.
Long before Bruce ever let him shape a surfboard, Griffin was gluing up stringers at Walker Foam, hot-coating boards at Clearwater Glassing, and sweeping floors in Bruce's shop.
Decades earlier, Bruce got his start at another cornerstone of California surfboard building: Hobie Surfboards.
The Hobie factory helped shape an entire generation of California surfboard builders. Phil Edwards, Terry Martin, Dale Velzy, Mickey Munoz, Joe Quigg, Bruce Jones, and many others all spent time behind a planer there.
According to an interview I once read with Bruce, it was Phil Edwards who first invited him into the shaping bay.
That’s kind of rad to think about…
Hobie Alter gave Phil Edwards an opportunity, Phil Edwards gave Bruce Jones an opportunity, Bruce Jones gave Griffin an opportunity.
And today, Griffin is nearly eighteen years into a shaping career of his own.
That's one of the things I appreciate most about surfboard building. Every generation learns from the one before it, then adds a little of its own experience.
To this day, when you order a custom surfboard in Orange County, chances are you're becoming part of that lineage—one that stretches back to the earliest days of modern California surfboard building.
Every custom starts the same way: a conversation about the waves you surf, the boards you've loved, and where you hope your surfing goes next.
Several weeks later, you're paddling out on a surfboard that wouldn't exist if you hadn't had that conversation.
Here are some photos from Shortstache of Griffin doing what he has done 10,00+ times
What's Next?
