Raised around Huntington Beach surfboards
Ryan Sakal learned surfboard design in the most direct way possible: watching his father Ed work, helping with the process, surfing the results, and gradually earning more responsibility in the shaping room.
The Sakal family split its time between the Southern California coast and the desert, with surfing and dirt bikes shaping Ryan’s early years. As Ed made Ryan’s boards, he invited his son to give feedback and help with different steps. Ed could see Ryan’s curiosity and began teaching him with scraps of foam and sandpaper.
At fourteen, Ryan shaped his first surfboard from start to finish. He rode that board in a competition in Santa Cruz. From that point, surfing and shaping developed together: every board created another chance to feel how changes in outline, rocker, rails, bottom contours, and volume translated in the water.
Professional surfing and board-building experience
Ryan competed professionally, appeared in surf photography, and traveled as a surfing and shaping ambassador for brands including Quiksilver, Billabong, Stüssy, Town & Country, and Superbrand. The work exposed him to different waves, surfers, materials, and design ideas rather than one fixed approach.
Since 2014, Ryan has worked and shaped closely with Chris Christenson in North County San Diego. He has also designed through ARYSE with his older brother Tristan while continuing the family name through Ryan Sakal Surfboards.
A surfboard fitted to the surfer
Ryan has compared custom shaping to a tailor making a suit. The useful part of that analogy is fit: a surfboard should account for the surfer’s size, stance, ability, home break, preferred lines, and the gaps in the boards already in the rack.
His public design catalog has ranged across fish, twins, mid-lengths, everyday boards, and performance shortboards. The common thread is not a single template. It is the effort to match foam, curve, rail, and fin setup to a specific kind of surfing.
Order a Ryan Sakal custom in Huntington Beach
New Ryan Sakal surfboards are coming into Just Surfboards, and the shop is accepting custom Ryan orders now. To keep the consultation and sale with the Huntington Beach shop, all Just Surfboards customers should call or visit in person rather than ordering through another website.
Bring the dimensions of your current board if you have them. Explain where it works, where it feels limited, and the waves you surf most. Just Surfboards can help turn that conversation into a focused custom request for Ryan. Online ordering through Just Surfboards is coming soon.