Encinitas Surfboards Brief History

Store Hours

Open Everyday 8:30-6:00

107 N Hwy 101
Encinitas, CA 92024
(760) 753-0506

OUR STORY....

Marc Adam and John Kies both migrated to Encinitas with their parents when they were children. Friends from the surf, they worked together in the early 1970’s at the old Koast Surf shop in Cardiff. They left Koast Surf at the same time, and John, who was making a name for himself as a longboard shaper, moved to Hawaii to try to make a go of it there, while Marc stayed behind in Encinitas, taking a job at the original George’s restaurant on the beach in Cardiff. About a year later Mark gave John a call to let him know that Koast Surf had closed its doors. A few months later, John was back in town and, in 1975, Encinitas Surfboards was born.

The Marc Adam, John Kies partnership proved to be an equation for success. It didn’t take long for John to establish his reputation as a shaper and for Marc, who runs the retail operation, to convert this reputation into the rapid growth and success of the Encinitas Surfboards name. By the late 1970’s, if you lived anywhere in California and didn’t have one of those long sleeved T-shirts with “Encinitas Surfboards” written down the sleeve you just plain old weren’t cool, and probably didn’t surf very well either.

A key reason for their success was John’s ability to adapt his shaping skills to the shortboard market. You could always find a few longboards on the rack at Encinitas Surfboards, even during the height of the shortboard revolution when most shops were treating longboarders as if they had the plague. But Kies threw himself into the world of shortboard design and production like it was second nature. According to Marc Adam, “John is a shaper extraordinaire,” which allowed Encinitas Surfboards to service both the shortboard and longboard markets.