LIHUE — In the summer of 1964, a teenage surfer named Mark Angell considered himself lucky to find work at a small surf shop, Otto’s Fun Sport, in Santa Cruz, Calif. Not long after he took the job, Otto, the
LIHUE — In the summer of 1964, a teenage surfer named Mark Angell considered himself lucky to find work at a small surf shop, Otto’s Fun Sport, in Santa Cruz, Calif.
Not long after he took the job, Otto, the shop’s owner, approached Angell and said his wife didn’t want him coming home smelling like resin and covered in dust anymore. Angell was put in charge of shaping the shop’s rental boards.
“It was real exciting for me,” the Kauai resident remembered. “It was like, ‘Man, I’m going to be like the real big guys.’”
Five decades later, Angell is still at it — with no intention of slowing down. Since making his first board in April 1964, at 16, he estimates he’s shaped more than 40,000.
When asked how it feels to reach the 50-year mark, Angell said, “real old.”
Angell calls his addiction to shaping a “labor of love,” “starving artists syndrome,” and “ridiculous.”
He keeps a low profile and is quick to describe himself as “underground.” He’s never been interested in the spotlight. The only glory he gets — and enjoys — is bumping into surfers, either on the street or in the water, who tell him a board he made changed their life.
One of those surfers is Charlie Solorio, of Maui, who’s been riding Angell’s boards since the late-1980s.
“Mark’s the master,” he said. “It’s the craftsmanship he puts into it.”
Over the years, Solorio estimates he’s gone through at least 30 of Angell’s boards. One of his recent purchases was a one-of-a-kind finless short board.
“I’ve never had a board that didn’t work,” he said of Angell’s. “You can almost tell as soon as you hit the water that it’s going to be a magic board. All of his are magic boards.”
In addition to making a name for himself as a shaper, Angell is also a lifelong surfer. He started riding 58 years ago at age 8 while growing up in Santa Cruz. In high school, he began competing in contests and was eventually approached by Hobart “Hobie” Altar, who signed him as a rider.
In 1966, Angell set a record which he claims has still not been broken — a monster 39.6-second nose ride during the Cowell’s Beach Noseriding contest.
“I took off and went up the nose, and actually this guy right here blocked for me,” he said, pointing to a photograph of him and his buddy. “I went up to the nose and was just there all the way to the shore break and ran off the nose onto the beach. It was pretty cool.”
Angell stuck with surfing, riding for a number of prestigious companies, and continues to compete.
His career as a shaper got a big boost when he opened a small board shop in Santa Cruz in 1968. Within a few years, however, Angell decided it was time for a change, and Hawaii was calling his name.
“When I got here and went surfing for the first time, I just went, ‘I’m so over this wetsuit stuff,’” he said. “As soon as I hit the water I went, ‘Are you serious?’”
In addition to the added perks of warm weather and water, Angell was set on having a career in board building.
“I just wanted to be one of the best shapers in the world. There was no other place to really do it other than the surf capital of the world — in Hawaii.”
So Angell hopped a plane to Kauai, first living in a tent at Lydgate Beach Park. Later, he scraped together enough money to open his own shop, Mark Angell Surfboards, in the old Coca Cola bottling plant at the north end of Kapaa.
Not only did he like the work, he was good at it and wanted to be the best. It certain beat mowing lawns or doing some “donkey job,” he joked.
After a few years on Kauai, Angell went on to live and work on Oahu, Maui and Japan, shaping for some of the largest board companies in the world. Decades later, in 2001, he returned to Kauai for good, where he continues to perfect his craft.
“Now, I just do a board or two a day — and surf,” he said.
His fiancee, Ann Hettinger, also a dedicated rider of Angell’s boards, calls Angell a perfectionist.
“Mark lets his work speak for himself,” she said. “It’s about the craftsmanship.”
Over his long career, Angell has shaped boards for greats such as Michael Ho, Derrick Ho, Dane Kealoha, Rabbit Bartholomew, Hans Hedemann, Cheyne Horan, Chappy Jennings and Vince Kline. And he continues to build custom, top-quality boards for the old and new generation of rippers around the world.
“I’m just doing it,” he said. “Until I die.”
