Gordon & Smith x Todd : Built on Tradition (1/3)
The Beginning of a Partnership
The first time I shaped in San Diego was in March 2019. Joel Tudor offered me a place to stay, and I ended up shaping at Jeff McCallum's factory, where Joel, Ryan Burch, and several other shapers were building boards while Alex "Super Wolf" handled the laminations.
When I returned to San Diego in September 2020, Jeff had closed his factory, and many of us had found a new home at Gordon & Smith.
That's where I met Eric and Debbie Gordon, the son and daughter of Larry Gordon, one of G&S's original founders alongside Floyd Smith.
From the very beginning, Eric and Debbie made every trip to San Diego easier. They helped get my boards finished, packed, shipped, and coordinated customer pickups. More importantly, spending time around Eric meant hearing stories and gaining insight into one of surfing's most influential brands.
G&S has always stood for innovation. Larry Gordon worked closely with surfers like Mike Hynson and Skip Frye, constantly pushing surfboard design forward. Floyd Smith's connection with Australia's emerging shortboard revolution brought influences from Australia to California, while later additions such as Maury Pope continued to challenge conventional thinking with designs that broke away from tradition.
As a shaper, those old G&S catalogs from the 1970s remain some of my greatest sources of inspiration. The variety of models, the willingness to experiment, and even the airbrushes and overall aesthetic all represent a philosophy of surfboard building that I deeply admire.
Many of my own designs—including the Modern Machine—owe something to that era. I find myself returning to those outlines and ideas, then interpreting them through my own approach to shaping.
I've been working with G&S since late 2020, and every board I build there benefits from the experience and craftsmanship of a crew that has spent decades perfecting their craft.
For me, G&S is more than a place where my boards get glassed. It's a brand built on craftsmanship, innovation, and a community of people who genuinely care about making great surfboards. I couldn't do what I do in San Diego without them, and I'm proud to bring a little of that tradition back home to Hawaii.
Todd talking surfboards with the late Eric Gordon at the G&S factory.
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G&S 7’10 “Summer Long Keel Twin”
G&S 10’0 “Eagle Glider”
G&S Speed Bites
G&S T-Shirts