Jonn Pyzel is a legend of foam. He creates the shapes that sit under the feet of John John Florence, Nathan Florence, Koa Rothman, and Mark Healey, just to name a few. He grew up in Santa Barbara and began surfing in Junior High. Matt Moore took notice of him and put him on his team, then starting shaping his boards. Pyzel had a deep interest in what made a surfboard do certain things, and Moore helped explain the basics to him.
In 1992, Pyzel made the move to the North Shore. He started off as a ding repair guy at Country Surfboards, then learned the art of hot coating and laminating. It there that he met Jeff Bushman, who gave him a job as a back-shaper.
Then, in 1998, his whole career ran into a booster. Pyzel ran into Alex Florence, who was interested in getting her five-year-old son a surfboard. She wanted Pyzel to make it. That five-year-old, of course, was John John Florence, and it was the beginning of a relationship unlike any other in surfing.
John John became a cornerstone of Pyzel Surfboards, and all these years later, they’re as tight as family. His most recent mega-popular board is called the Ghost, but it spawned a few others, like the Phantom, the Gremlin, and the Ghost Pro. Watch above as he reviews them all and soak up a bit of wisdom that only Jon Pyzel can impart.