The SD, or San Diego Shortboard, is the ideal Rusty shortboard designed for the Southern California coast. The SD is suitable for everything from the softer beach breaks of Del Mar and Leucadia to the hollow reef breaks of La Jolla and Sunset Cliffs. The versatility of the SD design makes it the ideal one-board quiver for your surf trip.
The origins of the SD are well documented. In June 2016, we delivered a board to Stab for one of their shapers’ series (Stab in the Dark), which was to be filmed in South Africa later that summer. I wasn’t sure who the pro was. 6'0", 190 lbs. Maybe Jordy? But he’s a bit taller. I built a modified “Yes Thanks”—one of Josh Kerr’s models. #46. I beefed up the “Yes Thanks” a bit. I adjusted the thickness profile and shifted the center of gravity slightly forward. It has a fairly deep single concave that flattens out to zero under the rear fin and ends with a slight V in the tail. The mysterious surfer turned out to be Dane Reynolds. “It felt completely different from the other boards I’ve surfed so far,” Dane remarked. “It has a low rocker, sharp edges, and a stocky deck.” I wasn’t particularly excited to try it out because of the huge snakeskin strip along the rail and that shapeless tail. It just doesn’t look that cool. But I was surprised. It had a lot of speed and drive. It felt like a good board. I caught a few barrels, but I couldn’t make a proper turn.” As it turned out, Rusty wasn’t the only one experiencing a bit of identity confusion. Dane actually thought the board was a Creed McTaggart model shaped by Hayden Cox. Dane surfed the board with solid authority... he ripped. A few months later, my son Clint christened it “SD.” He tweaked it a little—added a bit of rocker. Over the past 5 years, it’s been one of our most popular designs.
Dimensions: 6.6 x 20.5 x 2.84 - 40.8 liters
3-fin thruster setup, compatible with Futures fins
Includes: Board without fins
TEC - TORQ EPOXY COMPOSITE
Torq Epoxy Composite offers high-performance shapes in our state-of-the-art epoxy layup. These boards provide the best balance between lightness and durability. Using our own unique lamination process, we’re able to incorporate a very strong fiberglass layup consisting of 6oz and 4oz layers in a three-layer deck and a two-layer bottom (with a four-layer rail overlap) with high-density EPS foam, while still achieving a board weight comparable to that of a lightweight fiberglass layup.
The result is a lightweight yet very stable board with good flex characteristics and, as with all torq’s, an excellent price-to-performance ratio.