Bill Stewart testing out his 4-person board with his son and
pro surfers Jeff Kramer and Colin McPhillips
Bill Stewart throws huge spray on his frontside turn
It was a design so incredible Bataleon Snowboards in the Netherlands
has revamped the design for a full global distribution for 2014-15 with
Bill’s original artwork right on the deck. He is also well known for the
award-winning “Night-stalker” surfboard, which won the Billabong Shape
Challenge, raising close to 6,000 dollars for charity. It was the first surfboard with headlights and a plexi-glass nose. Bill is always mixing design,
invention create, but his art puts these creations above the rest.
Artwork is a huge part of Bill’s life, as an artist who is famous for his airbrushing skills. He is the second person in history to ever use airbrushed
artwork on a surfboard, a skill started and perfected at Rick James’ Surf
Shop in North San Clemente in 1972. Airbrushed artwork is so standard
today on surfboards it’s hard to imagine being done any other way. He
was voted Best Artist by Surfing Magazine in the 80’s and also has two
iconic murals all over California. Most notably, his 80 ft. Malibu mural at
Topanga Point and his San Clemente Wave Wall mural that is iconic at his
storefront in San Clemente. He was filmed live, painting two murals for the
MTV beach house, and has been featured on fuel TV’s Daily Habit, show-
ing off his airbrush prowess.
MTV wasn’t Bill’s most prolific TV appearance. He was notoriously featured
in an Office Depot Commercial that ran during the Super Bowl. The
commercial was so successful it ran for 7 months, 20 times a day
on national television. The ad spotlights Bill surfing San Onofre and
working in San Clemente as a creative, active surfboard designer.
Considering Bill has hand-shaped 40,000+ boards, and sits over
a company that has produced over 100,000 boards, that claim
couldn’t be closer to the truth. He has shaped boards in France,
Portugal, England, Japan, Australia, and Peru. His high performance long boards have ridden their way to 3 world long-boarding
championship titles. He produced a board for famous Russian
statesman Mikhail Gorbachev, featuring an American flag on one
half, Soviet flag on the other and a symbol of world peace to top it
off. Arguably one of the most high profile surfboards ever made, appearing several times on CNN and other world news outlets. All that
being said, at the end of the day he revels more in the joy he has
brought to hundreds
of thousands all over
the world in surfing,
snowboarding, and
art.
Bill Stewart
designed
this board
for famous
Russian
statesman
Mikhail
Gorbachev
Bill Stewart is a
paragon of San
Clemente sportsmen,
but more notably he
is one of the most
influential artists, inventors and designers in
San Clemente, Orange
County, and as far as
surfing is concerned, the
world. Bill would love to
add the membership to
the San Clemente Sports
Hall of Fame to the list of
his many accolades all of
which stem from the inspiration of this wonderful city.
Bill featuring all his surfboard templates from the 70s to present
Come talk shop with Bill Stewart and check out our huge Summer Board Swap June 13-14 at
Stewart Surfboards. 2102 S. El Camino Real, San Clemente, California (www.stewartsurfboards.com)
SouthCoast Magazine / 949.498.0705
Spring/Summer 2015 | 9