Andy Seidensticker loves a chat. He speaks about a mile a minute, in a distinct So-Cal drawl, but I guess we all would if we had this much cool shit to say. The guy’s been around the block – skating metal-wheeled death traps, dodging helicopter gunfire mid-surf (yes, really), and now glassing boards with hemp. He’s got three-decades of foam-mowing experience and in addition to making his own weed-infused craft, he’s the resident ghost shaper for Ryan Lovelace’s highly sought after ‘Lovemachines’. Andy even schooled me on the mag I work for; I now know who Captain Goodvibes is, gonna start a petition to bring that guy back.
We met up in front of Playa Carmen, Costa Rica, where every story seemed to wash up eventually, and got some top-secret stuff on glassing with hemp amid the twists and turns of a life lived by a guy who’s never thought an idea was too crazy.
Did you always have an eye for shaping?
I think I’ve just always been working, making money to buy surfboards and wetsuits. My first job was as a paper boy for the San Diego Tribune, and by sixteen I was a line cook at Sizzler – good with my hands, always tinkering. My friends and I started a backyard board-repair business when we were seventeen, mixing resin and trying to fix dings. We had no clue, it went under after a couple months. Then my shaper got me a job at a surf factory – just a shop boy – and later I started foiling fins with Curtis Hesselgrave.
How did that turn into shaping?
Everything I learned from Curtis carried straight into shaping. The real push was because I wanted epoxy boards, but at the time there was a worldwide surfboard blank monopoly. My shaper secretly made me one, but when they found out, they came down on him hard. So, I started making my own.
Do you still have that first board?
Nah, my roommate called dibs on it. We ended up sharing it – I surfed mornings, he surfed afternoons, and we fought over it on weekends. The board was magic – almost over-foiled it but somehow perfect. ’93 was when boards really started to get refined – the Magic Slipper era, thin, rockery two-inch blades that only really worked for Slater types. I started shaping similar boards for friends. At this point I was just saving up to move to Costa Rica, after my third trip in ’92, I’d decided that’s where I had to be. No more of this American Dream bullshit I’d been force fed my whole upbringing, I made about twenty boards before leaving. Took four down with me and landed on the Caribbean coast. None of them survived – they all broke under the feet of friends – but the first board I shaped in Costa Rica made a magazine cover shot, so I’ll take that.
You started out on the Caribbean coast – how’d you end up on the Pacific side?
I spent a couple years there, shaping out of a friend’s place while he was in the States. Then some friends found this spot by accident and fell in love with it, so I came over. Eventually settled here full-time, shaping boards behind this restaurant with a mate. There weren’t many surfers here then, but we knew it would grow. We wrote a little business plan with his dad and ended up blowing it out of the water. High season was wild – we had a full rental quiver of our own boards, which was pretty cool. That ran almost ten years.
And that was when you met your business partner?
Yeah, around ’95. I was feeling good about my shapes when this guy Louis, a sales rep from Resin8, came into the shop and said, “We need you in China.” They were making Sam Egan hand shaped epoxy composite boards. A few months later Ruarri (Spurgeon) showed up with his girlfriend and kid, trying to convince me to go. I was like nah – until they told me I could spend ten days in Bali at the end of each month, plus I rode a couple sample boards he’d brought over and the flex was out of this world. A fire was lit for more of that and I thought the trips to Bali were a pretty good deal, so I went.
Wow, China? What was that like?
I was killing it there. Fixed the rail issues they had in the first week – probably one of my proudest career moments. Even if the four months were a total bust, I know fixing those crap rails into perfected Sam Egan rails I’d have done a big justice to the surfer/shaper.
On my second trip to Bali I met these Hawaiian guys at empty Padang Padang. They tried one of my boards, their filmer Freddie Malone saw it, and said, “We’re gonna blow this up in Hawaii.” They did. Suddenly all these Hawaiians wanted our boards. I went back to Costa Rica, but once the Hawaiians put out the word, I had to return to China to keep building with this, brought my wife and kid this time. Stayed three years. Found this island called Hainan – got barreled during a hurricane swell, couldn’t believe it. That became my winter spot. I’d surf my brains out, test new designs, and come back stoked. But then the economic crash hit, and we couldn’t keep it going. So, we came back to Costa Rica.
Did you dive right back into shaping?
Yeah, I had to reinvent myself. I had a big stock of boards and a mate who helped me import them. I built a new beginner line and threw in some SUPs from China. For a while, that was the focus – lessons, rentals, my wife became national SUP champ, and everyone wanted to train with her. That freed me up to focus on shaping again.
By 2017, I was back in rhythm – shaping, glassing, everything. I thought, the second half of my life is gonna be amazing. And then Covid hit.
That must’ve been rough.
Yeah. Costa Rica had one of the strictest lockdowns, then reopened fastest. Billionaires started buying up land, all my friends sold out and left. The gentrification that engulfed Santa Teresa at that moment dragged me down – hard. Couldn’t get materials, money was tight, and I started wondering if I’d wasted thirty years trying to keep the dream alive, I felt like it had died. No sleep, depressed, stuck. Then I started meditating – slowing my brain down, going outside myself. That saved me.
Now, two years after the lowest point, I’m at the highest. It’s proof that no matter how bad it gets, you’ve got to ride it out.
And then Ruarri came back about a year ago and said, “I wanna make boards out of weed.”
Haha, classic. So, how’s it been glassing with hemp?
Pretty wild. I shape the EPS foam as usual, but I’ve developed my own process to glass the hemp properly. After a few tweaks, I landed on something light, strong, and with the best flex I’ve ever felt.
Wood’s the only material, that actually strengthens as it bends. So, building a board from a wood-based fabric that’s both light and strong – that’s a real milestone for me. These hemp boards might outlast us – maybe even our grandkids. It’s pushed me to refine my shapes even more.
For 45 years of surfing and 33 years shaping, nothing else has hit that sweet spot of sustainable, durable, and high-performance before.
What’s it feel like to ride?
From the first waves on those hemp boards, my team rider Matias Braun and I knew – it’s got a special feel. There’s a smoother connection between surfer and board. EPS boards are usually too chattery or too stiff. This isn’t.
After 30 years on rigid epoxy, my body took a beating – especially my right hip from all those hard landings. The hemp boards absorb impact, bend, then spring back with speed. The cushioning helps me surf harder, go bigger, and recover faster. It’s made me a better surfer, honestly.
Sounds like you’re getting close to a perfect board. Do you think one exists?
If we’re talking waves from two foot to double overhead – yeah, there’s a perfect board for that. My S2 all-around Hybrid comes pretty close. But I’m always tweaking, an eighth of an inch here, a sixteenth there. You never stop chasing better.
What are you riding lately? Anything impressing you these days?
This year I’ve been spoiled for choice – switching between the four designs for the new Resin8 Hemp line. My Diamond/Bat Tail Scoop Deck Biscuit has been my go-to hybrid. I’ve been shaping scoops for 15 years, so they’re dialed in.
And, yeah, always inspired by Daniel Thomson – his hydroplane shapes are incredible.
Is there anything you’d refuse to shape?
Not really. I like a challenge. Longboards aren’t my favorite, but I can make a mean one. The only thing I can’t stand is when people want a “display board.” It’s hard to find the love in making a board just for it to hang on a wall.
Yeah, that’s fair haha. How are you feeling about the next few years? What can we expect?
Firstly, I hope to have another good year of surfing and developing further as a human in a crazy time. I’m looking forward to the release of Hemp boards, sold exclusively at The House of Somos. On top of that, I’ve been the inhouse Ghost Shaper, mainly finishing off Ryan Lovelace’s “Lovemachines,” a collaboration that began earlier this year.
As for Resin8, we’ll keep innovating with cutting-edge materials and refining shapes that improve strength-to-weight-to-flex ratios. We’re definitely going to keep experimenting, pushing boundaries, and building the best boards possible.
Sweet, excited to see what you come up with! To end, let’s give ‘em something to live off at their 9 to 5’s – what’s your wildest surf story?
Actually, I was here just in front of us giving a surf lesson to a couple a decade or so ago and when we were in the water this speed boat started jetting for us and chasing it was a helicopter, it open fired on the boat. We jumped out of the water and the boat sped up onto the shore. Police ended uo catching them in the hills.
(He’s got about ten more like that – all gnarlier than the last.)
Andy’s story isn’t just about chasing waves or shaping boards – it’s about chasing ideas, pushing limits, and finding the sweet spot between chaos and craft. He’s lived a life that proves there’s always another wave to catch, another line to shape, and another story worth telling.
