With his famous headphones, cigar in his mouth, and planer in hand, William “Stretch” Riedel has been building a wide range of innovative surf craft from surfing to sailing. The freakishly tall (6′6) yet skinny as a rocker stick shaper first learned the art of shaping from his father, who was a shaper for Velzy Jacobs Surfboards in the 1960’s. Stretch worked at several LA surfboard factories before starting Stretch Boards.

Stretch later moved his business to Santa Cruz, California, where his junkyard factory and prime California coastline has enabled him to experiment with alternative design techniques and different resins, making Stretch surfboards lighter and faster.

An unfortunate windsurfing accident caused partial paralysis throughout his right side yet he has been shaping with his locked-up right hand for more than half of his entire shaping career.

For many years, Stretch was as underground as Santa Cruz shapers get until he exploded on the surf scene when he was voted 2005 Shaper of the Year by Surfing Magazine.

His team riders include Jason “Ratboy” Collins, Nathan Fletcher, Nathan Florence, Garret McNamara, Josh Loya, and others. He also has a variety of Surftech epoxy models and the Stretch Quad surfboards are some of surfings hottest/most popular board designs.