About the author
Essential Surfing author, George Orbelian, is a native San Franciscan who started surfing his local beach break in 1970 and never stopped. Coming to surfing from building and racing motorcycles, his quest to understand surfboard design led him to working at his local surf shop, Wise Surfboards, while attending San Francisco State University. Building surfboards with Bob Wise and interacting with customers led him to writing Essential Surfing to share what he had learned about surfing and surfboard design. After reviewing Essential Surfing, SURFER Magazine retained him as Surfboard Design Editor where he created the Design Forum format, answered a Question and Answer column on surfboard design, and contributed his expertise to the TIP’S column and numerous articles. Orbelian has done extensive research into the development history of surfboard design, materials and construction. He has been a strong proponent of measurement controlled shaping. His writing, photography, research and interviews have been featured in magazines, newspapers, radio interviews and documentary films. Orbelian is the Co-founder of Project Kaisei, a global non-profit initiative researching solutions for plastic marine debris pollution which received Goole Earth Hero recognition in 2009.