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Boards and Brains: UC San Diego Revels in Tradition of Surfing

Jade Griffin | June 1, 2010

Rusty surfing
Alumnus Rusty Preisendorfer, who surfed Black’s Beach as a student, still enjoys the world class wave.

As a student at UC San Diego, Rusty Preisendorfer, ’78, the iconic founder of Rusty Surfboards, spent a great deal of time on his surfboard at nearby Black’s Beach.  While he went on to build one of the most successful surfboard and apparel companies in the world, Preisendorfer recalls a common misconception about surfers and academics: boards and brains don’t mix.

Since the 1960’s, UC San Diego students have balanced their studies with the surf and sun, trekking on foot down the nearby La Jolla cliffs to San Diego’s famous surf break at Black’s Beach.  Perched above Black’s, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, UC San Diego enjoys a long, nationally-recognized tradition as a “surfing school” and has proved that boards and brains can indeed coexist. 

Inaugural Alumni Surfing Invitational
Alumni can reminisce and catch a wave June 6 at UC San Diego’s first-ever Alumni Weekend Beach Party and Surfing Invitational at Black’s Beach. A surfing competition at 7 a.m. will be followed by beach party from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. Click here to register.

Surfline, Transworld Surf and other surf publications have ranked UC San Diego among the top colleges in the nation for surfing.  Still, academics remain at the school’s forefront: UC San Diego is ranked 7th best public university in the nation by U.S. News and World Report.

“The stereotypes from the early days of surfing have slowly been eroded by a lot of bright, high-achieving individuals, many from UCSD,” Preisendorfer adds.

Preisendorfer—the son of renowned Scripps Institution of Oceanography researcher and professor, Rudolph Preisendorfer—began his journey as a visual arts student at UC San Diego in 1973.  Nearly a decade later, the second-generation alumnus established Rusty Surfboards.  Today, the surfboard shaper’s trademark “R” logo is one of the best known in the surf world.  The company has global licenses for surfboards and apparel.  In 2008, Surfing Magazine recognized Preisendorfer as “Shaper of the Year” for his work on forward-looking and alternative surfboard constructions.  Close to home, Preisendorfer still maintains his retail surf shops in La Jolla and Del Mar.

Fellow alumnus and surfer Jon Sundt concurs that boards and brains do in fact mix:  “Most of the people who I grew up with, including doctors, lawyers and a certain surfboard manufacturer, lead successful businesses and still have a passion for Black’s Beach.”

john sundt
John Sundt went on to found Altegris, a hedge-fund with more than $2 billion in managed assets.

Sundt, a longtime friend of Preisendorfer, is founder and CEO of La Jolla-based Altegris, a 65-employee hedge fund with over $2 billion in managed assets. He also plays an important role in maintaining Black’s Beach, according to Jack Beresford, ’88, another San Diego leader and UCSD alumnus.  Beresford, who met Sundt at Black’s while they were both college students, is assistant vice president of marketing and communications at San Diego State University.

“Jon serves, in a way, as an unofficial caretaker of Black’s Beach and the crew that surfs there,” comments Beresford, who often sees Sundt out in the water before work.  “Jon has hosted social gatherings and fundraisers in his home, helping create a greater sense of community among some of those who also share a love for Black’s.”

According to Sundt, Black’s Beach is a deep water canyon, and therefore offers some of the best surfing in California.  While the northern, state-managed portion of Black’s Beach is infamous for its clothing optional policy, nudity is not permitted in the southern portion, where the exceptional surfing is found.

 “It’s an amazing, world class wave,” says Preisendorfer, who has surfed around the world.  “I still found a few days last winter with very few people out, which reinforced all the fantastic memories I have.”

Preisendorfer has many memories of surfing Black’s as a student at UC San Diego.  “My first year was a disaster from an academic standpoint because all I did was surf.  So, I took a few years off and got it out of my system … not!”

Rusty
Preisendorfer was named “Shaper of the Year” by Surfing Magazine in 2008.

But with the inspiration of his father and UCSD Professor of Biology and Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs Paul Saltman, Preisendorfer got back on track with his visual arts studies in 1975. His goal: combining his passions for the arts and surfing. “Taking some time off changed my perspective.  When Dr. Saltman reinstated me, my primary focus was school. ”

It was then that Preisendorfer and Sundt met and became close friends. “We were a few years apart but when I went back to school, we lived within about a block, just off campus.  We saw each other all the time in the water,” recalls Preisendorfer.

Sundt had grown up surfing Black’s Beach.  His father, a former Navy Seal, had a house on the cliffs of La Jolla.  Sundt was a computer science major, whose interest in computers led him to his first job in the financial services industry.  Ultimately, he developed a web platform for alternative investment strategies that is used by other brokers.

Sundt attended UC San Diego for four years, walked in his commencement ceremony and even popped champagne with his parents.  He needed just one more semester of classes to finish his degree, but he began working and was soon faced with family concerns—his brothers’ drug addictions. 

To underscore his gratitude for campus sports activities—including the UCSD surf team—Sundt is a donor to the UC San Diego Recreation Department.  A portion of the gift provides for the maintenance of the Sundt Memorial Gate to Black’s Beach—which is used by students and residents alike—and the placement of a plaque near it honoring Sundt’s father, who died of cancer, as well as his two brothers who passed away due to the effects of drug use.

Sundt uses the loss of his two brothers to help other teenagers avoid the same mistakes.  He established the Sundt Memorial Foundation with a strong commitment to keeping kids off drugs—both locally and nationally.


A Friendly Competition
john Sundt
Sundt peers toward Black’s Beach from his La Jolla office.

As young men out on the water, Sundt and Preisendorfer teased each other between sets about who would live closest to Black’s Beach when they were older and involved in their careers.  For years after graduation, the competition ensued.  Sundt’s first house was in La Jolla.  Preisendorfer then moved to La Jolla Shores.  Finally, Sundt purchased a home on a cliff overlooking Black’s Beach.  According to Sundt, Preisendorfer admitted defeat:

Ok, Jonny, you won!”

Preisendorfer concedes: “He still needs to drive to Black’s, but as the crow flies, he’s closer.”

Sundt and Preisendorfer have long remained close friends.  Sundt is the godfather of Preisendorfer’s 23-year-old son.  To this day, the former UC San Diego students surf Black’s together, and recently returned from a surfing trip in Indonesia. 

“We surfers can turn a switch off from being hard-driving business people, to just enjoying the sun, the sport and the sea,” comments Sundt.

Preisendorfer agrees:  “I’m proud to say Jon Sundt, and many more of my close friends from UC San Diego, have paved wonderful, successful paths in this world and still live and love their primary passion … surfing.”

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