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 BEACH
& BAY PRESS, Thursday, May 20, 1999 - Business Section
McIntyre
Makes A Cool Career Designing Her Own Surfboards Point Loma
surfboard designer Shannon Payne-McIntyre is no Gidget. McIntyre
founded her own company, Shannon Surfboards, approximately
18 months ago at the age of 22, and she custom-designs and
hand paints surfboards which sell in California surfshops
for $400-$500. According to her, the business has grown out
of her two great passions: surfing and painting.
"At Point Loma Nazarene College, I was a studio art and graphic
design major," McIntyre said. "I've always had the attraction
for surfing. As a very young child, I would go with my Uncle
Bob surfing, and when I was about 16, I started to go every
day. I feel like an athlete when I'm out there. Being in the
ocean is always something challenging. I don't really relate
to the whole beach-blanket, bebop thing."
McIntyre got her start at a Point Loma Nazarene College senior
art show, when she made her first surfboard. The students
responded to her work enthusiastically: "I started getting
orders from my girlfriends, then people around the local area,
so I decided to make a difference from it." She shapes the
boards from foam planks using carpenters' tools, then paints
on images at her customer' requests. Those range from vivid
floral designs to sea turtles to giraffes. Her travels inspire
the pictorials.
"About
nine months ago, I got a part-time position at American Airlines
as a flight attendant," McIntyre said. "I'm so happy - it's
the only way I could support the surfing and the travel addiction.
So now I'm back, and I have boa rd
orders to get accomplished for the summer. Since I started,
the women's surf subculture has exploded. I hope I can inspire
more to take the plunge.
"
Locally, McIntyre like to surf Sunset Cliffs, Windansea and
Black's Beach. Her favorite spot is the Caribbean, but she
has also surfed in such exotic locales as Tonga, West Samoa,
Costa Rica and Sumbawa. "San Diego is really unique, though"
she said. "I grew up here." The biggest break she's surfed
was at Dunemere's, just north of WindanSea, when it was 20
feet. McIntyre has been interviewed in "Surfing Magazine,"
"Cosmopolitan," "Surfer," "Slamm," "Wahine," and on the CBS
Morning News during a segment on w omen
in the surf industry. She attributes her big break, however,
to being featured on the Levi's Website in a you-culture "webumentary."
By,
Steve Macy
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