Billy at Backdoor
Billy Lawson is an experienced engineer, waterman and the main custom surfboard and boat maker for SurfEnterprises.com.
Surf Enterprises provides the best in surfboards, boats, hull designs, shortboards, longboards, stand up surfboards, and other ocean engineering.
William S. Lawson, aka Billy Lawson, has been surfing since the age of 2. He is well known at the more demanding and powerful breaks of the South Shore and at all of the major breaks of the North Shore. Although he comes from a surfing family with experience and success in surf contests, Billy never had the patience to sit around for his next heat. He would rather be surfing. His style is quick, radical and powerful. The primary drawback to surfing with Billy is that people on the shore immediately think that the break is "Going Off" and within minutes the lineup is packed.
Here is an example. Jake, Billy and I drove to the North Shore from town. The conditions were pretty bad. We checked from Pipe to Haleiwa and nothing looked any good. We figured we'd get wet at Jocko's before driving all the way back to town. Not a soul was in the water anywhere when we paddled out. Within 15 minutes, Billy had gouged out a few wicked snaps and snagged a couple of barrels in waves that were absolutely crappy. Within another 15 minutes, 10 guys had paddled out. Jake and I were still looking for a single decent wave. If it weren't so mind-blowing, it would have been embarrassing.
Fortunately for the rest of us, Billy has willingly shared his vast knowledge of surfing, boating, hull design and surfboard design with others. His many hours with Steve Loui, George Downing, Mark Eckert, Charlie Schuster, Jeff Chang, Chris Phleger and others has given him a superlative background in the technical aspects of boat and surfboard design and construction. If we had one person that we could choose to have near us in an ocean emergency, many of us would choose Billy.