Keeping the Stoke Alive

By Nikki Collister

Ask anyone in the Ocean Beach surf community where to go when a surfboard needs fixing, and inevitably, Jon Graves’s name will come up. 

OBSF Board Repair has taken several forms in the decade-plus since Jon started his own business. First, he worked out of the back of Aqua Surf Shop on Judah Street. Then he set up shop at a friend’s house. When he outgrew that space, he moved into a shed-turned-workshop on a quiet street in the Outer Sunset. It is barely the length of a longboard, but big enough to store the dozens of boards he’s working on at the moment.

As usual, there’s a backlog of projects waiting for him.

“You know, I’ve never once advertised or put it out there,” he said. “It’s just all word-of-mouth from people in the neighborhood.”

That word has traveled far, with surfers from Sonoma to Half Moon Bay to the East Bay making the trek to the unassuming surfboard repair shop in the Sunset.

Like many San Diego kids, Jon Graves grew up in an orbit of surfers. His father taught him to surf at a young age, and regularly brought him around to a friend’s shop, where Jon would watch dents, or “dings,” get filled in with a paste of resin and catalyst, then sanded down to match the curve of the board.

As a competitive surfer, Jon was no stranger to dented boards.

“After having to pay somebody to fix things for so long, I wanted to figure it out myself,” he said. “And I liked doing things with my hands.”

The modern surfboard is made of foam, protected by a fiberglass and resin exterior. If taken care of, a board can last up to 20 years. But wear and tear – in the form of dings or buckling – can cause water to seep into the foam core, affecting the integrity of the board. 

When Jon moved to San Francisco in the early 2000s, he found a new community in the Outer Sunset, and no shortage of damaged boards in need of repair. 

“Ocean Beach is a very powerful place,” said Augustin Melendez, manager of Aqua Surf Shop. “So boards don’t last as long.”

But with Jon’s help, many local surfers can extend the lives of their boards, keeping them out on the water as long as possible. 

At OBSF Board Repair, the work ranges from quick, half-day patch jobs to intricate, weeks-long rebuilds. As a glasser, Jon also partners with local surfboard shaper Colin Terry to finish custom-built surfboards – laminating, painting, sanding and polishing each board to perfection.

Working in such a small space, safety is paramount. An extractor and exhaust fan help control the fine polyester resin particles released during sanding. It is a big step up from the “old school guys” of the ’50s and ’60s, he said, for whom respirators and ventilation were an afterthought. 

Though it is hard, physical work, Jon describes it as therapeutic, finding satisfaction in bringing a board back to its former glory – or making it even better than before. 

Work has been steady for more than 12 years, sometimes swelling and engulfing Jon like a particularly wild OB wave. He’s still the resident fixer for Aqua Surf Shop, as well as Proof Lab in Mill Valley. He estimates he has between 30-60 boards at any given time that haven’t been started yet. 

He’s had additional hands helping out, but the workspace is a limiting factor.

“If I could, I would definitely get a bigger spot and try to hire an apprentice,” he said.

For now, nestled in the fog, Jon has settled into a comfortable groove. 

As an integral part of a San Francisco community where everybody knows everybody, the fruits of his work are visible right outside his door. Every board that makes it back into the water represents another life extended, another wave caught.

“I enjoy the process of taking something that some people consider essentially trash, and then turning it back into a finished product, and the gratitude and appreciation that comes with that.” 

This article is part of a series produced by reEnvisionRepair, a grassroots group started by Kathryn Hyde. The team has interviewed and photographed more than 40 local repair businesses since 2018. Composed of a small team of eco-conscious San Franciscans, reThinkRepair celebrates the art of preservation by sharing stories of local repair shops with the broader community.