Mark Occhilupo
1999 world champ

“I was riding one of Jim Banks’ boards when I first started getting good. Jim was a big-wave rider from Australia, and his boards were not bad at all. But the first year I came to California, I met Rusty. He was the kindest, most tranquil man I’ve ever met. He’s such a big man, but he was just so calming. He simply said, “I can make you a board, Mark, and I think you’re gonna really like it.” He didn’t even have to talk me into it. He was so confident. I just went, “I’m in. Shape me a board.” I hadn’t heard much of him at all. I was a grommet. I felt like he must be a really good shaper because I could feel his aura. And he made me a board that completely changed my surfing. I remember the first time I rode that board, at River Jetties in Newport [Beach], I just couldn’t believe it. I remember I couldn’t even sleep that night. I fell in love with the board, blown out of my mind how a board could be that good. That year, I won the Op Pro. That board was magic, and I won a lot of contests on it. It had a thickness from the tail right through to the nose, even through the whole board, which I think is really important so you can hold the rail way better, especially if you’re a bigger guy, like me.”