My love for the ocean started when my family moved to Satellite Beach, FL in 1968. I started surfing in the summer of 1970 at the age of eleven. I competed in the ESA through my teen years and into my early 20’s.

I began building surfboards in 1978 while employed at Natural Art Surfboards in Cocoa Beach, FL. Over the next decade I learned every aspect of board building. Starting as polisher, to pin liner and glosser, next was airbrushing and finally to shaping full-time by the late 1980’s.

Major influences in my shaping career were from legends such as Greg Loehr, Richard Price, Tommy Maus and Ricky Carroll. In 1995 I started my first surfboard label “'Split Lip”' while still working at Natural Art. In 1998 I teamed up with R&D Surf in Rockledge, FL shaping various other labels to supplement my income. In 2004 I launched my '“Surfboards by Chris Birch'” label and in November of 2013 I opened my own factory in Satellite Beach, FL. January 2024 marks my 46th year in the surfboard industry.

Without regrets, Chris

​

​

​