Head Shaper:

John “JC” Carper

Behind the Brand: As a rising designer, John “JC” Carper spent years as a production shaper at several world-famous brands like Surfboards Hawaii, Lightning Bolt, Rusty, and Hawaiian Island Creations before he launched his own label in 1995. His list of early shaping influences is long, starting with the likes of Greg Noll—who was his neighbor when he was young in Hermosa Beach—Dick Brewer, Ben Aipa, and Rick Irons. During his time as a production shaper, Carper established solid relationships with many of the world’s best pros and still spends a lot of time traveling to ASP events, where he has earned a reputation as one of the world’s premier shapers. Though Carper’s hand-shaping skills rival anyone’s, he’s been on the cutting edge of new shaping technologies, including the new 3D CAD. Today, Carper has two factories: the first in Haleiwa, Hawaii, and the other in Newport Beach, California. His list of loyal riders includes Shane Dorian, Peter Mel, Sean Moody, Jesse Hines, Brett Barley, Frank Walsh, Cheyne Cottrell, and Josh Hoyer.

About His Most Popular Models: Carper’s most popular models are his contemporary high-performance designs, like the SD-3 and new MP-B. “But our Retro-Rocket is getting rave reviews,” he says. “And we’ve redesigned our Torpedo, which is a cross between a fish and a full-performance board.”

Shop Talk: “Computer programs help designers explore the possibilities and totally refine ideas. Once a shaper has mastered a program—and that isn’t easy—it actually becomes fun to design. We will never be able to go back. We now ‘engineer’ boards. The trick is to put the ‘feel’ into the program.”

What’s the most exciting thing about shaping technology right now? “We’re now putting a huge emphasis on custom surfboards. The new CAD program allows us to break away from repetitive mass production and focus on the individual needs and desires that make a truly custom board an extension of a surfer’s personality. If you have never had a ‘true’ custom surfboard, you don’t know what you are missing.”

What project are you and your team having the most fun with? “We have really taken a new look at super-short, wide, and thick design such as our TR-D. Evolving from the modern fish, these boards are far more pivotal and don’t track. They still have the great paddle power of the fish and are just plain fun. Also, we’re working on our big-wave guns, the P.B.U. Series—which stands for Pray Before Use. Those boards have been refined even further, and the addition of quad-fin setups makes this very exciting. These are boards you can trust when your life is on the line.”

What about boards for when you life isn’t on the line? What have you been doing with those? “Our high performance line, such as the T-Rx, leans toward more friendly, all around designs that surf a variety of conditions and we have enhanced the ‘spring effect’ of continuous rocker and deep concaves in those.”