Head Shapers:

Clark & Kapalla

Behind the Brand: SIMR’s head shapers, Chris Clark and Derrik Kapalla, met in a shaping room in San Diego, CA, in 2005. Each was running his own label at the time, and through the process of sharing ideas in a humble little shaping bay, these two surfers became close friends. When Clark decided to rebrand his boards under the moniker SIMR in 2007, he asked Kapalla to join him as a shaper and sponsored team rider. It seemed like a likely fit since both Clark and Kapalla were fortunate enough to fall under the mentorship of shaper Craig Poston, who bestowed upon them the experience he learned during his backyard beginnings in the ’60s. “The key component is most definitely the relationship,” they say today. “There needs to be a relationship between the shaper and the rider, a relationship between the rider and the board, and—most importantly—a relationship between the rider and the act of surfing. That’s where we place the importance of our company. ”

About SIMR'S Most Popular Models: All of our team riders have been freaking out on the Kapalla Quad. Their thrusters are collecting dust. It takes a good 10 to 12 sessions to learn to compensate for the stability of a center fin, and to learn how to control the added speed of our quad. Most people don’t have the patience to make the switch, but for those who do, it’s looking like their thruster has been replaced.”

Shop Talk: “We focus extra energy on understanding the surfer’s personal journey and personal relationship with surfing. We look for the ‘why.’ Why do they get up early for dawn patrol? Why do they compete? Why do they live off of peanut butter and jelly for months to save up for a trip? Then we deliver the vehicle that will make the journey one that lasts forever.”

What’s the most important quality to have in your surfboard? “Performance, which doesn’t necessarily just mean the technical aspects of how the board maneuvers. It also means how it performs for the rider. Putting the right board under the feet of the surfer is a crucial element in performance. You can’t just go into a shop and buy a board that was made to perform to your specifications. You have to work with someone to develop it.”

What trends would you like to see continue? “Freesurfing is gaining ground with films like The Drifter. So much focus has been on competitive surfing over the last couple decades and it’s great to see the industry balance back out toward art, exploration, and spirituality.”

When a new customer comes to you for a custom shape, what kind of questions do you ask? “When it comes to custom projects, we see two main categories: versatile versus specialized. Should this board be made to do many things or just one? This question is crucial to how we approach the project.”