Re-printed from Aulta Surf  https://aultasurf.com/

 

 

 

Carl Schaper

Occupation: Surfboard Shaper

Hometown: Waialua, Hawaii

Carl started surfing at age 13 growing up in Virginia Beach. He later moved to Cocoa Beach, Florida where he built his first surfboard in his garage. He was fortunate enough to land his first surfboard job at Dick Catri’s factory working with east coast greats like Freddy Grosskreutz, Larry Pope, Tommy Maus and Bob Tomb of the Tomb and Reeves Surfboards label. The Reeves part is Jack Reeves, who to this day, is known for finishing out beautiful work on Oahu’s North Shore.In his quest for waves, Carl landed in Puerto Rico where he starting his first surfboard label, Jobo’s Underground. He continued to surf his Way to the Canary Islands and Spain and eventually returned back to Florida where he found work at Spectrum Surfboards. At Spectrum he had the opportunity to shape for their team riders such as; big wave charger, Trip Freeman, master of air, John Holeman and Bill Johnson (yes, the Bill Johnson) to name a few notables.

Always in search of waves, he found his way to the west coast and landed a gig at Greg Martz’s Waterman’s Guild glassing boards for Channel Islands and Rusty. It was at WG that he met shapers, Bob Hurley and Steve Rex, who were always happy to share their knowledge.

It was inevitable that Hawaii’s warm waters and quality surf would lure him from the mainland to the beautiful North Shore. He started his Hawaii career working for legendary surfers, George Downing and Keone Downing, doing stints at Blue Hawaii, Straight Up and Local Motion before starting Schaper Hawaii.

Being in Hawaii brought great opportunities to shape for the very best surfers on the island. Of note is Bonga Perkins, two time world longboard champ and twenty years in the top five, who has been a mainstay on Carl’s team since 1995. Garrett McNamara recently came on board (literally!) and keeps Carl busy with the variety of conditions that he is game for. Young and upcoming Taoa Pou rounds out the team along with groms like Shion Crawford and Liam Downham.

Today, Carl can be found on the North Shore of Oahu doing what he has done all of his life-building quality surfboards, and catching some surf.

Banner image: Abe Allouche.
Other photography: Abe Allouche (1), Trevor Pikhart (2–4).