Meet the shaper…

Carl started surfing in Virginia Beach when he was 13 years old. Later he 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 one of the world’s finest surfboard glassers. In his quest for waves, Carl landed in Puerto Rico where he started 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 guys like big wave charger, Trip Freeman, 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 world’s best. One of those guys was Bonga Perkins, a two time world longboard champ and world class waterman. He has been a mainstay on Carl’s team since 1995. Garret McNamara, Brent Bielmann and many more are currently riding our boards and pushing the limits of progressive surfing.

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