NSP Surfboards Collaborates with Hawaiian Carl Schaper
With decades of experience in the shaping bay, Carl Schaper belongs to the higher echelon of shaper royalty on the island of Oahu. Knowing a thing or two high-performance surfing, he has shaped boards for some of the very best, including longboard world champions, pipeline chargers and industry legends like Garrett McNamara (Guiness Book of record for biggest wave ever ridden).
The Dream Factory
Holding court at the Waialua Sugar Mill, Carl Schaper manages a former warehouse that houses a shaping bay, a surf shop with over 200 customs at all times, plenty of surf accessories and an art gallery featuring works from local artists.
Watching the video below really shows just what a perfect setup it is. A wide-open showroom, with a clear view for shop visitors who get to see what goes on in the shaping and glassing areas. It’s basically the stuff of dreams, making those stuck in a 9-to-5, selling insurance re-evaluate some of the choices they made down the line (no pun intended).
Carl Schaper design philosophy
“Keep it simple, stay neutral and make sure the boards are fast. Get the right board for the right guy for the right conditions.”
Working with Carl Schaper
Work with a craftsman like Carl Schaper allows NSP to move ahead with additional performance shapes. We are excited about our gun range, but the collaboration extends to longboards, funboards and very recently, shortboard too. Think high-performance shapes for accomplished riders, both affordable, durable and built with the latest in surfboard technology. It doesn’t hurt if pro riders use them on the WSL QS as well.
Having shaped for the who’s-who of Hawaii surfing, Carl Schaper Hawaii is established well beyond the Aloha State. For those who are new to surfing or would like to learn a little more about Carl and this collaboration, we asked him some questions about his career, his shapes and surfing:
No, No nickname:), at least not one we can print.
I live on the north shore of Oahu, in Haleiwa. My shop is at the Waialua Sugar Mill:
There where so many different shapers that helped me along the way. Early on, Bob Tomb and Gregg Lohr were the guys I really looked up to. And later when I started to understand what I was doing, Nestor Ramirez and Rick Bullock were a couple of guys that really helped me along.
Mainly feedback from my customers and staying in the water.
Back in the early 80’s I would say Edwin Santos, after that in 1990 Mark “Occy” Occhilupo and then just a few years later I got hooked up with a range of local high-performance longboarders from the Island here.
The usual thing, grooming some young kids on short and longboards.
How do your current shapes compare to your shapes from back in the day?
Oh much better.
I’ve worked on a range of high-performance boards, and the genre centres on guns, longboards and fun shapes .
Back when I was growing up, surfing wasn’t popular at all. To tell you the truth I can’t think of any downsides – I don’t have any complaints.
I’ve always said it’s pretty difficult to reinvent the wheel. I currently feel that we are going back to shaping similar boards to the 1989 designs, and of course they are slightly more refined, but the basic shapes have a lot of similarities.
Give us 2 fun facts about you personally that people may not know.
Firstly, I was born in Fort Smith Arkansas. And then, although I am on the map as a well-known longboard shaper, and I had always shaped longboards, I had not ridden longboards prior to shaping them for a select group of locals.
With 44 years of surfboard experience and being on the North Shore, I have a wealth of solid designs that we can bring to our customers in cutting edge construction and at a great price point. I’m stoked to be able to ride this new wave!
Thank you Carl Schaper
Carl Schaper PU shortboards
Absolutely gorgeous looking, high-performance, thruster-only shortboards, benefiting from vintage construction techniques.
• Traditional custom-shaped polyurethane (PU) core.
• High-quality materials finished with a satin rub for a custom board finish.
• Wood center stringer for strength, flex and rigidity, tying together the traditional PU build.
• NSP-designed FTU fin boxes (compatible with Futures®)
Click here for all PU shapes that we currently make at NSP.
Carl Schaper CSE Boards
CSE is NSP’s high-performance custom surf epoxy lay-up, with a UV-stable resin and satin rub finish. Clear UV-stable resin, CNC-cut and hand-shaped to detail by our very best craftsmen, CSE boards benefit from specific glassing schedules, carefully selected to get the most performance out of your CSE shape. This way, the perfect construction and layer combination makes it into your Shaper’s Union surfboard.
Click here for all CSE shapes we currently produce at NSP.
Carl Schaper Nature Flex Boards
NSP’s Nature Flex technology is NSP’s latest eco-friendly line in surfboard construction. Building on the overwhelming response to the CSE range designed by Carl Schaper, NSP R&D created an eco-centered alternative for the Shapers Union Pro-9, Butter Knife, and The Cheater.
Nature Flex lay-ups consist of a strong, SecureCell EPS core, which benefits the environment by minimizing foam cut-offs and foam dust waste. The core is reinforced with a 6mm bamboo wood stringer and wrapped in a strong, durable and warp-resistant Paulownia wood skin.
The result is a state-of-the-art surfboard shape, with an eco-friendly footprint and a classic design.
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