Carter Surfboards — Catching Up With Sean Carter

Date: May 31, 2015

Author: admin

Tags: Carter Surfboards, Eagle Rock Los Angeles Surfboards

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Carter Surfboards — Catching Up With Sean Carter

Sean Carter shapes rad custom boards by hand out of his garage in eastside Los Angeles. He is a real craftsman treating each board from concept to completion like a piece of art. We caught up with Sean recently and asked him a few questions about his craft.

Where are your currently shaping?

I shape out of my garage and I’m located in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Northeast Los Angeles. I’m an eastside guy as I feel so much more cultural affinity for this part of town than anywhere else in LA. I’d like to be the “go to” shaper for eastside surfers.

Who are some of your influences?

This is a tough question to answer. There are the greats who through their shaping legacy have passed down a wealth of knowledge to us little guys. Some of those that I look up to are Terry Martin, Skip Frye, Rich Pavel, Rennie Yater, Marc Andreini, Chris Christenson, Gary Hanel, Brian Hilbers, Dave Parmenter, and probably like 25 others I can’t think of at the moment. If I ever become 1/10th as talented and accomplished as those guys I will be stoked. Some influences that are “closer to home” for me and that I have actually had the pleasure to shape with are Jimmie Hines (check out his boards, they are exquisite!), Richard Wisz, and Mike Ortiz-Smith.

How long have you been shaping?

I shaped my first board in 2007, but have been shaping in earnest since 2011.

What is your favorite design board to shape?

Like most shapers, I really like to design/shape boards that I am most interested in riding myself. These are typically lower rocker, short, wide boards based on a fish or mini-simmons platform. I find that they work really well in the crappy surf we usually have here in Los Angeles. Lately I have also been doing more longboards at customers’ request, and I have really been enjoying these as there is so much variability in rail-line, rocker profile etc. to work with and figure out. I love surfboards!

More Info: www.cartersurfboards.tumblr.com