Paddleboard Shapers
This group of board shapers is leading the paddleboarding revolution. They are the backbone of the sport as we know it! Use this page to learn about each of these talented artists. More shaper profiles to come!
Jimmy Lewis
I shaped my first few sailboards in 1978 for Mike Waltze and Mark Robinson. I had previously been shaping surfboards since 1968. In 1981 I started work for Fred Haywood and Mike Waltze at Sailboards Maui where I was involved with them in shaping some of the very first " sinker " short boards. We focused on wave boards but world renowned, Arnaud de Rosnay had me shape a few boards especially for straight line speed to take to Weymouth, England for the only speed sailing event in existence at the time.
In 1982, Pascal Maka took a stock Sailboards Maui wave board that I shaped to Weymouth and smashed the existing windsurfing speed record by 4 Knots with the incredible speed of 27.82 Knots. Pascal's success got Fred Haywood interested so I shaped him 2 "speed boards" to take to Weymouth in 1983. Fred smashed Pascal's previous record by 2 Knots by going 30.82.
At the event that year, Fred sold one of the 2 boards to Robert Teritehau who increased his personal best time at the same contest by 2 Knots when he switched to my shape. Fred was the first sailboard over 30 Knots, second only to a catamaran called Crossbow which held the absolute world speed sailing record of 36 Knots. Three years later, in the Canary Islands, 4 Sailors using my Boards became to be the first to beat Crossbow. Pascal Maka clocked an incredible 38.86, while Eric Beale, Fred Haywood and myself did 36.73 , 36.13 and 36.31 respectively.
Eight out of the top 10 at that event used Jimmy Lewis boards. This would remain the status quo for several years to come. A few years later Eric Beale became the first one to sail over 40 Knots by setting a new absolute world speed record of 40.48 Knots, on one of my boards of course.During all of those "speed years" I continued shaping wave boards as well as slalom boards.
In the 90's most of my focus was on slalom boards but recently, Roddy Lewis set what some people call the "open ocean" record (meaning not "the canal" in France) by going 44.51 Knots. Here on Maui, since the beginning of the Kanaha Race Series every summer, more racers using Jimmy Lewis boards have placed in the top 3 or have won each division in the series than any other boards.
Then About 5 years ago I made Laird Hamilton a few boards for him to use with a kite that he had. The boards I made were more like oversized waterski's. Then a few years later, this windsurfer turned kiteboarder came up to my shop, partly because I volunteered to make him a board and partly because he knew from my reputation as a board builder that I was the most qualified to do it. I began to make him a few wakeboards for kiting and then others started to take notice of the boards I was making and suddenly, it seemed, most of the top riders in the rapidly growing sport were coming to me to get my wakeboards.
I was also making directional kiteboards too but not in the numbers that I was making wakeboards. Over the past few years I've make the boards that some of the major manufacturers have molded for their production line, most notably Starboard and Wipika. I also do prototypes and plugs and team boards for 2 of the other big manufacturers.
Maholo,
Jimmy Lewis
Steve Walden
Known by many as the “Father of the Modern Longboard,” Steve Walden shaped his first surfboard in 1961, at age 13, and never looked back. Eight years later, the native Southern Californian opened his first board factory and store in Huntington Beach then moved to the North Shore of Oahu in 1972 where he made a name for himself as a prolific longboard shaper. While the rest of the surfing world was fixated on short single-fins, Walden continued to faithfully hone his longboard designs. Over the years he shaped for prestigious labels like Lightning Bolt, Local Motion, HIC, and Channel Islands, but it was always his own boards that set him apart. By the early 80s, Walden returned to California where he unveiled his wildly successful Magic Model with its radical rocker, down-turned rails, and super-fast Turbo Hull bottom contour.
With arguably the most advanced and high performance longboard on the market, Walden was uniquely positioned to capitalize on the resurgence of longboarding in the late 80s and 90s. To date, Walden estimates he’s personally shaped more than 20,000 boards, and in 2004, he teamed up with Global Surf Industries to distribute his shapes and expand the Walden Surfboards brand worldwide. These days, when he’s not mowing foam, Walden is surfing. Though he competed some as a teenager, he returned to contest surfing at the age of 30 and has been a regular on the winner’s podium ever since. In fact, Walden still holds the record for the longest noseride in competition history with an epic 25.5-second ride.
Sean Ordonez - SOS - Born to be wild!
My Sean Ordoñez Shapes goal is to continue to heighten my passion and affinity with the wind and waves. "Without one there is not the other."
In the last 20 years, I have been exploring in the realm of fluid motion, through my shaping and waveriding career. Since 1986, in Florida, I have experimented with alternative board construction methods and materials, such as: Epoxy resins, exotic carbon, spectra and kevlar cloths on styrofoam, extruded foam and high density foams.
In 1991, I established myself on Maui, for my professional windsurfing and shaping career. Ever since, SOS has played a major part in the evolution of the best (vacuum epoxy sandwich technology) that has silently been transforming many watersports such as windsurfing, kiteboarding, towsurfing, stand-up paddlesurfing, and soon surfing.
I am very grateful to have the opportunity to handcraft some innovative board designs and constructions for many of the world's best water men and women. Whether noticed or unnoticed, my work will continue in and out the water.
"Water" is our life. Until we become fish again I will flow with my life-long passion, to create some flowing functional art. In 2006, SOS proudly brings to you some new alternative and progressive handshaped designs for our zenful pleasures.
Ron House
Ron House has been in the shaping business for over four decades. Ron has worked alongside of some of the most famous names in the surfing industry. Ron is bookmarked as a favorite shaper for many of the world’s top surfers. Surf icons such as Gerry Lopez, the Ho brothers (Mike & Derek), Hans Hedeman, Laird Hamilton and the list goes on.
At the turn of this century Ron started to shape boards for what we all know now as Stand Up Paddle Surfing. Ron was a shaping pioneer for the sport, before the gold-rush. Pulling from his years of shaping knowledge Ron is able to shape some of the best Stand Up Paddle Boards for surfing as well as for long distance open ocean and flat water paddling
Not only a shaper, Ron enjoys his finished product. You can find him in the local San Clemente waters surfing with a smile ear to ear full of Aloha. Ron is also very active in promoting the correct spirit and etiquette of all the segments of Stand Up Paddle Surfing; surfing, racing and recreational paddling.
“I began shaping in Encinitas, Ca in 1968 at Surfboards Hawaii. Soon I moved to the Islands where my shaping career got serious, making boards for some of the top guys at the time. The Pipeline became my favorite spot and I made some friendships on the North Shore that last until the present. As sailboarding was gaining popularity I became very involved in their design and use as we took the sport from flat water into the waves of Hawaii. I even got to spend a summer in Biarritz, shaping for a company there.
After moving to California in the mid 80's I owned and operated Surfglas, one of the most professional and productive factories at the time, for 15 years. During that period I did shaping work for some of the big labels in SoCal as well as for my friends.
After nearly 40 years of shaping in California, Hawaii and France I have made most kinds of surfboards, sailboards and now standup boards. The development of standup paddling has given us a new look at using our ocean and lake resources for surfing, distance paddling and fitness training, opening up surf spots previously overlooked and providing a vehicle to experience new places.
Robert August
Robert August (born 1945) is an American surfer and surfboard shaper. Raised in Huntington Beach, CA he attended Huntington Beach High School where we was ASB President his senior year. He is most famous as one of the subjects of Bruce Brown's 1966 surf documentary The Endless Summer, along with his friend Mike Hynson. The film follows the two around the world pursuing their hobby during the California offseason, meeting other surfers and discussing surf culture.
August picked up surfing in the 1950s, when the sport's popularity had just begun to grow. His father, Blackie August, was also a noted surfer. His enthusiasm and his involvement in The Endless Summer influenced the growth of the sport over the following decades. His surfboards are sold under the Robert August Surfboards brand and are produced by Surftech, a company that manufactures lightweight epoxy surfboards. He continues to travel the world promoting surfing, and in 1994, he was involved in the filming of The Endless Summer II, in which surfers Pat O'Connell and Robert "Wingnut" Weaver retrace the places visited by August and Hynson thirty years earlier. He took part in the Film Step into Liquid.
Gerry Lopez
Lopez was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, grew up in East Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii and attended Punahou School. He frequented the semi secret reefs in and around Aina Haina as well as better known surf spots in Metro-Honolulu. An early reference point for his sleek and precise style was the graceful Paul Strauch, whom Lopez still credits as "the most stylish surfer ever." Lopez became the Hawaii State Champ at age 14, and he and friend Reno Abellira began surfing Ala Moana Bowls frequently. It is here that Lopez began honing his casual style and masterful tube riding skills.
Ben Aipa
Ben Aipa was appreciative when his peers honored him for his innovative surfboard-shaping techniques and his dedication as a surfing coach. He was positively stoked years ago when he was inducted into the International Surfing Hall of Fame, but it was only recently that Aipa received his greatest thrill, a quiet pleasure that any parent would envy. Aipa has found a way to provide a living for his grown children while keeping them together as a family. It's an ohana on foam, the foam of the ocean and the foam of shaped surfboards, those fragile hand-crafted creations. "Working with my dad is the coolest thing in the world," says professional surfer Akila Aipa, who shapes surfboards under his own Hawaiian Foamsmith logo. Ben Aipa is still out there surfing and coaching whenever the waves are any good and makes boards for core surfers in Hawaii and around the world.
