New Jersey Surfboard Shapers

The New Jersey Surfboard Shapers scene is a scene built out of the pure love of surfing. It's not all Snooky and "The Situation" down on the Jersey Shore...The real situation of the Jersey scene is a tight knit crew when it pumping, and everyone from frothing beginners and intermediate to elite level surfers in the summer. New Jersey has waves, and lots of waves for everyone. The New Jersey Surfboard Shapers can really be broken in to two areas...Northern New Jersey and Southern New Jersey. The Northern New Jersey scene really had a tough time coming into it's own. Most shapers that grew in the area had to earn their strips in factories down in Florida or over in California. It was hard to get materials or even learn the tricks of the trade in this area. But with quality waves and a strong passion for surfing eventually shops like Green Light Surf Supply would open opportunities for board builders to get quality materials and supplies at an affordable price. There has been a resurgence in local shapers in the area, and now with staples like Tom Mahady of Mahady Surfboards, Eugene Wahl Jr of Essence Surf, Charles Mencel from Mencel Surfboards and Tom Eadon, shaper for at least 6 different labels, Northern New Jersey Surfboard Shapers will get you what you need.

The Southern New Jersey Surfboard Shapers scene has a little more history than it's Northern counterpart, but this still meant shapers from the area had to pay their dues out of state to learn how to build an industry locally. Still, not nearly as big of a scene as California or Florida, the shapers from both North and South Jersey have some serious skills and many of them are well rounded in every aspect of surfboard building mostly because they had to do everything themselves. Shapers like Paul Baymore of Collier, Matador and Boneyard Surfboards, and Brian Heritage of Heritage Surfboards that have been honing their skills since the mid 70's. And the younger crowd like Danny Callaghan of DCAL, Rick Malwitz of Malwitz Surfboards Bill Kretzer of Kretzer Surfboards, Ben Peter from 357 Surfboards and Brian Wynn of Wynn Surfboards, that are keeping the spirit alive and well in the Southern New Jersey area.