John Carper "JC" and team rider Shane Dorian were featured as part of the Pushing The Limits series on Hawaii News Now for their work on big wave boards.
Shane Dorian has been pushing the limits of big wave paddle surfing and now has focused on improving his equipment to take it to another next level entirely. JC and Shane's goal was to work together to build boards that were easier to paddle out on big breaks like Jaws, together they did just that.
Based on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, JC has been shaping for over 50 years and working with Varial foam since 2014. He's built numerous boards with Varial Foam - a few you can spot in the clip. Shane, a team rider for JC joined also joined the Varial team in 2014. These clips from 2016 show Shane on his custom engineered 9'6" stringerless Varial Foam gun shaped by JC.
The stronger, faster and more responsive material may have helped Shane make critical drops, barrels and surf heads above the rest of the pack. Or maybe he's just a beast getting toying with the heaviest waves on the planet.
The big wave project took some R&D but the two figured out just the right formula, and now they're working on shorter lighter boards. We're stoked to see what else is to come from the collaboration.