Meet your surfboard shaper

Hi, I am Sam, but everyone calls me JUNIOR!

Hey, I'm Junior!

I’m a surfboard shaper in the Algarve, Portugal. I shaped my first board 17 years ago. I have been making surfboards full time for the last 5 years.

I’ve always been into sports, like windsurfing, kickboxing, snowboarding, but only got introduced to surfing in my early 20s.

Since then, my life and passion evolves around surfing 🙂

Travelling, surfing, shaping

I studied mechanical engineering, but I’ve always been more interested in working with my hands and the outdoors. Therefore, I ended up doing various jobs that also allowed me to live in different countries:

I worked on catamarans in Greece, dolphin boats in Portugal and running surf-related workshops in Norway. I worked a few years on building sites and as a surfing instructor in Portugal.

However, I was always shaping a few boards here and there, but never really thought about doing it full time.

Only when I lived in Australia for a year and worked for OKE Surfboards run by an amazing family, I realised I could turn my passion into a business.

Creating boardS for living

I love the whole process of shaping – from start to finish. When I worked for ORG Surfboards in Lisbon, I was mainly laminating. I learned a lot, but still, when you work in a factory, you are part of a production line. Repeating only one part of the process. This is great for really honing and mastering a skill but it can get repetitive.

Making boards from start to finish keeps things fresh. Plus you have complete control of the finished product. No passing the buck if things don’t go to plan.

You can never have enough surfboards! Why would there be so many different ones if you are only supposed to have one???

Shaping Process

I start by designing the board on the computer. I organise materials, machine cut, then hand finish the board.It’s a beautiful part of the process and it’s definitely the one where you can get lost in details.

Next step is glassing the board. How strong you glass it depends a lot on what the board will be used for and who will surf it. You need to get it as strong as possible with the right weight.

After the board is glassed it’s then finish sanded. The last stage is curing which just needs a warm place and patience.

Hey Zé, how do you like your board?

My board looked amazing and had a great colour, but when I put it in the water it sank.

Okay, now the real one 😉 In my opinion a great shaper is the balance of technical/shaping experience, surfing experience, good taste and the ability to understand what people want and need in a surfboard. I find myself a lucky surfer having a great shaper like JNR make my boards. The last 9’2 Longboard he made me has become my magic board, the best and most fun board I have ever surfed.

José