RICKY CARROLL WINS “TRIBUTE TO THE MASTERS SHAPE-OFF” COMPETITION PRSNTD. BY ICE-9 FOAM AND HOBI

Thousands of Surfers Attend Sacred Craft Consumer Surfboard Expo 

Florida’s shaper and craftsman Ricky Carroll took top honors Sunday in the “Tribute to the Masters Shape-off” competition honoring Mike Diffenderfer presented by Ice Nine Foam Works and Hobie Surfboards. The Floridian beat out five other master craftsman from up and down the California coastline and from as far away as Lake Michigan. 

“I’m just very, very stoked. What a great competition,” exclaimed Carroll upon receiving his first place prize check in front of the packed crowd of surfers at the Expo hall. “This ‘Diff’ was a unique board to replicate, and all of the other shapers did a great job as well. I had made Cheyne Horan a few boards with a similar bottom as this ‘Diff’ back in the Lazor Zap days, but the ‘S’ deck and classic ‘Diff’ rails really made this challenging.” 

Carroll beat out master craftsman, Marc Andreini, Tim Phares, Terry Martin, Jim Phillips and Scott Ray. Ray, who traveled all the way from the Great Lakes to compete amongst legends, was thrilled with the honor. “Just to be included with these guys is great,” explained the mid-American shaper. 

Over 4,000 surfboard lovers attended the two day SACRED CRAFT Consumer Surfboard Expo. “We knew that there was a need to get the shapers and manufacturers in front of the surfers,” explained expo director Scott Bass. “There has been a disconnect. The attendance figures validated the existence of an expo like this. Surfers love surfboards, everything else is secondary. For the shapers and surfers to get together and celebrate the surfboard, to put the surfboard back into it’s rightful place as our cultural beacon, well, it was a wonderful weekend.”

I think it’s a great thing,” says competing Orange County shaper and legend, Terry Martin. “You know, at all the trade shows it’s clothing, fashion, and skin, but really it all started with surfboards. Here everything is just surf-related, and it’s neat to go around and look at everyone’s work that you’d never see otherwise.”

“I didn’t realize there were this many shapers with such great ideas and great work around. This is great,” echoes the legendary Mike Hynson, 60’s surfing prodigy and shaper extraordinaire.