Ian Zamora

Ian Zamora is a Cal­i­for­nia surfer/shaper. Grow­ing up in the Phillip­ines, Ian has since been play­ing catch-up with the surf lifestyle he has grown to love. Under the tute­lage of Rich Pavel and Glen Kennedy, he has quickly carved his own niche in the surf­ing indus­try. We spoke with Ian to learn more.

What was your life like grow­ing up?
I spent the first 13 years of my life in the Philip­pines. We had a small beach resort out in the coun­try, so I had a lot of time to stare at empty white sand beaches with no waves. Moving to Cal­i­for­nia was a big change in my life—trying to fit in, bounc­ing back and forth with sports, etc. Until I was a late teen, I had no involve­ment with surf­ing whatsoever.

After high school, I was work­ing with elderly peo­ple and work­ing at hot rod shops. A few friends dragged me to the beach to go surf­ing. Since then, my life has been in warp speed try­ing to catch up for the years I missed out on with the lifestyle.

When did you get your first surf­board?
I learned on a board bor­rowed from a friend for a few months, then finally bought a used… Lost Speed demon board at the Ven­tura Surf shop. I think I paid $120 for it. I surfed that thing ’til it died. My first cus­tom board was from a local shaper that became one of my mentors—Glen Kennedy.

What was the feel­ing you had when you first stood on a surf­board?
First time I stood up, I fell right off. I wanted to catch more! The first time I stood up and legit­i­mately rode a wave was the day before I bought my first used board. (Laughs)

Who did you look up to and admire when you were a young man?
Because I had such a dif­fer­ent upbring­ing with­out any involve­ment in surf­ing, I was an avid bas­ket­ball and base­ball player, and looked up to bas­ket­ball and base­ball stars of the time, but was never really inter­ested in mim­ic­k­ing any spe­cific player. Once I dis­cov­ered surf­ing, I admired Tay­lor Knox for his dis­ci­plined approach and pow­er­ful style.

Of all the places you have trav­eled to, what place in par­tic­u­lar stands out and why?
Each of the great places that I have been for­tu­nate to visit holds a spe­cial place in me. Aus­tralia, Por­tu­gal, Eng­land, Bali, Hawaii, etc. all stand out in their own spe­cial way, so no par­tic­u­lar place stands out.

Who or what inspires you?
Carla, fam­ily, peo­ple that are ready to lend a help­ing hand, any­one that pushes surf­ing and surf­board pro­gres­sion while still appre­ci­at­ing the his­tory and old school tra­di­tional ways (like the art of trim, glide and flow).

As far as surf­board design and con­struc­tion, I’ve been inspired by Glen Kennedy, Rich Pavel and the diverse crew of crafts­men that are push­ing surf­board design to the next level—not to men­tion all the lam­i­na­tors, sanders, pol­ish­ers and fin guys who are con­stantly inno­vat­ing their techniques.

When did you start shap­ing?
I think its about seven to eight years since I started shap­ing. I was work­ing at Kennedy Surf­boards’ retail shop and I wanted to try out more boards, but just couldn’t afford it. One day, I asked Glen if I can buy a blank off him. Took it home that after­noon and started shap­ing it. I think I used our trash cans as stands and demol­ished our back­yard with foam dust. A month later, I asked my par­ents if I could turn part of the garage into a shap­ing room. That’s when I knew I was sucked in to build­ing surfboards.

Tell us about your boards.
The boards I shape are the boards I ride, but with the help of our team, we are con­stantly expand­ing, exper­i­ment­ing and dial­ing in our work­ing quiver. If you can imag­ine it, I can shape it.

What is the great­est thing you have learned in your life?
There are a lot more things to learn out in the world than in a small room in school.

Do you have any regrets or wish you had done some­thing dif­fer­ently?
If I could have change some­thing? I would have started surf­ing ear­lier in life.

What mean­ing does surf­ing hold for you and how has it changed your life?
Surf­ing and its lifestyle has played a really impor­tant role in my life. I’ve met my other half (Carla Row­land), some great friends and trav­eled to places I always dreamed of.

What is your favorite board? Your favorite surf spot?
I’m for­tu­nate that I get to play around with a lot of new designs. My favorite board con­stantly changes, but at the moment it’s my orange chan­nel bot­tomed Twin Arc Tail Quad. My favorite surf spots would be First Point Mal­ibu and Leo Carrillo—perfect test­ing grounds for new ideas.

What’s your favorite meal?
I’m Fil­ipino… I eat ‘em all!

What are you cur­rently lis­ten­ing to on your iPod?
My iPod got stolen, along with a cou­ple surf­boards, from my van in my driveway. Pandora is usu­ally on while driving—Tristan Pret­ty­man, Stone Mason, Sara Bareilles, Lani Trock, Adele, Jason Mraz. I’m dig­gin’ the raw sound of live acoustic tracks right now.

What are you most grate­ful for?
I am most grate­ful for Carla for stand­ing by me and push­ing me to do what am capa­ble of, and my fam­ily for sup­port­ing and believ­ing in me. And every­one that has con­tin­ued to sup­port us in this business.

What’s next for Ian Zamora?
It’s the time of the year where we get to travel again. Japan in May, Italy and Europe in Sep­tem­ber. New pos­si­bil­i­ties and oppor­tu­ni­ties with the new fac­tory. Stay tuned!

Find out more about Ian Zamora and his shapes here.