Zen Surfboards

Zen Surfboards is a small custom shaping operation in Encinitas, California, founded by Cal Schafer around 2006. The brand is known for hand-shaped, one-at-a-time boards that deliberately avoid the crowded performance shortboard market, instead specializing in alternative shapes like fish, Simmons-inspired designs, single fins, gliders, and noseriders. Schafer views surfboard building as craft art and emphasizes personal relationships with customers over mass production, using US Blanks and building boards start-to-finish locally.