This is the board that changed everything.
When Carla and Ian got together, he was a shortboard shaper — alternative shapes, experimental designs, but nothing over eight feet. Longboards weren’t really his world. But one day, after they’d been together a couple of years, there was a moment that shifted everything. Carla, who’d spent years riding Farberow models from Scott Anderson and had even developed her own version — the original Carlita Special — looked at Ian and said something like: you need to make longboards. Because I should be riding your boards.
He listened.
From that point forward, Ian stopped being a shortboard shaper and became a longboard shaper. That single decision didn’t just change what boards Carla would ride — it changed the entire trajectory of his craft. For years, he poured himself into understanding longboards in a way most shapers never do. And it all started with building one board for one surfer who knew exactly what she needed.
That board was the Carlita Special.
It’s made for First Point Malibu and waves like it — right-hand points where the wave peels for what feels like forever, where the only way to stay in sync with the ocean is to maintain forward momentum constantly. No dead weight. No sitting and waiting for the next section. Just you, the board, and the need to keep moving.
The Carlita Special is a pintail, which means it doesn’t pivot like a square tail does. Instead, it carves. Even when Carla cuts back — and there are moments when you have to — the pintail’s arc is drawn out and flowing. It feels wider, harder to initiate at first, but that’s the point. The turn isn’t about stopping your speed and changing direction. It’s about projecting that speed through an arc and coming out the other side even faster than you went in. The foiled rails and light blended concave do the rest, making the board feel sensitive and quick through the water, always moving forward.
It’s a board built for a specific kind of surfer: someone who understands that on a point break, speed isn’t just good — it’s the whole game.
The Carlita Special started Zamora Surf’s longboard line. Everything else came after this one.
Best suited for: fast, long right-hand point breaks, technical surfers who prioritize speed and flow, noseriding with forward momentum
Known for: pintail design, foiled rails, responsive speed generation, drawn-out carving turns