Carl Shipman is a true legend of UK skateboarding; emerging from the mighty Worksop on the South Yorkshire/Nottinghamshire border in the late 80’s as an ATV ripper and picking up sponsorship from Vision within his first few years of skating. As time passed, Carl’s reputation grew and he ended up as one of the original pro’s for Flip skateboards, before being headhunted at Munster by Jason Lee himself to ride for the first incarnation of Stereo skateboards around 1994. Carl went on to take on the American Dream, as part of the Stereo team and earning a spot on Danny Way’s original DC team.
At a time when the industry was heavily focused on the US, and California in particular, the fact that a skater from Worksop came through with a savage Thrasher cover and some highly legit sponsors gave hope to every small town skate rat chucking themselves around their local streets on four wheels. Along the way he demonstrated a timeless steez which places him still as a benchmark of stylish, powerful shredding.

A few years off of the radar (before a reappearance in a Sidewalk ‘Working Class Heroes’ interview in 2008) means a sparsity of full sections – Carl comes from the pre Insta-blowout era, before every move that a pro skater made was documented in some way, and by the time the Internet became such a major force in skateboarding media he had stepped away from the industry. Because of this, much next level shredding probably went unseen by the majority as far as it appearing in videos and magazines is concerned but, between full sections and photo coverage, this post aims to educate you on Carl Shipman’s place as one of the giants of UK skateboarding. If this doesn’t have you out on the back street trying to hone your tre flips, nothing will! 

Words by Jono Coote

Above photo: Andy Horsley