Campbell Carter – from North Carolina to Infinity and beyond!

The 2024 Infinity Speedfreak squad has been boosted with several new singings for 2024 including a young, ambitious racer from North America, Campbell Carter. If you do not recognise his name then Chris from TotalSUP can help you get to know this future SUP star.

Campell board testing with Infinity Bossman Dave.

Hi Campbell, welcome to TotalSUP! 

Thanks, Chris. It’s great to be here to talk Infinity.

Before we get to Dave and his race squad, tell us, who is Campbell Carter?

Ok, that’s easy! I am a SUP racer from Wilmington, North Carolina and I have been paddling on SUPs for 8 years now.

8 years is a long time and it shows with your confidence on a board. Here is the Infinity SUP 1-minute introduction to Campbell Carter, Speedfreak

Great soundtrack, was that your choice or Dave? 

The song choice was Dave and he did a good job with it. I feel like it fits the vibe pretty well. 

Got to agree, Dave has a very good ear for music and designing boards. I think you started to race on SUP when you were 10 years old, is that right? 

That was a long time ago now! But that’s right, I started to race as a grom when I was 10 but SUP started for me when my dad started paddling, I was about 5 years old and that’s how I was introduced to paddling. It took a few years for me to want to start paddling more and around 9 or 10 started to like it and started doing the kids’ races. 

Campbell representing Team USA at the ISA World Championships

From that start, you’ve gone onto a much bigger, international stage

Yeah! I’ve been to two ISA World Championships already and got great results, coming home with medals both times. 

For those who do not know you came third in the 2022 ISA Junior Technical Race and fourth in 2023 after an astonishing start! 

Oh, let’s not talk about 2023! 

OK, moving along … 8 years after you started racing you are now moving up into the senior ranks with Infinity

I am now officially racing in the adult division. It is going to be a big change and I’m going to have to push my training and mental game harder than ever before. 

Ha ha, I think most paddlers would see you in the Infinity video and assume you were already an Elite paddler. 

Thank you. The junior race scene at the World Championships is packed with talent and if you watched the races you will have seen how fast we all are. I know I am keen to show what I can do now against the biggest names in the sport. It’s going to be an exciting challenge.

Dave Boehne: “Campbell Carter is the youngest and brightest SUP star in the USA”

You are based pretty close to a beach that is pretty well known on the SUP Race circuit

Wrightsville Beach in North Carolina! That is my second home, I love paddling here and, of course, it is home to the Carolina Cup and the Carolina Pro Am. Here I get to paddle in all conditions, flat water, rough inlets, and best of all ocean.

Your results, so far, indicate a love for the technical race, will we see you line up for the famous Graveyard course anytime?

I love doing my distance paddles out in the ocean and especially my technical workouts going in and out through the waves. the ocean is my favourite place to paddle. The Graveyard has a bit of everything including a long ocean leg along the coast. That sure is a challenging race and doing well in that is absolutely one of my goals.  

For 2024, and beyond, you will be racing on Infinity SUP boards for the first time, what do you have available?

Dave and his team have spoilt me! Right now I have the Blackfish 14 x 21.5 to race on, a 6’10” x 23.75 x 73L surf SUP and an Automatic shortboard. 

Even though it is new to me I absolutely love the Blackfish, from the first paddle it makes me smile even though some paddlers might think it is narrow – that’s you right, Chris? – it dominates in the ocean going through the surf, downwinding and in choppy ocean conditions.

The Infinity Blackfish is a board that really suits me and I am looking forward to pushing my limits on it.

I will always grab a wider Blackfish! Your season must be about to start, which races have you set your sights on?

It will be a big year with the ICF World Championships over here in North America and the ISA World Championships nearer to you in Denmark. My goals for this year are to medal at both championships and to really push my limits in training for races. 

Looking past this season my long-term goal is to go to the Olympics in 2028. 

Dave Boehne with Campbell

The driving force behind all of the Speedfreaks is Dave Boehne and I wanted to find out why he wanted Campbell representing Infinity on the World Stage.

Campbell is the youngest and brightest SUP star in the USA and I couldn’t be more thrilled to have him flying the Infinity Flag. Campbell flies on a SUP raceboard and rips in the surf, he’s a perfect match for our brand. 

He is also our first East Coast rider so I’m excited to continue to build momentum out that way with him. We’re putting him to work right away this weekend here in Dana Point at the Dana Ocean Challenge and we’re gonna help get him out there internationally a bit this year so it’s going to be an exciting race season no doubt!

Thanks, Dave and of course thank you Campbell for your time and all of us wish you success for your career as an Elite SUP Racer.

You will be able to see Campbell in action at the Carolina Cup in April and then around the globe as he builds towards his goals at the World Championships later in 2024. You can keep up with Campbell on his Instagram, website, and on Youtube.

Infinity Surfboards are a family-owned and family-run business based in Dana Point, CA, USA with a range of SUP Race boards for every racer available through their website, you can read about Campbell’s favourite Infinity Blackfish flatdeck here on TotalSUP

You can see more Infinity Boards in action on their social media channels – Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.