History

Guy Okazaki’s waterman experience spans decades, starting with floating in the ocean with his father at Waikiki Beach in Hawaii before he could walk. At five-year’s old, his father plunked him on a wooden surfboard and Guy was at the beach with his dad every day while he worked at the Halekulani in the 1950s. Guy was lucky to be in the ocean with some of the best surfers of the era in Hawaii and learn from them—Rabbit Kekai taught him the roller coaster on a shortboard in 1967. After college in 1971, Guy traveled the world and found himself in Australia surfing with pioneers of the shortboard revolution— shaper Joe Larkin and surfers Michael Peterson and Peter Townsend.

Guy’s expertise of all shaping methods and riding styles—Hawaiian thin/long gun outlines and short/wide Australian templates—has led to successful, original, hand-crafted surfboard designs in Venice Beach for more than 30 years. Guy’s custom approach of matching the best board shape with the individual surfer’s skill level, riding style, preferences and wave conditions allows surfers to reach their fullest potential for fun and high performance.

Custom & Handmade Designs

Since Guy started out in the shaping room at Dewey Weber in Venice Beach when he was a teenager in the 1950s, he’s still keeping it personal and local. A surfer’s relationship with his or her board is like falling in love. Sometimes you can’t explain why or how it works and what you want but you can feel it immediately in your hands when you grasp the rails in front of your body and cannot stop smiling.

This is what Guy does. He’s a professional matchmaker for riders/surfboards. He can’t get enough of talking to customers about surfing and will assess the best fitting board for your personal style, skill level and favorite spots to surf.

 

                                 

 

“While my customers have a wide range of needs, my goal is to take the skill level and specific requests of each surfer and translate that into a high performance multi-purpose board that really works for them. I believe that surfing is such an individual sport that it is crucial for the shaper to interact and really hear his customer in order to shape the best stick possible for that individual.”

Guy continues to embrace technology and innovations in surfboard design and materials, while staying true to his individual style and gut instinct. His newest shapes take his historic wisdom of classic surfboard outlines (after all, he was surfing and shaping during the time when the first twin fins and first thrusters were being made) adapted with today’s modern advancements.

                                

 

As your skills progress and taste changes, a personal relationship with your local shaper ensures your quiver will be up to speed and ready for the next wave of your life.

“I love hearing from customers who tell me how the board works for them, and more often than not discussing ideas for new boards. I am constantly working to innovate new design element and incorporate current trends that I see in the profession surfers’ boards to create faster more responsive boards, without losing paddling speed.”