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Wayne
Okamoto
Wayne
Okamoto of Oak Foils has worked a lot of 14 hour
days shaping boards in a quiet industrial park just off
Manhattan Beach Blvd. Over the past 13 years, Wayne has
coupled hand shaping mastery with true 3-D computer shaping
machines to design and produce a broad range of highly
coveted shapes. Wayne has “ghost shaped” thousands
of boards for the big names while quietly progressing
his own private label, Oak Foils, reserved for those seeking
custom shapes and one-on-one shaper interaction. Longboards,
shortboards, hybrids, SUPs, balsa, EPS, XTR or poly, Wayne
has shaped them all by-hand and by-computer.
Who knows… that magic brand-name board you have
might be an Oak Foils!
Let’s start with a little background.
I was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. My uncle used to take
me on fishing vacations in California where I was introduced
to surfing. I moved out to Southern California around
1969.
How has the area changed since then?
[Laughing] The people have changed quite a bit more than
the actual venue and landscape.
Favorite surf breaks?
Well, Manhattan and El Porto. I enjoyed traveling to Tavarua
– that was probably one of the highlights of my
surfing. Also, some mysto breaks around -- I won’t
name them though, I want to respect them.
Any memorable surf sessions?
I remember more segments of history rather than specific
sessions -- when I was a grom I had memorable sessions
surfing Redondo breakwater, surfing the Hermosa area through
my teens and surfing Marine Street in the later years.
How many years have you been shaping?
Probably consistently since 1975 or 1976 – over
30 years – though I started in 1973 stripping and
reshaping old logs back in the days.
How did that first board come out?
Pretty bad – I used to hang out with older kids
in the garage and we would strip down old logs and reshape
them. The first board was a “party shape”
where a few of my friends got together and we’d
all take turns on it.
How many boards have you shaped over the years?
(Laughing) It never really occurred to me to count. Let’s
just say it’s over a few hundred. (now really laughing)
Every board always meant something though – I never
became jaded. It didn't matter who it was for or how many
I had shaped before that – every board got my heart
and soul.
Do you have any surfing or shaping injuries?
(Laughing) Too many to list. If you’ve been surfing
long enough you’ll get
What motivated you to become a shaper?
It goes back to when I was a pre-adolescent kid. Back
then, we would make little model surfboards – essentially
miniature surfboards – we’d dig through the
Etruscans of local surfboard factories for scraps of materials
to make them.
One day I was digging through Bing Copeland’s trash
can and he said, “hey you guys are making a mess!”
We explained and he took us on a tour of his factory.
When you are a kid and brought into environment like that:
the whole tactile resin smell, the resin sticking to the
bottom of your shoes in the laminating room, walking into
the shaping room and experiencing that whole thing. That
was sensory overload for a young kid. After that, I had
to figure out what surfboard manufacturing was really
about.
[Laughing] …that and getting a few too many crappy
boards from other shapers -- I think I got one too many
round pins after ordering swallow tails or I thought I
ordered 2 1/2” and I’d get 2 3/4” board).
Did you apprentice under any shapers?
No apprenticeship, I’m all self-taught so a lot
of my techniques are pretty unique compared to others.
Are there any other shapers that had a major influence
on your shapes?
Anybody and everybody that has a sense of a nice balanced
shape...a sense of a nice foil. Not any one person.
When did you start getting into computer shaping?
Actually I started in 1988 and it was a long process.
It took me about 9 years from inception to actually building
the machine. The machine is all custom built in-house,
nothing over the counter.
Originally I started out doing it as just a side project
and between 1993 and 1994, I started to develop repetitive
motion nerve damage in my elbow from years of planning
and sanding. I took a year off shaping and that’s
when I went into building the machine. At the end of 1996,
I eventually had the machine build a board -- it was a
long road.
Tell me about the computer shaping process
People often think that computer shaping is about someone
designing and rendering their surfboard on the computer
screen using CAD – which is pretty popular now.
My technique is very different – all of my shapes
start from hand shaped master boards. I don’t use
any type of computerized drawing or rendering of shapes
from the 2D slice method.
What do you need to know about someone’s
surfing so that you can come up with the right shape that
will help them progress?
Starting with their physique, I want to get a feel for
where the person surfs, how the person surfs, their style
and their general type of board that they prefer. After
I have that information, I focus on developing a design
and shape for that person as a true custom shape. By the
way, I think understanding volume is key. 99% of the people
out there are probably on boards that are too small for
their ability.
Do you want to be known for specific shape or
model like the Bryd Fish or Dyna Glide?
Oh absolutely not, no. I love to shape all different types
of boards. That’s one of my paranoia's– being
labeled as only a shortboard shaper or longboard shaper.
How do the South Bay conditions impact the shape
of your boards?
For the South Bay, a solid balance of volume and foil
is crucial. You need a board that not only paddles well
and catches waves well, it also needs to chase down waves
due to the crummy sandbar conditions we have out here.
You can generally shape a board that is South Bay specific
that will work well outside of the South Bay, but it’s
hard to get a board that works ideal designed outside
the South Bay area to work well in South Bay beach breaks.
EPS versus poly? What do you recommend for your
boards?
Personally I like poly. Poly is a proven performance-oriented
material; although EPS is a good alternative for certain
types of shapes.
EPS definitely lacks on the finish part [Editor’s
note: airbrushing, color consistency, etc]. Once you wax
up and start riding a board, though, the finish isn’t
normally as important.
Are boards worth what we pay for them?
Absolutely, they’re probably one of the best deals
around for something that’s hand crafted and the
amount of joy you can get out of them.
Do surfers know more or less about the board manufacturing
process these days?
I would say they know less these days. Other than the
few people that really seek shapers out, the average consumer
only knows what they read in the magazines and 90% Of
that is disinformation – its all marketing and hype.
What are some of your other interests?
Besides shaping surfboards? [Laughing] I have no life,
dude, this is it!
What is the process to buy an Oak Foils board?
Pick up the phone and give me a call at (310) 643-9887.
Oak Foils are sold directly through me. The label Oak
Foils is reserved for custom orders where I have worked
directly with the customer.
Written by Eric & Jin
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