Noah Shimabukuro

Noah Shimabukuro is a tal­ented Hawai­ian surfer who blends the best of both tra­di­tional and pro­gres­sive surf­ing. Noah’s smooth and styl­ish rid­ing has gar­nered him world­wide atten­tion. We spent some time with Noah to learn more.

What was your life like grow­ing up?
Grow­ing up in Hawaii was awe­some. I was born on Oahu and then our fam­ily moved to Maui when I was about 10. My fam­ily relo­cated to a small town called Kula, which is in upcoun­try Maui. It has an ele­va­tion of about 3,500 feet and a 30 minute drive to the ocean. Every week­end, my dad would load up the family’s VW van with boards and my mom would make us food for the day. My dad taught us how to surf, dive, fish and any­thing else that had to do with the ocean.

When did you get your first surf­board?
When I was five, I remem­ber my par­ents get­ting me a boo­gie board. My dad would push my brother and I into waves at the Waikiki wall where we learned how to ride waves and even­tu­ally stand up on them. My dad told me that when I got good at stand up body­board­ing, he would buy me a surf­board. So for my eighth birth­day, my par­ents got me a used team board at Local Motion. It was a 5’2″ Pat Raw­son thruster that was shaped for some guy I never heard of then—Kalani Robb.

What was the feel­ing you had when you first stood on a surf­board?
I think I was scared and excited at the same time.

Who did you look up to and admire when you were a young man?
When I lived in Maui, it was Albert Jenks, Les Potts, Jeff Cole­man, Wayno Chochran, Snake Ahi, Matt Kinoshita, Bob “Ole” Olson, Dave Kalama, Gerry Lopez and Laird Hamilton.

In the movies, Joel Tudor, Don­ald Takayama, Bonga Perkins, Kevin Con­nelly, Wayne Lynch, Nat Young, Derek Hynd, Mitch Abshere, Her­bie Fletcher, Occy, Cur­ren, etc.

Of all the places you have trav­eled to, what place in par­tic­u­lar stands out and why?
I really like Tahiti for its blue water and per­fect bar­rels. It reminds me of Hawaii in a lot of ways, but with­out so many people.

Who or what inspires you?
Any­one who fol­lows their heart in life.

I really like watch­ing surfers who have great style. Rell Sunn, Joel Tudor—it’s like they’re musi­cians of the sea or some­thing. They have this nat­ural flow­ing rhythm that flows right through their surf­ing motions and onto their surf­boards. It’s really beau­ti­ful to watch. Surfers like that inspire me most.

What is the great­est thing you have learned in your life?
Be hum­ble, respect­ful and grate­ful for every­thing you have. You could always be worse off. I’ve been blessed in so many ways and have always tried to be grate­ful for that.

Do you have any regrets or wish you had done some­thing dif­fer­ently?
Maybe use more sun­screen and wear earplugs.

What are you most proud of?
Com­ing from a really good fam­ily. I come from a really small town in Maui and I’m more proud of my sib­lings’ accom­plish­ments more than my own. My baby sis­ter goes to Yale and my brother is a lieu­tenant in the US Coast Guard, and is in charge of res­cue mis­sions in Hawaii. When I look back, I know it’s partly due to hav­ing really good fam­ily roots.

What mean­ing does surf­ing hold for you and how has it changed your life?
Through surf­ing, I’ve got to travel and meet really cool, inter­est­ing peo­ple. I base my whole life around it. I check the ocean every morn­ing to see what the surf is like and sell surf­boards dur­ing the day to help pay my rent. It’s really every­thing I do. With­out surf­ing, I would be a totally dif­fer­ent person.

What brings you the most hap­pi­ness in the world?
Being around pos­i­tive, open-minded people.

Who are some of the peo­ple you feel are shap­ing the path for surf­ing today?
I really enjoy watch­ing the younger kids come up—Tommy Witt, Tyler War­ren, Oliver Parker, Andrew Logreco, JJ Wes­sels. Eli Gillis, and Dane Reynolds. I dunno … there are so many good kids com­ing up; it’s really unbe­liev­able and cool.

Stand-up pad­dle surf­ing is now a bone of con­tention in the surf world. What is your opin­ion of the idea that SUPs should be banned from shar­ing line­ups with tra­di­tional boards?
I think what they have done at San Onofre is really good.  SUPs are down at Dog Patch and the surfers still have their spots.  I’m a surfer first and know it can be dan­ger­ous for a begin­ner on an SUP.  SUPs and surfers in line­ups don’t really mix well together.  I would hope to see SUPs used more to explore new surf­ing ter­ri­tory, cold water spots and maybe stand­ing waves in lakes and rivers.  You can surf colder water spots and more outer reefs with them.  Lately, I’ve been enjoy­ing just pad­dling long dis­tances up and down the coast, and surf­ing spots that no one else is rid­ing.  I don’t want to take away from any­one else’s fun.

What is your favorite board? Your favorite surf spot?
Right now it’s a few of dif­fer­ent boards. Pig, Scor­pion, and Model-T 2. All shaped by Don­ald Takayama.

I like to noseride and get bar­reled. So, I like noserid­ing and tube rid­ing spots. A point break left where you can do both is my favorite wave.

What is your take on the cur­rent state of men’s pro­fes­sional long­board­ing?
I think it’s going good, but, of course, could always be bet­ter. I would like to see some of the judg­ing cri­te­ria be changed and how they deem the world champ be dif­fer­ent. The way it is now seems to be really one-sided. I think the per­fect world tour for long­board­ing would involve three contests:

1) A tube ride spot, like Puerto Escon­dido, where you can go both right and left;
2) A point break-style wave, like Mal­ibu or Boca Bar­ranca, where you could be judged on noserid­ing and style;
3) A beach break-style wave where you could be judged on high per­for­mance surfing.

I think a tour of this kind would really be great and reward the surfer who is the most well-rounded.

How did you go from com­pet­i­tive surfer to the man­ager of Don­ald Takayama’s shop in Ocean­side?
I started rid­ing for Don­ald right after high school and would travel a lot between Cal­i­for­nia and Hawaii to get boards and do con­tests.  I would stay at his old surf­board fac­tory up in the mene­hune lounge and try to help earn my keep by help­ing him do what­ever he needed help with around the fac­tory.  Even­tu­ally, he got me a part-time job work­ing at his retail store dur­ing the sum­mers when I would be around.  I did that for years—helping work at the retail store—and got to learn the busi­ness that way.  Even­tu­ally, the time came when DT needed a new man­ager.  It’s been a very fun and reward­ing expe­ri­ence to work for some­one who’s been around the busi­ness for so long.  I feel very hon­ored and priv­i­leged to be work­ing for Hawai­ian Pro Designs.

What’s your favorite meal?
Pita sand­wich from Cream of the Crop in Ocean­side with Kom­boucha Tea.

What are you cur­rently lis­ten­ing to on your iPod?
The Whitest Boy Alive, Carla Bruni, Bob Mar­ley, Manu Chao, ran­dom Hawai­ian music and lots of rock and roll.

What are you most grate­ful for?
I’m most grate­ful for my fam­ily, friends, and being a surfer.

What’s next for Noah Shimabukuro?
More school, work­ing, surf­ing and travel.

Surf pho­tog­ra­phy by Chris Klopf. Pho­tos 4 + 5 pro­vided by Neil Arm­strong. More infor­ma­tion about Noah can be found here.