Filed in: Shaper Reviews (Hawaii) | On: March 16th, 2007 | Comments: (8)
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Tommy Tanaka, son of the late respected Hawaiian shaper Ernie Tanaka, grew up in Santa Monica, California but moved back to Hawaii to live with his dad during high school. He started off body boarding Waikiki and then progressed to surfing. Soon he was competing in summer contests and won Hawaii’s biggest longboard contest, China’s Uemura’s Annual Longboard Contest.
He studied and learned the art of surfboard shaping under the wings of his father Ernie and eventually worked full time for him. Tommy later got a full time shaping job for Town & Country Surfboards with the help of his father and in the five years that he was there shaped over 1,000 boards. Ernie Tanaka passed away a few years after Tommy landed the T&C gig and after his father’s passing, decided that he wanted to start up the Tanaka Surfboards label once again. Tommy’s main philosophy was taught to him by his father Ernie which is: “stick to the basics”. Tommy specializes in shaping longboards and his philosophy on making a great longboard is to “shape each board as if it were my own”. Tommy Tanaka recently signed with Town & Country Surfboards once again. You can find his T&C longboards at your nearest T&C shop. 8 Comments »By participating in online discussions you acknowledge that you have read and agreed to the TERMS OF SERVICE. Any violations of these terms may result in account suspension or deactivation. Please keep your comments civil and in good taste. To report a comment, email info@surfboardshack.comterry judge, on December 6, 2007 @ 7:11 pm |Sorry to hear about the passing of ernie. I still have two of his boards one I bought brand new back in the early days. One of my close life long friends who used to glass for ernie passed on also this year Monty Gratiot. Margie Smith, on October 8, 2008 @ 6:58 pm |Sure is odd to happen across this website, then find someone from my old high school days posting that someone else from those days has passed. butch lynch, on October 16, 2008 @ 3:36 pm |man, I’m so bummed to hear about Ernie doug galati, on May 11, 2009 @ 8:26 am |had a e. tanaka…know terry, margie [where are you] and knew monty RIP Bro…seems like only yesterday…aloha Bill Hoopes, on June 13, 2010 @ 5:53 am |Are you the Doug Galati who was involved in helping to save Shelter Cove’s 2nd Reef many years ago? Bill Hoopes B. Gorospe, on August 9, 2010 @ 12:08 pm |Tommy shaped several custom longboards for me, and they are super – great noseriders and super fast. Although I mainly shortboard now, I still longboard every once in a while, and still love noseriding Tommy’s boards – on the right wave, seems like U can go forever. I am happy that Tommy continues to shape! Aloha, Ben Richard, on December 3, 2011 @ 3:54 pm |Sorry to hear about your dad, I never met him personlly, but he did design and build my first custom board back in 1967, I believe his shop at that time was in Van Nuys. He did a great job and built some beautiful boards, I’m sure alot of people must miss him.I’m just getting back into it so maybe I’ll try one of your boards this year on the North Shore,I’ll be in Hawaii Dec. to Jan. Drop me aline if you can tell me A good place to try one of your designs Thanks Leave a comment |
ermond, on September 6, 2007 @ 8:17 am |
sorry to hear about your fathers passing he built me 2 surfboards one here and one to take to hawaii i really like his surfboards . my shop phone is 818 982 2220. by the way his old shop was on oxnard st