DONALD TAKAYAMA (1944-2012) Legendary Hawaiian surfer and boardbuilder passes away By Matt Pruett

Published: October 23, 2012

October 23, 2012 Views: 12,795







DONALD TAKAYAMA (1944-2012) Obituary for Donald Takayama..





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Related Takayama was equally at home in the water and in the shaping room, creating designs that were as timeless as they were functional. Photo: Thomas Campbell

During the mid-60s Donald Takayama was arguably the best surfer/shaper to pick up a planer. Most known for his self-shaped signature model with Hap Jacobs Surfboards, Takayama also worked for Bing and designed the infamous Nuuhiwa Noserider model for his young surfing protégée David Nuuhiwa. Here he is at the Jacobs Surfboard shop, January 22, 1967. Photo: Steve Wilkings

Influenced heavily by Conrad Kunha, Donald learned the ropes -- for both wave riding and a quick wit -- along Oahu's South Shore. Donald honed his foot work and hotdog approach at Ala Moana Bowls before moving over to the Mainland as a teenager and taking up a shaping apprenticeship with Dale Velzy -- who he named the North Shore break Velzyland after. Here he is at Hermosa Beach, 1966. Photo: Steve Wilkings

Donald remained active and involved with board design and shaping right up to days before he passed away. His boards became one of the most recognized and respected labels in the world. Here, the ever-stoked Donald Takayama stands with the Surfer's Journal's Steve Pezman at the Sacred Craft board show in 2009. Photo: Kevin Roche

Takayama launched his own label in the '70s, and by the late '80s -- with help from his star team rider, Joel Tudor -- would skyrocket to worldwide popularity for his designs and jolly personality. Here, Donald is captured in his classic '60s form at a San Miguel surf contest, with lifelong pal Skip Frye in the background. Photo: Steve Wilkings

Having spent five decades in shaping bays and factories, Donald often talked about how much hard work went into making a surfboard. An infamous perfectionist that could expertly do all the steps himself, Donald always had a crack team of laminators, sanders, glossers and polishers behind him helping create some of the most beautiful boards on the planet. Photo: Steve Wilkings

Donald was revered as the King of Stone Steps -- an obscure, funky beach break in Encinitas, Ca. During the '70s, the wildest surfing event in the world happened there. Competitors had to guzzle a resin bucket full of beer between each heat. Despite his small stature, Donald would time and time again walk away the champ, albeit a bit wobbly. Photo: Steve Wilkings

"He was one of the most humble, respectful and caring friends I've ever had the pleasure of knowing," said Jim Russi. "I will cherish the 9'6" "Model T" he gave me in 1995 forever. I think I will run out front right now and ride it in his honor. Aloha Nui Loa my Friend." Photo: Jim Russi



It is with heavy hearts





By the time he was 12 years old, Takayama bought his own plane ticket to the mainland with money he earned from a paper route. He promptly landed a job in Venice Beach, CA, at Velzy-Jacobs Surfboards, and once the company owners divided the business, Takayama followed Jacobs Surfboards to Hermosa Beach, where he built blades for the likes of Mickey Dora and Lance Carson before debuting his own hugely influential Donald Takayama model in 1965.



Moving on to Bing Surfboards in 1966, Takayama designed the first David Nuuhiwa Noserider before landing work with Weber Surfboards. It was there that, with shaper Harold Iggy, Takayama helped design the buzz-creating Weber Performer.



Takayama was also a hot rod aficionado, and when he wasn't gutting and rebuilding automobiles or shaping surfboards, he competed in surfing contests. Despite his diminutive physical stature (5'4", 130 lbs.) and bowlegged posture, the Hawaiian was able to hang with the big boys of competitive surfing. He placed 4th in the 1964 United States Surfing Association's year-end ratings, 3rd in 1965 and 1966, and 5th in 1967. Takayama's down-the-line speed, quick-twitch reflexes and infamous "soul arch" pose couldn't be ignored for long, eventually winning him the Masters division of the U.S. Championships for three consecutive years (1971-73).



By the end of the 1970s, Takayama founded Hawaiian Pro Designs, where he shaped for budding World Tour professional and eventual Pipeline Master Joey Buran. By the mid '80s, with labels popping up everywhere and boards getting shorter and weirder, Takayama responded by producing longboards almost exclusively, two of the most popular being signature models for David Nuuhiwa and Dale Dobson. A 1985 drug smuggling arrest landed him in federal prison for a little over a year, after which Takayama jumped right back into surfboard manufacturing. His longboards soon became synonymous with young style crusader Joel Tudor's ascension in the early 1990s.



The now-defunct Longboard Magazine called Takayama's original model "one of the most functional and aesthetically appealing boards ever made," while Surfer Magazine named him one of the "25 Surfers Who Changed The Sport," in 1985. In 1991, Takayama was inducted into the International Surfing Hall of Fame.



Our condolences to the family and friends he leaves behind. Feel free to post your remembrances below.

that we report that master Hawaiian craftsman Donald Takayama passed away yesterday, October 22nd. He was 68 years old.Hailing from Waikiki but raised in Honolulu, Takayama placed 2nd to Corky Carroll in the 1966 and 1967 U.S. Surfboard Championships and enjoyed other competitive accolades, however, his main contributions to the sport and culture occurred in the boardbuilding realm. Remarkably, the Hawaiian started shaping surfboards not too long after he first started surfing, at only seven years old -- making him the sport's original child prodigy.