POV: You Just Shaped A 7’2 And Now You’re Doing Airs On It

Noah Hill surfs far better than his sponsorship status would suggest.

Whenever footage of the 24-year old surfaces in our Slack channels, email inboxes, or YouTube recommended feed, it ends up on our website almost immediately.

His latest release, which features him shaping a board with longtime Venice shaper Guy Okazaki, is no different. 

“Guy is in his late 70s and been shaping for 60-something years,” says Noah. “His knowledge is unparalleled, and he’s still super articulate and fun to talk to. Talk to any of the shapers, Rusty, Dick Brewer, whoever, everybody knows him. He grew up half in Venice and half in Oahu, and was one of the first Pipe guys back in the day.”

Noah explains that he’s been lurking around Guy’s shaping bay, learning the basics of foamsmithing in his free time. 

“He’s been teaching me a lot,” says Noah. “I helped him with some inventory boards that were mid-lengths, so there was a ton of room for error,” he chuckles.

The 7’2 featured in the above clip is the first board Noah has shaped for himself. 

“Well, I actually also shaped a board when I was a little kid, but I guess that doesn’t really count because I was eight and I shaped it in a tree house and it’s the most asymmetrical board I’ve ever seen.”

His latest creation? Well, the footage speaks for itself. 

“It works,” says Noah. “Surprisingly.

“I hadn’t really seen a ton of boards made over seven feet that were scaled like a shortboard,” he continues. “Everyone usually tunes it up to be like a gun. With this one, it literally looks like if you scaled it down to a 6’0 with the exact same dimensions, it’d be a really fun shortboard.”

So, is the next step in Noah’s career becoming a shaper? 

“I dunno,” he says. “A bunch of my friends ordered boards from me after seeing this one. I’m gonna make those and definitely gonna stay in the shaping room learning as much as I can.”

Tap in to engage with the compelling beginnings of Noah Hill’s foam-dust apprenticeship.