30 minutes with legendary surfboard shaper Hank Warner

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (FOX 5/KUSI) – For more than half a century, Hank Warner has helped shape the surfing industry–literally. Known as one of the most influential surfboard shapers in the world, Warner is recognized for his craftsmanship and innovation. 

Since first immersing himself in San Diego’s surf scene as a 10-year-old in the early 1960s, he has shaped more than 40,000 boards and worked with some of the sport’s top athletes like Kelly Slater and Joe Roper. Today, he continues shaping and surfing in the city.

FOX 5/KUSI met with Warner at his shaping unit to gain insight into his journey as a standout in the surf industry. Here’s what said: 

“I grew up in Mission Beach with an older sister. When I was about 10, she had a boyfriend named Billy Caster, who owned Olympic Surfboards, and later on, had Caster Surfboards, which was a famous, famous brand – still is today. I would ride my bike over to Midway, where his factory was, and work in his factory. Eventually, he made my first surfboard, and because I only lived about 20 steps from the ocean, I started surfing when I was 10, almost 11. Just from my experience of being in his factory and being comfortable with that – and being surf stoked – I just kind of followed everything from there. It was all pretty much having access to my sister’s boyfriend. They eventually married and had kids and lived their entire lives together.

Motto-wise, it was always life’s short. Don’t waste time. Go to the beach. As I’ve gotten older and worked, my motto is: memories last longer than paychecks. I’ve traveled a lot and got lots of memories, and I think that’s more valuable in my life than any of the money I could have saved or not. 

I originally never really considered being a surfboard shaper because everyone I knew – Billy Caster, Mike Hynson, John Holly, Larry Gordon, later Skip Fry and Bob McTavish – would shape boards for me. But, I wanted to shape my own board in 1967, so I got familiar with it. Then, I was in Australia in 1970 working at the Gordon Smith shop, and I made myself a board. The sander, whose name was Kirby, said, ‘Oh, I’ll take one like that.’ So, all right, my first custom order.

I stay motivated because in surfboard building, every new board is different. It’s for a different person. You’re trying to accommodate the person’s specifications, so every new board is a new challenge. I just try to improve and get as close to what the person wanted. So, never being satisfied with, you know, having done it all and what’s next, you just keep building surfboards. The next challenge is the next board, so that keeps me going.

If I won the lottery, I would rent the furthest cabana on the north side of the Crystal Pier.

Being on my own for 40 something years, people always ask me if I’m busy. It’s not as much as I can do but more than I want to do. The balance is just keeping on top of it. When it gets a little bit hectic, busy, go to work and get caught up on it, so you don’t get behind. It helps with people’s turnover time without you getting overwhelmed. The last 5-10 years, it’s been pretty much a steady one board a day. I used to do over 1,000 a year for years and years. Now, my target is just 20 a month, with two months off for going to trade shows or trips or something like that. 

One of the most meaningful boards was for my brother-in-law. It turned out that it was finished after he passed away, and it still lives in Bird’s Surf Shed after 40 years. Another that popped into mind is the boards for the UCSD Surfer Invitational and Luau Cancer Research Fund. They’ve raised close to $10 million strictly for research in the 30 plus years that they’ve been doing it. I’ve done several boards for them, and they auction them. I remember one board went for like $75,000. 

A longboard blank used to cost me like $65. Now, it’s double that – $130 and up. Resin has gone up. It’s a petroleum product. The biggest culprit for the cost of boards going up is younger kids. It’s just too much work. They would rather be on their computer and have a podcast than getting dirty and grimy and working on surfboards. Most of the guys making the surfboards have been doing it for 40-60 years, so to get them back doing the craft, you kind of have to bribe them with money because they were the only ones that knew how to do that particular phase. 

Southern California was like, per se, the auto industry in Detroit because of the temperature and year round surfing. Almost 80% of the boards we made went to the East Coast. Then, they started going to Europe. Now, there’s factories all over the world, but really, at one time it was all California.

Surfing has been good to me. I was able to surf and shape boards in many different locales of the world. I travelled a lot – got to know a lot of people internationally. I waited and had my first child at 53-years-old. He’s now 22. My second child recently turned 20. You paddle out on a wave that’s in San Diego, and you’re looking west, and it’s 1000 miles before there’s anything there. All the land and all the traffic and all the nightmares and all the bills and every bummer is behind you. I don’t know any profession that would do that. So, yeah, it’s all been good.” 

Warner’s talent is recognized has been honored with induction into the Surfboard Builders Hall of Fame and the San Diego surfing Hall of Fame. 

For board inquiries, contact Warner through his website, hankwarner.com. Through experience and innovation developed over many years, he can help interpret your needs.