Who Started This?

I did!

About Manabu

Welcome to my surfing world! On behalf of my surfing friends, I thank you, and hope that you will become as stoked with your surfing experience as we are.

You may be curious as to who this Manabu guy is…

I was born in downtown Osaka, Japan, in the area called Juso [MAP], which is one of the roughest neighborhoods in the city and, for that matter, in the country. As a resident nobody bothered me, but I sure did not make a good impression when I started to go to high school in a more "upscale" suburb. Growing up was hard because of my more independent-minded approach to life, and my attitude often rubbed teachers, parents and peers the wrong way. So I basically fled the country and moved to the US when I was 18.

Years later after living in several different parts of the country, I made a career in the medical imaging industry as a software engineer in Silicon Valley, and settled in Half Moon Bay. Today I live with my wife near the place we call Surfers' Beach, and of course you will see me trying to catch waves there often.

I took up surfing in May 2002 as a way of reducing the weight I’d put on due to too many business trips that had me eating unhealthy foods on the run. Since then, there have only been a handful of weeks where I have not surfed. It has become my passion and almost a religion. In one year, I challenged myself to do 250 sessions, and I exceeded that goal by a week!  If you are like many of us, I believe that you have come upon this site because you have a big interest in surfing and maybe it’s already a passion for you as well.

When I started surfing, I only had a few friends who surfed. It was frustrating because nobody could really teach me what to do, and I picked up some bad habits. I searched the Internet for more information, but most of the sites assumed that you already knew how to surf and the message boards were too intimidating to join and write newbie questions.

Since I’m a software developer, I decided to start my own Web site to help beginning and intermediate surfers. I began to gather any information I found to be helpful as I learned more about surfing. What you see at StokeMaster.COM is an accumulation of bits and pieces of information I’ve collected from the very start of my surfing "career," and I continue to add as much data as I can.

I am now surfing on both long and short boards with some confidence, and travel to many surfing destinations along the Pacific Ocean. I’ve also started competing in some local surfing competitions with some not-too-shabby results!

The moral of my story is that it’s never really too late to start something, including surfing. So if you’ve always wanted to try surfing, or you want to get back in the ocean after a long absence, I encourage you to do it!

I also really encourage you to become a part of my community and share your experience. I will continue to do my best to provide a convenient place for sharing this wealth of information to those who follow this same path now and into the future.

And to me, that's the essence of being Stoked.

Thank you and I hope to see you in the water soon!

Manabu Tokunaga
The Founder and Chief Executive Surfer (CES)

StokeMaster International
master@StokeMaster.COM