I just like unusual shapes

Name: Jason Yamaoka

Age: 39

Location: Ocean Beach

Jason Yamaoka stood on the sand a couple hundred yards north of the Ocean Beach pier under a patchy May sky after a morning surf. Yamaoka grew up body-boarding with his family in Hawaii, so learning to surf was an easy transition. On this particular day, Yamaoka is riding “kind of a hybrid shortboard with a longboard nose. I just like unusual shapes,” he laughs. “But I would recommend something around eight feet for beginners. Something that you can manage with turning and catching waves.”

Yamaoka used to live just a couple blocks from this beach, but he still frequents OB despite the move.

“OB is my favorite because there’s always something to ride, even when everywhere else is pretty flat. And there is a different selection and style of wave and you’ve got Sunset Cliffs when it gets too hairy.”

The 39-year-old's worst surfing injury was a fractured rib. “I don’t really know how it happened, if I landed on my board or if I landed on the water hard. It was a pretty big day. And I didn’t realize it was broken until a couple weeks later when it continued hurting and when it was hard to breathe and raise your arms, but that was it. I haven’t seen too many injuries out there.”