Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 19, Number 11, 1 November 2002 — Heart of the Sea [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Heart of the Sea

A'ohe ia e Ioa'a aku, he ulua kapapa no ka moana — he cannot be caught, forhe is an ulua fish of the deep oeean, said in admiration of a warrior who will not give up withouta struggle . 'OleloNo'eau

By Naomi Sodetani Growing up in Mākaha, the late pioneer surfer Rell Kapolioka'ehukai (heartof the sea) Sunn sleptwith surfboards, not dolls. "Before I could read, I could read the oeean. I thought I knew everything I ever needed to know just from being on the beach — everything," Sunn recalled in an interview videotaped just two months before her death in 1 998. That interview provides the poignant, compelling pulse of "//earf of the 5ea," a documentary chronicling the life of the beloved loeal legend that premiares at the Hawai'i International Film Festival Nov. 2. The film was co-directed by California filmmakers Charlotte Lagarde and Lisa Denker, assisted by Hawai'i associate producers Nālani Mattox and Julianne Yamamoto King. World-renowned surf einematographer Don King shot lustrous oeean sequences. "//earf of the 5ea" conveys a deeply moving portrait of the "Queen of Mlākaha," who presided as Hawai'i's first female lifeguard over her favorite beach. Sunn excelled in hula, swimming, surfing, outrigger canoe-paddling, diving, and spear-fishing and won the hearts of many around the world for her vibrant outflowing aloha spirit. She taught countless loeal kids to surf while helping women eope with the disease that claimed her in the prime of her life. World-class surfer Keoni Watson described his mentor's fluid, graceful finesse on the longboard:

"There's nothing more beautiful than an empty wave — than Rell Sunn on it." Lagarde and Denker spent ten days filming interviews with Sunn in October 1997. Two months later she died. But the filmmakers forged on, honoring the surfer's wish for the film "to focus on her life, nother end," Lagarde says. Producer/co-director Lagarde's prior films include " Swell" about women surfers, and "Zeu/," about a surfer's struggle with breast cancer. Robin "Zeuf Janiszeufski told Lagarde that her friend Sunn was her role model. In the early 70s, Sunn breached the male-dominat-ed world of professional surfmg, opening the way for other women. She co-founded the Women's Professional Surfing Association and the firs t international tour for women, twice finishing third in year-end rankings . In 1996, Sunn became one of the first five women inducted into the Surfing Walk of Fame, her granite stone sharing the same patch of sidewalk with Duke Kahanamoku's. A single mother, Sunn worked as a lifeguard and rotated stints as a KCCN disc jockey, and surf reporter to pay the bills. In 1982, while towelling off, she felt a lump in her breast. Just 32 years old, the top-ranked woman on the longboard confronted the prospect of wiping out for good. "Sometim.es things happen in our lives, you just might hit a wall," Sunn says in the film. "Mline was cancer." Her eyes and smile radiate good humour as she reflects on her life and impending death without self-pity. The film traces Sunn's wrenching 15-year ordeal through hospital wards, undergoing radiation, bone

marrovv replacements and chemotherapy. She valiantly battled the disease into remission many times, believing that the oeean she loved sustained her life so long. In 1975, Sunn founded the Annual Rell Sunn Mlenehune Surf Contest at Mlākaha, whieh has given thousands of loeal kids a venue to shine and excel. Volunteering with the Wai'anae Cancer Research program, Sunn educated other loeal women aboutthe disease. "Rell embodied everything that is great about surfing, but she grew larger than that," said former surfing ehampion and state senator Fred Hemmings. "She represented the values we hold so dear in Hawai'i. Rell was a giver, not a taker." All that aloha eame back to her in the end. When she lost her hair and wore a swim eap, other surfem donned caps in camaraderie. When she became too weak to paddle, they'd push her off to catch a wave. Numerous benefit concerts were organized to help pay her medical bills. "Rell is the great reminder to do what you love," Lagarde says. "She touched so many people's lives just being herself. She was an amazing surfer, but it's her incredible spirit and her smile that people always remember." When Sunn died at age 47 on Jan. 2, 1 998, thousands of mournem packed Mlākaha Beach. A convoy of surfers accompanied her family's eanoe as they gently released aglass ball holding her ashes, freeing her to roam ihe world forever through its currents and waves. The Hawai'i īnternational Film Festival premieres 'Heart of ihe Sea " Nov. 2 at "Sunset on the Beach " in Waiki'H, and Nov. 4 at the Doris Duke Theatre at the Honolulu Academy of Arts, 8:30 p.m. Neighbor islands screenings planned but not scheduled as of press time. ■

Film pays tribute to the 'Queen of Mākaha'

Rell KapoHoka'ehukad3unn enjoyed surfhg en 0'ahu'sLeewardCoast and was n iekn am ed the "Queei ofMākaha" by many wholoved andrespected hei: Photo: j'effDwine^^