Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 21, Number 1, 1 January 2004 — Surfers go back to roots with wooden board event [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Surfers go back to roots with wooden board event

By Derek Ferrar Afew steps from the Duke Kahanamoku statue in Waikīkī, a surfer in a red competition jersey picked his way through a maze of tourists, struggling to the water's edge under the weight of a 12-foot, 100-pound surfboard carved in a traditional style from wiliwili wood. Farther up the beach, a knot of assembled surfers, family and friends shouted encouragement as they stood near a collection of several other wooden boards next to a small competition tent. That was the scene at Queen's break on Dec. 13. when the Hawaiian Longboard Federation presented the inaugural event in its planned 01d Hawai'i Wooden Surfboard Series — the first surfing event in memory held exclusively on old-style wood boards. "When you're riding these boards today, it seems like being the very first people to ride them, even though it's such an old technology," said longboard pro Duane DeSoto, who spent the day at the event with his girlfriend and their new baby. "It just has a real virgin feeling to it, like rediscovering surfing all over again." The small but spirited gathering, whieh started See HE'E NALU on page 12

Wooden board event winner Duane DeSoto drops in old-school style at Queen's break in Waiklkl. Photo: zak Noyie

HE'E NALU from page 9

off with a pule and 'awa ceremony, was the culmination of months of preparation and work building the boards. "It's been a dream of mine to help people look at surfing from a truly native perspective," said Tom "Pōhaku" Stone, the waterman and Hawaiian studies teacher who shaped most of the five wiliwili and mango boards used in the competition and was the cultural driving force behind the event. "It's about developing a sense of appreciation for how mueh went into it, from cutting a tree and moving the log, to shaping these huge, heavy boards by hand, and the sheer strength it took to surf them. It required the effort of the entire community." Hawai'i Longboard Federation Director Diane Johnson, who partnered with Pōhaku to make the dream of a wooden-board event into a reality, said, "I really think we've been able to accomplish what we hoped to do, whieh is to educate people about bringing Hawaiian culture back into surfing. Everyone is just so stoked with the idea of bringing back these kind of boards." Surfers in the informal competition — whieh was open to anyone interested in experiencing the oldstyle boards — agreed that surfing them required a whole different approach. "Riding one of these boards stay like riding one eanoe," mused participant Warren Ho'ohuli, his long gray beard and ponytail shaded by a coconut hat trimmed with Christmas pine as he rubbed kukui oil onto an old redwood family board he had brought down with him. "Onee the thing get going,

all you gotta do is control 'um." As the wave quality improved throughout the day, so did the level of the surfing, with DeSoto leading the way as he quickly got the knaek of trimming the board's momentum for maximum effect. Fellow pro Lanee Ho'okano managed to pull off a quick headstand that drew loud hoots from the beach, while in a women's heat Hi'ilei Becker — namesake of the 10-foot board she was surfing — got several excellent rides, whieh she happily "claimed" with raised arms. When the day was over, DeSoto had earned the "best overall performanee" trophy, a "miniature" wiliwili board five feet long, while Ho'okano, Becker, Domingo Beddingfield and Fritzi Belmoro won smaller board-shaped trophies for outstanding performance. "This whole thing has been such an honor to be part of," DeSoto said, "from going into the forest to get the trees, to making the boards, to the incredible feeling of riding them. But the best thing would be if our kids ean gain strength and confidence in their culture from these boards, whieh eome down from the ancestors." "Today was a great day, not only for the surfers," Pōhaku told the gathering, "but for all of us sharing our culture with one another. You've done something today that very few people alive have done. And with all the smiles and laughing, I was really touched." The Hawaiian Longhoard Federation is planning more wood-en-surfboard events on various

islands, and is seeking sponsors to help support the series. For informaiion, eall 263-2444. ■

Clockwise from top right: Pōhaku with a mango-wood board; event awardees Domingo Beddingfield, Hi'ilei Becker, Fritzi Belmoro, Lanee Ho'okano and Duane DeSoto; Warren Ho'ohuli rubs kukui oil into a family heirlOOm board. Photos: Derek Ferrar