Page 382 - Hawaii: Diving, Surfing, Pearl Harbor, Volcanoes and More

uke was on the road constantly, giving late 1940’s to move to Oahu to surf the big with rounded rails (the sides of the board)
D swimming exhibitions around Europe, waves of Makaha Beach, Sunset Beach and for nose-riding and “hanging ten” on smaller
the United States and the world. He also be- Waimea Beach. By the late 1950’s, more pho- days. Boards of many designs became popu-
came a favorite of Hollywood casting direc- tographers and filmmakers were becoming lar including concave design to allow water
tors, playing Aztec chiefs, Hindu thieves and interested in surfing. After Hawaii became a to flow across or under it in a specific man-
Arab princes. On weekends he would take state in 1959 more and more visitors came ner. There are boards with one fin, two fins,
his Hollywood friends surfing, and every- to Hawaii and wanted to learn to surf. The and three, four, up to five fins. The “stand up”
where he could Duke used his fame to intro- Australians and Californians wanted to paddle board, or SUP, is the latest take off of
duce the world to the sport of surfing, which come to Hawaii to surf the big waves at the surf board styles and the boards made for
would forever change the history of surfing best surfing beaches on Oahu. During the them. SUP’s, like other surfboards, come in
in Hawaii. By 1915 the Hawaii Outrigger Ca- 1960’s, Movies like the “Beach Party” mov- many shapes and sizes, depending on what
noe Club had a membership of 1200 and a ies and “Gidget Goes Hawaiian” continued to kind of activity you prefer. Some are long
few hundred more on waiting lists. Waikiki popularize the sport of surfing and surfing and wide to provide speed and stability.
Beach was once again full of surfers. After as an established sport never looked back. Some are shorter, thinner and more narrow
Duke’s visits to California, surfing took off. – better for surfing waves. With an SUP you
Everybody wanted to try to “catch a wave”. nd so by the 1960s the “surf craze” was stand on the board and use a paddle that is
A on. The array of shapes and sizes in surf- a lot like a canoe paddle, only longer. Some
uring the 1940’s, a lot of American sol- boards made it easier to accommodate the surfers like the speed and buoyancy of this
D diers stationed at Pearl Harbor were surfer, the surfer’s skill level, and surf condi- newer style of stand-up paddle surfing.
ple interested in the sport continued to nose making it easier to “duck dive” under a
introduced to surfing. The number of peo- tions. Boards could be made with a pointy

grow. People began quit their jobs in the big wave. Or they could have a rounded nose