COURTESY PHOTO
Surfer Laird Hamilton is no stranger to feats of endurance.
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Big-wave surfers embark on isle odyssey for autism film
The tow-in partners will bike and paddle the chain's 500 miles
Big-wave surfers Laird Hamilton and Dave Kalama will bike or paddle their surfboards some 500 miles from one end of the island chain to the other starting today to raise money for autism awareness.
It was Hamilton's idea to undertake the seven-day feat to publicize a documentary, "Beautiful Son," produced by friend and cinematographer Don King about his autistic 6-year-old son, Beau.
King said he is hoping to raise $40,000 to distribute the nonprofit film to a wider audience. King's wife, Julianne Yamamoto King, is director and producer of the film about their quest to "recover Beau from autism."
Hamilton and Kalama will start today on the Big Island and end Monday pedaling across Kauai. They will stand-up surf, using extra-long paddles, said Kalama, who has never attempted such a physically challenging journey.
Hamilton, 42, and Kalama, 41, have been tow-in (using a jet ski) surfing partners for the past several years.
Kalama, who made his reputation at "Jaws" on Maui, said his main worry is to pace himself so he can keep up with Hamilton.
Hamilton constantly tests his physical endurance. His latest adventure in May entailed a 426-kilometer crossing between London and Paris in two days, biking and paddling.
DONATIONS SOUGHT
Tax-deductible donations to promote the documentary film "Beautiful Son" can be made at www.beautifulson.com or mailed to Swell Cinema, 182 Grand View Ave., San Francisco, CA 94114. |
King said the hardest part of the journey is paddling from Oahu to Kauai Sunday and Monday, as "only a few people have done this. ... It's a really rough channel." Tomorrow's Alenuihaha Channel crossing between the Big Island and Maui is also grueling, he said.
King has filmed Hamilton, who splits the year between Malibu, Calif., and Kauai, for commercials and a film that won for best documentary short at the 2005 Maui Film Festival. King, best known for his underwater cinematography, currently shoots for the popular TV series "Lost."
King said Beau was normal, happy and bright his first two years of life, but by the time he turned 3, his son was not even making eye contact -- "the light went out." Autism is a neurological disorder that severely affects development and afflicts one in 166 children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Beau speaks and understands but cannot hold a conversation. It is the distance between Beau and the rest of the world that burdens their heart most heavily, King said. Thankfully, he is not prone to violent outbursts -- "he's a very sweet kid with very few behavioral problems," King said.
But the couple does not want to just "tolerate it (autism)," he said. For a parent to be told there is no established treatment for something "way too common" is unacceptable to him -- "there's gotta be something. I wish we knew more," King said.
The Kings are hoping to raise public awareness through their film as well as funds for research to help find a cure for the disease.
The documentary is now being edited "with the help of a great editor. It is very well done. I cry every time I watch it," he said.