Monday, September 20, 1999
An ocean sports festival in
By Greg Ambrose
Waikiki this weekend will honor
Duke Kahanamoku, perpetuate
Hawaiian culture and let beachboys
show off their skills
Special to the Star-BulletinTHE ocean off Queen Liliuokalani's old Waikiki estate that once was filled with ali'i and maka'ainana wave riders will become a playground this weekend for modern Hawaii's ocean royalty, the beachboys.
The occasion is the Kahanamoku Brothers Celebrate Duke ocean sports festival, but the idea is more than just honoring Hawaii's greatest waterman.
The goal is to celebrate the values that made Duke Kahanamoku and his eight brothers and sisters outstanding examples of what it means to be Hawaiian.
The event was dreamed up by Jo-Anne Kahanamoku Sterling as a fund-raiser for the Kahanamoku Family Foundation, which gives grants to help people engage in activities that perpetuate the Hawaiian culture.
Sterling, daughter of Duke's brother, Sam Kahanamoku, is hoping that the ocean festival will inspire others to embrace the values of health, fitness and water safety while honoring the elements that made the Kahanamokus ambassadors of their culture.
"Hawaiian values were very important for my grandmother," said Sterling.
"She raised her children with two characteristics: take care of the land, and be humble and congenial and share aloha throughout the world, especially with visitors."
The ocean festival will be showcase Hawaiian culture, including a traditional Hawaiian blessing that will extend from the shore to Duke's statue and back, musical performances by Hapa and other local musicians and booths featuring Hawaiian arts and crafts. On Sunday, the traditional deep-sea voyaging canoe Hawai'iloa will be anchored offshore to remind everyone of Hawaii's seafaring tradition.
But the main attraction will be the ocean activities, including kane, wahine and mixed longboard surfing, tandem surfing, outrigger canoe wave riding and open-ocean paddleboarding.
"The enthusiasm of all the people I have talked to is contagious," said Glenn Moncata, whose company, Quiksilver, is helping sponsor the ocean festival.
"All the Waikiki beachboys, the Makaha surfers, everyone is excited. This has brought everyone together," he said. "All the elements are going to be in this contest, new surfing, canoe surfing, tandem, they are such crowd-pleasers."
While keiki are welcome to enjoy the show, no one younger than 30 is allowed to participate in this noncompetitive ocean party.
"I wanted to give the give middle-age guys a chance. I just want to see old-timers down at the beach talking story and getting together," said Sterling, who lives on Maui. "It's 'Hey, let's come back to Waikiki.' Oahu is a very beautiful island, and there is a uniqueness to Waikiki."
Waikiki beachboy Rabbit Kekai learned everything he knows about outrigger canoe steering from Duke, then turned around and used that knowledge to beat the master more than half a century ago. Kekai expects to do well in the surfboard events, but he is confident that no matter who he ends up crewing with this weekend, he will guide them to victory in the invitational six-man beachboy outrigger canoe races.
"A lot of guys are trying to hustle me to be their steersman," he said.
Regardless of how he performs, Kekai expects the event to be a welcome respite from the selfishness that permeates contemporary surfing.
"In the olden days Duke would holler 'Coming down' at anyone on the
shoulder of the wave, and everyone would back down," said Kekai. "Nowadays they yell, 'Yo, hey, hey,' and people still drop in anyway. No one is showing respect, they are taking all the waves."
In typical Hawaiian ohana style, Sterling is getting help making this ocean celebration happen, with special kokua from Clyde and Myra Aikau, siblings of Hawaiian lifeguard and waterman Eddie Aikau, who vanished in 1978 while paddling for help from the foundering traditional voyaging canoe Hokule'a.
Other sponsors include the City and County of Honolulu, Duke's Canoe Club, Aston Resorts, the Bishop Museum, Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Foundation, Kruse's Paddles, Outrigger Hotels & Resorts and Hawaiian Airlines.
"This is my first time, and I expect to make mistakes," said Sterling. "But I feel that it is our responsibility to perpetuate this ocean lifestyle."
