Excerpt from "Dueling for Dollars," Drew Kampion, Surfing Magazine, April 1975

The Tenth Annual Duke Kahanamoku Surfing Classic, held as a memorial and tribute to the Father of Modern Surfing and the Great Olympic Swimming Champion, etc., got underway in ten- to fourteen-foot Sunset.

It was big and a bit mushy, but famous Mike Miller came in and said it was pretty good and next thing you knew Sol Aikau, father of the famous duo, waddled around setting up the ready area for the contest.

Soon the heats were going out without hitch and the surfing proceeded at a veritable rip. Ian Cairns blazed to first in the first heat, while Mr. Lopez performed a backside rarity by taking a second place. In the next heat, Reno once again spirited off the win, chased by a radical-surfing Sam Hawk, who came into his own last year, at last bringing control and discipline to his long- inspired approach to waves. Owl Chapman was cited for interference in his heat, but no one else was being called when they did the same things, so when he protested it was successful, and a nine-man semifinal was created.

In the third heat, James Jones tore up the inside section after taking some far-out waves. He edged out Eddie Aikau for the win.

In heat four, Larry Bertleman nudged Jeff Hakman and advanced directly to the final.

The four surviving third-place finishers of the elimination heats were Bill Hamilton, over from Kauai, Peter Townend, Barry Kanaiaupuni, and Ivo Hanza, who surfed for Michael Peterson, the Australian Champion, who was the only Duke invitee out of 24 who failed to show

Like as it always is in these gala events, there are the annual complaints and should-have-beens and the like, and this year was no exception. Judges tended to score the large waves too highly, to an extent where some performances were overlooked. Paul Nielsen and Shawn Thomson, for example, definitely should have survived the cut and made the semifinal.

After the eliminations, the contest was called until Saturday, when the ABC Packaging Association would come in with their bewitching blend of loaded cameras, loaded mikes, and loaded boys.

Saturday arrived, and the big news was that Jeff Hakman had been thrown from a horse the day before. There were stitches over his left eye and his ankle was sprained and he was limping badly. The girl who had been riding with Jeff was in the hospital with a broken pelvis. Apparently, the horse had fallen over backwards onto them on asphalt.

The surf was ten-foot, bumpy and grungy. The competitors were not stoked. They wished to postpone, but the movie grinds on nonetheless. Sam Hawk came through in the semifinal with perhaps his best competitive performance ever, taking outside waves that were difficult to track down in the shifty, windy conditions, and pursuing them relentlessly into the inside where they grew squat and gnarly and super hollow and Hawk was there to jam and crash through where others just didn't.

Peter Townend also came on strong in this heat and put together a remarkable performance of smooth, calm and inspired surfing despite the adverse conditions. The Big T chased 'em down and scored well. Admirable mention and Honorable praise to Eddie Aikau and Jeff Hakman who surfed beautifully.

For the finals, conditions were a bit worse and the competitors were calling for calling it off, but ABC met with contest directors Moroni Medeiros, Sid Quintel, and Chuck Shipman and a decision was made. Supposedly the surfers would do this heat, then there would be a second final if there were waves by the 14th, ABC's last scheduled day in Hawaii. But it costs $6,000 a day to keep the crew on the Rock, so when everyone was safely out in the water, it was decided to make this first final the sole determining heat.

Rubberman Larry Bertlemann, who looked fairly good throughout the contest, put it together with such professional ability and such aggressive inspiration that he was a unanimous pick by all five judges for first place.

Peter Townend, on the other hand, was a unanimous last place and also received a broken board for his trouble. In between were many disagreements about who did what and how well. Ian Cairns got second and most of that was on the strength of one terrific wave which showed more power and drive than had been seen in these parts for a long time. Then he attempted the same thing on another wave and nearly made it, contenting himself with a barrel perspective and swim.

Sam Hawk was inspirational on two or three waves and came third. Hakman limped into fourth and though he may have been hurting, his surfing did not show it. Reno came fifth, James sixth, Eddie Aikau seventh and so it went with the Tenth Duke.

Perhaps it was the clearest win ever in a Duke, as Bertlemann definitely outclassed the field. He had more waves, did more, and tried more than anyone else, though in the "tried more" category, Ian and Sammy were close in there.

In closing, to show where some people are in relation to some other people, during the Duke final an ABC lady asked a film-loader why was Gerry Lopez surfing if he had an injured back. The film-loader pointed up at the camera mounted on the scaffolding.

Later, on the beach, when McCay went down for a quick interview with Gerry and Rory, the two sprinted into the water at the last moment, leaving McKay with wet shorts and a shrug.

"Bertlemann King of Duke," Chip Davey, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, December 8, 1974

Larry Bertlemann is "the young man and the sea"— sounding just like a character out of Ernest Hemmingway's famous novel.

“I always bless myself with the water before I surf," said the 18-year old Bertleman after unanimously winning the 10th Duke Kahanamoku Surfing Classic yesterday at Sunset Beach. "It’s a ritual."

Well, the ritual worked in surf that reached 15 feet outside and ran a sloppy six-to-12 foot inside, as the afro-headed Hawaiian rode the longest wave in the contest. It was so long that other surfers were catching sets and wiping out on smaller peaks behind him while he cut and swerved towards the beach.

"I didn't think I was gonna make it,” added Bertlemann. ”I almost got knocked down. The wave started building just as I came down the face."

It was enough to bring the 3000-plus crowd to their feet and further clog the traffic jam that started early when the Hawaiian Masters ran its final heat around noon at Pipeline.

The six international judges awarded Bertlemann a unanimous first place—unusual for such an event—more than seven points ahead of the runner-up Ian Cairns.

Cairns got a few raves from the crowd himself, taking more and more chances on potential wipeout waves as the 90-minute heat wore on.

One such wave in particular. "It was pitching and I knew I had to go for it," said the Western Australia native. "I went straight in. It was insane. It looked like a giant barrel. The whole mess came rushing up at me."

Cairns got $1200 for second place, while Bertlemann went home $2000 richer.

Sam Hawk, who wound up third, provided a degree of excitement to the semi-mains (which were run in the morning) by tubing an eight-footer for what seemed like the longest time. He started out hot in the finals as well, ranking first (Bertlemann was last) unofficially after the first 20 minutes of competition.

But then Bertleman dominated the middle segment of the final and it was all over.

"My arms were so tired from paddling," added Bertlemann. "And I could hardly stand up from doing all those turns."

His turns could be described as long, graceful ones—nothing radical—because he was using his 8' 6" board, instead of his 8' 2" model that would have given him sharper turns but less time on the waves.

One contestant who was lucky to catch any time on the water at all was three-time Duke winner Jeff Hakman, who finished fourth, just ahead of Reno Abellira, last week's Smirnoff champ.

"A horse fell on me on Friday," said the 25-year-old Hakman. “I could hardly walk afterwards."

Probably the most dramatic event went unnoticed by spectators, as Leonard Brady, a North Shore photographer hired to work ABC's water camera, could not get back into shore. His partner, Bernie Baker, had to rescue him and ABC's $3000 camera, while the 

 crew people were busy interviewing people on the beach.

James "Booby" Jones finished in sixth place, with Eddie Aikau seventh and Peter Townsend of Australia in eighth.

1974 Duke Kahanamoku Surfing Classic

Subscribe or Login

Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Interviews

Features

The Sunday Joint

Videos

Contests