"TO SHOOT SURF HERE ON BOARD" ATLANTIC CITY, NEW JERSEY (1910)

"To Shoot Surf Here on Board: A.D. Keech, of Honolulu, gives Exhibition of Tropical Sport Tonight," an uncredited article, ran on the front page of the July 28, 1910, edition of the Press of Atlantic City.

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At the request of the manager of the Hawaiian Exhibit here, Alvin D. Keech, of Honolulu, Hawaii, a student here in this country, will give an exhibition of surf-board riding, the famous sport of the Hawaiian islanders. Mr. Keech will give the exhibition at one of the piers in the early evening, possibly tonight, for at that time he believes the surf runs best.

Only at Waikiki Beach, in Hawaii, one may witness and partake in this remarkable sport of surf-board riding and surf canoeing, the exhilarating and fascinating sport of the Hawaiians. In canoeing, one dons a bathing suit, and in one of the graceful outrigger canoes is paddled by skillful natives out to the edge of the reef where, when the frail craft is neatly turned before an incoming breaker, it is caught up like a feather on the inclined plane of the front of the wave and is hurtled shoreward in a cloud of spray at express-train speed, ofttimes to the gleaming sands of the shoreline.

Considerable skill Is required in performing this feat on a board instead of a canoe. The surfer lies flat on the board, propelling it by his hands and arms through the surf waves until the large swells far out to sea are noticed, and then makes ready to take the fast-approaching surf by turning the nose of his board shoreward and then paddling with all his strength In order to gain the necessary momentum to take the swell. Just as soon as the breaker hits him he is shot before the foaming mountain of water like a shot out of a catapult. In a flash, if he is expert enough, an upright or standing position may be gained and retained, till the wave has lost its strength. Out In the island at Waikiki we can always get a standing ride of a quarter- or a half mile, and many times for a much longer distance.

Surfing looks easy to the spectator, and is in this country where there is no such surf as there is in the Hawaiian Islands, but surf riding is not easy; it takes months of practice, and cannot be attempted till one is a good swimmer, for the surfer never knows just when he will lose his board and be compelled to swim a great distance in order to again regain it. Drinking stilt water Is nothing to the surfer, for nearly every time that he takes a plunge or a dive he gets a great deal of it.

Surf-boards weigh all the way from ten to one hundred pounds, and vary in length. The longer the board the more dangerous, for anyone can realize what it means if we should allow the board to get out of our grasp, thus permitting it to strike us. The board used here weighs about seventy pounds and is made of the rare Hawaiian koa wood, which is very heavy and almost impossible to splinter.