“Surf-shooting” on a board wasn’t entirely new to Australia in 1914 when Duke Kahanamoku visited on his swimming tour, although misfires had been the rule up to that point. Years earlier, Pacific Island swimming marvel Alick Wickham had lugged an oversized piece of driftwood off the beach and carved it into a surfboard, which sank not long after Wickham’s first test run. Manly resident Charlie Paterson shipped a plank-style board back with him from Waikiki in 1912, but he had no luck riding i...
Chapter 2:
Gliding Return
- A Fine Little Revival /
- Jack London Loves Purple /
- California: The New Frontier /
- Beachboy Life /
- Duke Kahanamoku /
- Surf Shooting Down Under /
- The Bronzed Islander Shows How /
- Surfing in the Jazz Age /
- Tom Blake Redesigns the Sport /
- What Depression? /
- When Clubbies Ruled Australia /
- Surfboard as Woodcraft /
- Palos Verdes Surf Club /
- San Onofre: the Nearest Faraway Place /
- Riding the Hot Curl /
- Enter Makaha /
- Death at Waimea /
- The Overwhelming North Shore /
The Bronzed Islander Shows How
Duke patiently and pleasantly talked to the locals about wave-riding technique and showed them how to make their own boards. There were lessons in beachboy comportment—at a formal dinner, when asked to say a few words, Kahanamoku delighted the room by instead playing his ukulele and singing a Hawaiian song.