Matt Warshaw interviewed Kaipo Jaquias in 1993. Quotes from the interview were used in "Kauai Boy: Kaipo Jaquias" a profile from the May 1994 issue of SURFER. Jaquias was 22.

I came from the ghetto; the Hawaiian ghetto. I grew up in a house where you could see through the floor, down to the ground. I had a hard life growing up. A lot of conflict. My Dad's this local guy, kind of crazy; lots of drinking. He had me when he was too young.

Yeah, but not really. I grew up on the beach mostly. We went to the beach almost every morning. The beach was like my house. All the kids would be jumping off rocks, hiding in bushes, building rafts, clubhouses, fishing, catching crabs. I knew every rock, every tree; I knew the currents, where the fish were. I was never bored. When I was little, almost before I can remember, I'd go in the ocean probably ten times a day. Come in, eat lunch, and I'd be back out there before I finished swallowing the food. The whole family would be down there, aunties, cousins, everybody, 20 or 30 people at a time.

For a while, yeah, I was really into sports. Almost everything. I was a competitive person. I did Pop Warner football for three years, I played second base in Little League for two years. BMX, the 13-and-under division, I was third in the state. But I quit all that stuff at 15.

Just too much surfing by that point; surfing took over. But I was really glad I did all the other stuff because when I jumped full-on into competitive surfing, I was ready. BMX is good for that. You're always dogging some guy on the inside, looking for position. Same with surfing. So I already knew how to get to the inside; I knew how to get guys to do what I wanted 'em to do.

You mentioned your parents were really young when you were born.

His name is Marcellino, but everyone calls him Masa. He’s wild. Masa’s a wild guy. He’s a nice guy, too. He laughs a lot, but he’s tough. You never want to hassle him. I guess he was really tough in high school. He’s even shorter than me [Kaipo is 5’ 6”], but he’ll take on anybody, and I don’t think anybody every kicked his ass. Nobody fucks with him. There’s something crazy in him, and there’s something crazy in me, too, just a little further down.

How did you guys get along when you were growing up?

I grew up hating my dad. He was drinking and smoking, doing drugs, and I had to watch all the mean stuff he did to my Mom. I was scared of him.

He forced me into it, and for a long time I really didn’t want to surf at all ‘cause of the way he was pushing on me. Like I was just a little kid, maybe 10, and we’d be out in pretty big surf and he’d say, “Go on this one. You 

Did you ever say anything to him about it later?

He says he did it that way ‘cause he knew that I had talent. We talked about that recently. He said he knew what he was doing all along. I don’t know. It’s pretty weird, I think. Because he made me 

 want to surf for a long time. And later, when I 

 want to, it was because I wanted to be better than him. He always said he surfed better than me. I hated him, so that’s why I got to be better than him.

Sometimes. Not too often. Even today, when he goes out and it’s 10 feet, he says he surfs better than me. And I still get pissed off about it. Whenever we surf together, I still try to blow his mind.

How do you guys get along in general these days?

In a lot of ways I understand why he acted the way he did. For one thing, he was a parent at such a young age. Now that I’m a father [Kaimana Jaquais, Kaipo's son, was nine months old at the time of this interview] I can imagine the kind of stress he was under. So I forgive him for a lot. And I know it’s not going to help anyone for me to stay mad. I’ve changed my feelings for Masa. I like him now. Plus he loves being a grandfather, and I know how to use that. I tell my dad, “You’re not going to see your grandson anymore if you keep acting up. Better get your act straight.” And he loves Kaimana so much that he’s changing. I think he wants to do better with Kaimana than he did with me.

Is it harder to be on tour, now that you're a father?

In a way, it's actually easier. I have more motivation now. I'm out there doing it for my family. The best way for me to be a father right now is to do well in surfing, make some money, buy a house, all that stuff. I'd like to be around more, for sure. But I know I'm doing the right thing because I have to make money to support my wife and son. I'm doing this [the world tour] because I have to. It's business. All the travel, all the different surf spots—I've been there and done that. Plus, you know, the waves most places we go aren't that good.

(Long pause.) I don't know. Not really. Sometimes. I hate it and I love it.

Did you dream about being a pro surfer as a kid?

No. I never really thought much about being a professional. I used to ask myself if I was as good as the guys I saw on video, and one day I thought I was, so I went out and did it. But as a kid, it wasn't like some big goal I was working on.

How would you improve the tour if you could?

This whole thing is set up for the sponsors, not the surfers. Look at the contests; look at the shitty waves we're surfing. To make it better, just go to good spots and wait for good waves. Put the contest on TV and forget the beach crowd.

Last year you traveled to some of the events with Sunny Garcia.

(Laughs) Yeah, and I'm sort of getting more like him. Sunny gets me going. We understand each other. We kind of grew up the same way; he had a hard time as a kid too.

In a lot of ways, you guys seem really different, though.

That's because my upbringing was more old Hawaiian. Sunny grew up more in the streets. He has that in him, still. Like he's crazy. I don't have that. I'm mellow. But Sunny's scared of me, too. He knows I can snap.

Same here. I'd be more of a contender for sure if I surfed more often. Sunny and I don't practice. I'm not saying that's bad. Competition is such a weird way to surf. Everyone has their own approach. My thing is, I don't want to get burned out on training. I don't train at all. The more I train, the more I stress out. It puts all this extra pressure on you. It's like, "Okay, I did all that hard work, now I have to win." Then if you lose, it's the end of the world. I feel like my surfing, just the way it is, is good enough. That's how Sunny does it, too.

I try and surf at least five hours a week when I'm traveling. Just a half-hour here and there. Just go out there, paddle hard, catch a bunch of waves really quick, wait 'till everything feels OK, then go in. Nicky Wood does that too. And Sunny. The three of us just don't surf much.

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