Most of the quotes here are taken from "A Visit to Rell's Motel," by Mark Cunningham, which ran in the Fall 1993 issue of Surfer's Journal. Sunn was 42 at the time. Additional quotes come from "Rell Sunn: Long Live the Queen," by Bruce Jenkins, which ran in the June 1995 issue of SURFER.


A surf bum? Sure. I love being called that. The most stressful part of my day is figuring out what board I'm going to ride.


We grew up on the other side of Makaha Beach, in a Quonset hut. I was number four of the five Sunn kids. The Chinese relatives called me “Number 4 Sunn,” while everyone else knew me as “Rella Propella.” Then there was Kula, who everybody knew as Martha. Then Anela, who watched us surf for years and then started, and after only one year was winning contests. Then there's sister Val who used to ride tandem, but she got out of surfing right away. My theory is, the prettier you are the sooner you leave 'cause guys lure you away. We didn't have any complaints about that because the guys would leave their boards on the sand to go talk to Val on the beach, and we'd take their boards out. We'd say, "Yes! She's got another guy!" My brother Eric is my best friend. I go diving with him, fishing, and I make him take my garbage to the dump. He still lives in the same block where we grew up.


I began surfing when I was four. It's been 38 years now and I can't get enough! My favorite size wave is four- to five-foot, out of the northwest. It's such a nice sound at that size, it's almost sexual. If the surf is bigger, it's just constant noise. And if you hear it echoing way on the outside, I think, 'Oh my God, too big, where am I going to surf today?"


I learned how to dive from Buffalo Keaulana and Buzzy Trent. I picked up so much just listening to their stories, that I knew how to dive before I even started. Diving made me a better person, made me creative. If there's no food on the table, go catch it.


People say, "Oh you must have struggled so much, you poor pioneering surfers." I wouldn't have changed any of it. We were there for the adventure. I never had a vision or a desire to be the best in the world. My role models were people like Buffalo Keaulana and Rabbit Kekai, who really weren't competitors, they just had good fun. Lose your board, bodysurf in, and it feels so good you leave your board on the beach and bodysurf a couple more. But I was hungry too. I watched the Makaha contest every year as a kid, and would hear all the stories told about the event, and I swore that we'd make it so not all the stories were about men. That was important to me.


The 1966 World Contest in San Diego kicked off a travel habit that I cannot shake. I love meeting new people, having new adventures and experiences, surfing different breaks. I thought of myself as a gypsy glass ball, floating from one shore to another, fragile, yet arriving and departing in one piece. Gathering barnacles represents stories and experiences heard and lived and learned


If we're at some big luau and everybody says, "Come on Rell, go dance," the Chinese part of me says, "No, don't make a fool of yourself." The Hawaiian part says, 'Yeah, go for it!' And the Irish part says, 'Well, I don't know. Maybe a beer first."


The longest I’ve stayed away from home was three months. This was not a surf adventure, it was for cancer treatment in Texas. It was the hardest three months of my life. I missed my family, friends, my dog, surfing Makaha, diving for fish out front and, most importantly, my house. I’ve lived in this house for 21 years now. I rent it from Ann Cummings, one of the most precious people in my life. She's seen me raise my daughter and go through two divorces and a devastating breakup in a relationship which set me back more than cancer did, physically as well as emotionally. It’s a terrible thing to find disappointment in life. Ann’s been one of those beacons, redirecting and sending me off again. Cheap rent enabled me to live in this house during the roughest of times. I finally had to raise my own rent because life with Ann has been too priceless.


When I was in the coma (in Texas), I was seeing powder blue and dreaming that I was trying to catch waves out at Waikiki. I was so frustrated because I kept paddling and paddling and couldn't catch a wave. Finally one bumped up, it caught me, I stood up, and I was surfing! And I woke up and said to my sister, "Val, did you see that? I finally caught a wave!" And she said, "Rell, we've been here for days. We thought you were gonna die." I've always said surfing saved my life.


I have one of Duke Kahanamoku’s surfboards behind the daybed at my house. I heard about it being at an antique store and called Nadine (Duke’s widow) to verify and she said, “Oh yes, it was one of his.” So the way I got it was, Buffalo was in Australia with this guy who was involved with the Crocodile Dundee movie. I didn’t go because I’d just come home from chemotherapy. And Buff was telling him about us fishing and diving. (Imitating Buff) “If you ever want a girl who’s a good stunt person, get Rell Sunn, she’s the best, she can dive deep, she can spearfish, she’s good.” You know, spreading the legend (laughing). The guy liked the story so much he told Buff, “Here, I got this money and I want you to give it to her, but not for medical expenses. I want her to spend it on something she would never buy for herself.” So that's how I ended up with the board.


Dogs go out surfing once, and from that point on they know they're different. Shane [the last of Rell's 13 surfing dogs] surfs, he canoes, he rides on the front of my board. Then he comes back here [Rell's Makaha house], kind of crosses his legs on the porch, looks at the other dogs, and he's like, "Yeah, riff-raff." Brian Keaulana took a pig out there once. Same thing. Pig went back to the farm and had an attitude.


I'm not treatable now, because the doctors consider me terminal. There's nothing more they can do. When people ask, "How are you, Rell? Really, how are you?" It makes me pause and cringe a little and want to tell them what's going on "really." But I don't. What's most important for them to know is that I'm doing great, that lately I've had a lot of energy again, and being here now is a lot better than the alternative! That's all they really need to know. Life is so uncertain anyway.

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