SURFING LEGENDS

Duke Kahanamoku

The name "Duke" is not a title, but a given name. He was named after his father, Halapu Kahanamoku, who was christened "Duke" by Bernice Pauahi Bishop in honor of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, who was visiting Hawaii at the time of the elder man's birth in 1869. The younger "Duke," as eldest son, inherited the name.
Growing up on the outskirts of Waikiki (near the present site of the Hilton Hawaiian Village), Kahanamoku spent his youth as a bronzed beach boy. It was at Waikiki Beach where he developed his surfing and swimming skills.

Kelly Slater

Kelly Slater is a successful professional surfer. Slater is an 8 time world champion and has been sponsored by Quiksilver since 1999.[1] He competed in the X-Games in 2003 and 2004. In May 2005 in the final of the BillabongTahiti Pro contest at Teahupoo, Slater became the first to score two perfect rides for a total 20 out of 20 ASP two-wave scoring system (the corresponding honour under the previous three-wave system belongs to Shane Beschn from 1996. In 2006 Slater tied Tom Curren for most career tour victories at the Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach, then in September of 2007 he passed Tom Curren by winning the Boost Mobile Pro at Trestles. , Kelly has appeared on one episode of Girls of the Playboy Mansion to teach the girls how to surf and to attend the party.

Laird Hamilton

Laird Hamilton was born in San Francisco on March 2, 1964, in an experimental bathysphere designed to ease the mother's labor. Laird and his mother, Joann Zyirek Zerfas, moved to Hawaii when he was still an infant, after the departure of his Greek birth father, L.G. Zerfas, before his first birthday. Even as a child Laird showed an unquenchable thirst for adrenaline; footage has been released of him jumping off a sixty foot cliff into deep water at just 7 years old. While a young boy, Laird met legendary 1960s surfer Bill Hamilton on Pupukea beach of the North Shore of Oahu; and introduced Hamilton to his mother. Bill Hamilton went on to marry Joann, and become Laird's adopted father, eventually moving the family to a remote valley on the island of Kauai. JoAnn and Bill had a son, giving Laird a younger half-brother (and surfer), Lyon. JoAnn died of a brain aneurysm in 1997. Hamilton thus grew up in the 1960s and 1980s in what is known as one of the greatest surfing locations in the world, the north coast of Oahu as a playground with a legendary surfer as a father and coach to mold him into the art of conquering big wave surf.

Lisa Andersen

Lisa Andersen is a four-time world surfing champion from the United States. She won four titles in a row from 1994 to 1997. She won the US amateur surfing title in 1987 and turned professional the following year. From 1994 to 1997 she won successive women's world titles before injury forced her to stop competing. She returned to the sport in 2000.

Corky Carroll

Corky Carroll. the original pioneer of professional surfing, was the first person to be paid to surf and the first to receive endorsements. He won all the events that gave away prize money in the early years. Carroll started surfing in the mid-fifties in Surfside, California while in the first grade. He competed professionally from 1959 until 1972, when he retired at the age of 24. In that time, he won five overall United States Championships, three International Professional Championships, one International Big Wave Championship, one World Small Wave Championship, and, as he puts it, " a bunch of other less glorious sounding titles"--over 100 in all. He was named "Best Surfer in the World" in a Surfer Magazine readers poll in 1968.

Andy Irons

Andy Irons is a professional surfer. Irons, a kama'aina, was reared on the dangerous and shallow reefs of the North Shore in Kauai, and has 3 world titles (2002, 2003, 2004), and two Rip Curl Pro Search titles (2006 & 2007). An inspiration to many young groms, he and his family host the Annual Irons Brothers Pinetrees Classic, a contest for youngsters, to give back to the community that has given them so much. The governor of Hawaii deemed February 13 forever 'Andy Irons day'. The 2004 movie 'Blue Horizon' (directed by Jack McCoy), paralleled his life on the WCT tour with that of free surfer, David Rastovich. The film also touched on his long-time rivalry with 8 time world champion Kelly Slater. There has been some debate over whether or not the film was an accurate and fair portrayal of Irons surfer lifestyle.

Eddie Aikau

Eddie Aikau was a well-known Hawaiian lifeguard and surfer. As the first lifeguard at Waimea Bay on the island of Oahu, he saved many lives and became famous for surfing the big Hawaiian surf, winning several awards including the 1977 Duke Kahanamoku Invitational Surfing Championship. In 1978, the Polynesian Voyaging Society was seeking volunteers for a 30-day, 2500 mile journey to follow the ancient route of the Polynesian migration between the Hawaiian and Tahitian island chains. At 31 years of age, Aikau joined the voyage as a crew member. The Hokule'a left the Hawaiian islands on March 16, 1978. The double-hulled voyaging canoe developed a leak in one of the hulls and later capsized about twelve miles south of the island of Molokai. In an attempt to get help, Aikau paddled toward Lanai on his surfboard. Although the rest of the crew was later rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard, Aikau was never seen again. The ensuing search for Aikau was the largest air-sea search in Hawaii history. In the 1980's, bumper stickers and T-shirts with the phrase "Eddie Would Go" spread around the Hawaiian Islands and to the rest of the world. According to maritime historian Mac Simpson, "Aikau was a legend on the North Shore, pulling people out of waves that no one else would dare to. That's where the saying came from -- Eddie would go, when no else would or could. Only Eddie dared."


-By: Carla Darmiento