Ride a wave of happiness, thanks to The Duke’s ‘aloha spirit’

The eight-year-old boy with sun-kissed hair and sand between his toes had just started to know the thrill of catching white water atop his father’s short board.

Each night, he’d drift off to sleep to his mother’s voice as she read him the tale of a brave surfing warrior who lived long ago in a faraway land called Hawai‘i.

The little boy treasured I Wish  I’d Surfed With The Duke and dreamed  of one day having his own big-wave adventures overseas.

As that beautiful Australian picture book tells its young readers, Hawaiian ali‘is or kings performed he‘e nalu to demonstrate their strength and courage.

The Duke of the title was the real-life Duke Paoa Kahinu Mokoe Hulikohola Kahanamoku – a much-celebrated and dearly loved character, considered to be the father of modern surfing.

In the early 1900s, The Duke, of minor noble Hawaiian birth, reigned supreme in the ancient art of he‘e nalu: wave-sliding.

His aquatic prowess made headlines more than half-a-century earlier than Eddie Aikau, Kelly Slater, Carissa Moore or Gerry Lopez became household names among the surfing fraternity.

His escapades fascinated the world decades before big-wave riders made their pilgrimage to Waimea Bay, Sunset Beach and Banzai Pipeline on O‘ahu’s North Shore or the Pe‘ahi break (nicknamed ‘Jaws’) on Maui’s North Shore for the Northern Hemisphere’s winter swells.

Born on August 24, 1890, The Duke grew up learning how to craft the long timber boards known as olos and singing to the surfing gods to bring bigger waves. What is even more extraordinary is that he lived in a time when foreign missionaries had tried to erase virtually all traditional customs from the then Kingdom of Hawai‘i – including he‘e nalu.

But to the Honolulu local, the Pacific Ocean was school, church, workplace and centre of his social world.

As he grew into a man, his size 13 feet and huge hands meant he had in-built paddles and fins that not only made him an outstanding swimmer, but also assisted in a growing number of surf rescues.

At the age of 24, The Duke – by then an Olympic gold medallist on the US swimming team – was invited on a tour Down Under over the 1914-1915 Southern Hemisphere summer to showcase his pool skills to a ticketed audience. While here, he also was persuaded to show off his wave-sliding talent. The Duke’s free demonstrations at Sydney beaches ensured he left behind a lasting legacy that has evolved into the surf culture so entrenched in everyday life today – especially on the Sunshine and Gold coasts.

His generosity and friendliness epitomised what Hawaiians call ‘the aloha spirit’: connecting our spiritual side to love through positive thoughts and deeds, small acts of kindness, and a happy outlook.

The Duke died in his beloved Honolulu on January 22, 1968, at the age of 77, but visitors to O‘ahu can still feel his presence and be embraced by ‘aloha’. If only for a short time while on holidays, they can live the carefree life of The Duke and his pioneering Waikīkī Beach Boys, toast his memory overlooking the water at Duke’s Waikīkī Restaurant and Bar at Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort, or simply don a floral ‘aloha shirt’ and be a free spirit.

They can see The Duke’s larger-than-life persona that is immortalised in a 275cm statue – one of the most photographed and visited tourist attractions in the Hawaiian Islands. The cast bronze statue, erected to mark the centennial of his birth in 1990, was sculpted by Californian artist and professor Jan Gordon Fisher.

The waterman is depicted standing in front of his surfboard, surrounded by honorary Hawaiian spears, inviting all-comers to ride his waves. The statue, on Kūhiō Beach next to the Waikīkī Police Station and fronting the busy surfside Kalakaua Avenue, is festooned daily with fresh leis as a lasting memorial to the gift he gave the world.

Hundreds of locals and tourists honour that gift and The Duke’s memory by joining the many line-ups on any given day across Waikīkī Bay.

From the bedroom and balcony of our Oceanview Junior Suite at the Queen Kapiolani Hotel on a recent trip, we had  a bird’s-eye view of beginners through  to seasoned locals at the variety of  take-off spots.

The parade of surf-riding, stretching from Kūhiō Beach to the point of Duke Kahanamoku Beach and Lagoon fronting the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort, entertained us for hours when we weren’t in the water ourselves.

All over Hawai‘i, the bright and breezy surf culture is everywhere, and you can’t help but be swept away in its ebb and flow.

It’s in the framed photographs on bedroom walls at the aptly named  The Twin Fin Hotel. It’s in the fences using old and broken boards as ‘pickets’ on locals’ homes and businesses.

It’s in the big-brand surf labels on boardshorts and T-shirts worn by surfers and non-surfers alike. It’s in the feelgood vibe of every ukelele or slide guitar tune blasting out of the rental car radio.

And it’s in the storage racks for locally-owned and rented boards on the side of five-star hotels.

‘Perfect’, glassy conditions drew out locals as well as global visitors for a paddle one particularly majestic Sunday afternoon until the final rays of sunlight left a palette of gold and lavender across the sky – vibrant colours that would put the prettiest muumuu or beach towel  to shame.

Such enticing conditions are the norm just about all-year round in Hawai‘i, where the average water temperature in Waikīkī is 25.5° Celsius and a mild climate reigns (really only two seasons: summer from May to October and winter from November to April).

Board hire is easy, too. Waikīkī ’s Ohana Surf Project (ohanasurfproject.com), for example, rents surfboards in great condition from $20 for one to three hours and can arrange drop-off and pick-up for an extra cost from your hotel. Private and group-instruction lessons also are offered.

Surf shops and rental kiosks are dotted along the beach strip. So, everyone has the opportunity to feel the exhilaration of water beneath feet, the breeze in salt-encased hair, the sun warming the body and the thrill of a smooth ride down a wave that’s just perfect for them.

That special kind of thrill is all thanks to the master Hawaiian watermen who came before us – watermen like The Duke.

* The children’s book I Wish I’d Surfed With The Duke was written by Leonie Young and Lisa Thompson, illustrated by Michael Pitt, and first published in Australia in 1999.

* The writer was a guest of Hawaiian Airlines but paid for all other expenses.

GETTING THERE

Hawaiian Airlines flies from Sydney to Honolulu five times a week. Flights depart at 9.40pm, so Aussies land in Honolulu about 11.25am (the same day).

Its Airbus A330 aircraft has 278-seats, including 192 Main Cabin, 68 Extra Comfort and 18 lie-flat Business Class seats.

Hawaiian Airlines baggage allowance in Economy and Extra Comfort is 1 x 23kg free checked bag plus an 11kg cabin allowance. In Business Class, it’s 2 x 32kg free checked bags plus an 11kg cabin allowance.

The airline offers more than 170 domestic flights a day within the Hawaiian Islands.

Via Honolulu, the airline offers convenient flight connections to 15 US gateway cities, making a stopover in Hawai’i an attractive option when flying between from Australia and the US mainland (hawaiianairlines.com.au/destinations/north-america).