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chapter 45 “Surf boarding from Molokai to Waikiki” (1954) Thomas C. Zahn 1924–1991 Tommy Zahn was a career lifeguard in Los Angeles and helped introduce , along with Joe Quigg and Dale Velzy, the lighter, more maneuverable balsa boards to Southern California in the early 1950s. Zahn also formed part of a contingent of lifeguards who introduced the balsa boards to Australia in 1957, sparking a renewed interest in surfriding that has since become a national sport in that country. Zahn’s article shows the strong connection between paddleboard racing and surfriding in the formative era of California surf culture. Tom Blake’s inaugural Pacific Coast Surf Riding Championship in Corona del Mar (1928) was in fact a combination of the two events. The Waikîkî beachboys had popularized the tradition of the Hawaiian waterman: a person whose skill in surfriding formed part of a larger expertise in all ocean activities , including outrigger canoe paddling, swimming, diving, spear fishing , and what Zahn terms here “surfboarding.” Zahn was at the tail-end of a waterman tradition—transplanted from Hawai‘i by George Freeth, Duke Kahanamoku, and Tom Blake—that would all but disappear from mainstream California surf culture by the end of the 1950s. Zahn was also at a critical point in surfriding history in terms of surfboard equipment : the same World War II technology that provided fiberglass for his balsa paddleboard also produced polyurethane foam, a product that would replace balsa as the primary surfboard material also by the end of the 1950s. Although Southern California, and Malibu in particular, soon replaced Waikîkî as the epicenter of surf culture, Zahn captures here the general enthusiasm that surfriders still had in the 1940s and 1950s for Waikîkî and “the famed surfs of Oahu.” on o c t o b e r 24, 1953, during the annual Aloha Week Molokaito -Oahu Outrigger Canoe Race, I paddled my surfboard from Point Ilio, 164 Molokai, to Waikiki beach, Oahu. This was accomplished in nine hours and twenty minutes; the course was thirty-six miles with an actual total of some forty miles, after allowing for wind and drift. The Kaiwi channel, popularly known as the Molokai channel, is considered by many to be one of the roughest bodies of water in the world. This is caused by a combination of very deep and shoal waters; abrupt island shorelines causing heavy backwash and crosswells; a prevailing northeast tradewind in the middle of the channel, but continually shifting as one approaches shoreward due to the mountains, valleys, and passes. The result: an ugly, choppy, restless body of water. The reasons for attempting this type of project deserve some explanation . I was born in Santa Monica, California, a locality where many types of aquatic activities flourish, much as they do in Hawaii. When I was eight years old, I fell in love with the sport of surfriding. The thrill I got from my first ride on a little redwood “belly” board I have never forgotten and is little exceeded by riding much larger deepwater swells today. After surfing the California coastline for years, and under the influence of such champions as Tom Blake and Preston Peterson, I developed an ambition to try the famed surfs of Oahu. My first experience was in 1945 enroute to the invasion of Okinawa. Our ship had a one-day stopover at Pearl Harbor, allowing me about four frantic hours at Waikiki. My first impression was all that I’d hoped for; a friendly reception, beautiful water and weather conditions, and a promising surf. Following this “brief encounter,” watching Diamond Head fade into the distance as we sailed southward, I resolved I would come back someday, which I did as a civilian in October, 1947. I moved in with Gene (Tarzan) Smith, then Hawaiian Surfboard Champion and began one of the happiest portions of my aquatic career. Gene had paddled his board between virtually all of the islands. His personal accounts of these expeditions and his training methods intrigued me. The crossing that brought him recognition and interested me the most was that from Molokai to Makapuu Point, Oahu, in the time of eight hours and thirty-seven minutes.10 I began to prepare for the event. As the project became more of a reality—my plan was to better the existing time, go the entire distance to Waikiki beach and evaluate the surfboard as a means of deep water rescue and survival equipment. In April, 1953, I resigned from...

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