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 Duke Kahanamoku
The Father of Modern Surfing
Duke was born in Honolulu, Oahu in 1890. A full-blooded Hawaiian, he was raised in Waikiki on the site of where the Hilton Hawaiian Village Hotel is today. He began surfing in 1900. At that time, 28% of the Hawaiian people lived at Honolulu/ Waikiki because of a shift of population from the Kona Coast of the big island. This brought the heart of the ancient art of surfing to the southern coast of Oahu.
By 1905, surfing had returned to its infancy with a few natives and whites still riding old plank-boards that they happened to have. Most were about 6' long, 20" wide, and 1" thick. At Waikiki only a handful of surfers would be seen in the surf at any one time.
 The techniques of wave riding had regressed significantly since ancient times. Surfing was now done close to the shore on smaller, breaking waves. Most rode straight off instead of angling across the wave. One would simply stand up, not moving, and go straight to the beach. The whole pastime was unelaborated and practiced only by very few.
In 1910, Duke introduced a new surfboard that was 10' long, 23" wide, 3" thick and weighed 70 pounds. This surfboard was made of California redwood. With this surfboard, Duke was able to ride across the larger outside waves and was the first to introduce tandem surfing to Waikiki.
In 1912, after winning an Olympic swimming competition in Europe, he made and rode the first surfboard on the east coast of the United States in Atlantic City. Duke was invited to Australia by the New South Wales Swimming Association in 1914 after breaking his own world record 100-yard swim in Sydney.
He spent Christmas with friends at Freshwater Beach. There he was given a plank of sugar pine wood. Using an adz he shaped a surfboard that was slightly concaved, roughed the nose and tapered a squared-off tail. This surfboard measured 9' long, 2' wide and 3" thick. He surfed this surfboard at Freshwater on December 24, 1914.
From 1915 to the early 30s he helped popularize surfing in Southern California. With his princely personality and his surfing skills, he became the ambassador of modern surfing. He, with the help of a few friends, brought back the ancient sport and spread it worldwide.
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