Posted on: Saturday, August 24, 2002
Beach Boys share memories of Duke
By Shayna Coleon
Advertiser Staff Writer
Legendary Waikiki Beach Boy Rabbit Kekai's face lit up yesterday as he thought about his first surfing instructor: Duke Paoa Kahanamoku.
The 81-year-old Kekai said Kahanamoku not only taught him how to ride waves, but gave him lessons about life. "Whether it was his friend or a stranger, Duke was always spreading his aloha," Kekai said yesterday at Duke's Canoe Club at Outrigger Waikiki on the Beach.
"That's what he taught me — that you gotta be nice to everyone out there, you have to spread your aloha, and that's why I like to come to these events. I can carry the torch for him now."
Kekai was one of 40 Waikiki Beach Boys who came to reminisce, laugh at one another's jokes and honor Hawai'i's greatest waterman on the eve of the U.S. Postal Service dedication of a stamp in Kahanamoku's honor.
The band of old-time surfers who grew up together in the water were joined by family and friends who reunited at Duke's for the second "Old-timers Beach Boy Celebration." The gathering gave them a chance to talk about what it was like surfing next to Kahanamoku and see the surf master in action.
"You can't explain that feeling when there's a man as big as that, and you're standing right beside him," said Haui Makalena, 70. "I loved it."
Another surfing legend, Buffalo Keaulana, 67, added, "We'd do anything for Duke because he was such a great man, and we'll celebrate Duke's life every year."
The old-timers meet often at Duke's Canoe Club, a "watering hole where we (can) wash ourselves out with the spirits of aloha," said former Beach Boy Gabby Makalena, 70. But the number of Waikiki Beach Boys dwindles each year. He recently came back from a Mainland trip and found out five of his friends, former Waikiki beach boys, had died, he said.
"I'm happy that we can all get together, yet I'm in a remembering mood because I can just feel everybody that are not here, that can't be here," Makalena said, his voice slightly quivering. "It's a real lifestyle that you put your heart into, and these guys become your family."
And, some of the friends don't even see each other until these yearly events, said Dukie Kuahulu, a 65-year-old Beach Boy and surfing instructor in Waikiki.
"To see all the Beach Boys together, it's good," Kuahulu said. "We all grew up on the beach together, so when all of us get together, it's really something."
Reach Shayna Coleon at scoleon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8004.
