Posted on: Monday, August 2, 2004
LEADERSHIP CORNER
Producer wants to expand popular diving show
Interviewed by Catherine E. Toth
Advertiser Staff Writer
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Name: Kyle K. Nakamoto Age: 38 Title: President/executive producer Organization: Red Sea Ocean Adventures/"Hawai'i Skin Diver" TV show on OC16 High school: Castle High School College: Bachelor of Arts degree in architecture from the University of Hawai'i-Manoa
Breakthrough job: Nakamoto considers that having started Red Sea Ocean Adventures two years ago was the first step toward his career goal of promoting Hawai'i free diving. His company plans and arranges ocean-adventure trips, focused mostly on surfing and diving, to exotic locations around the world, including Indonesia, Samoa, Tahiti, Fiji, Australia, Burma and the Marshall Islands.
Little-known fact: "My life is an open book," he said. "What you see is what you get."
Major challenge: His biggest challenge is maintaining a balanced lifestyle and having enough time to work and spend time with family and friends. "There are a lot of sacrifices we make to do the best job that we can," Nakamoto said. "But a balanced life is the key to success."
• • • Q. How did you go from working as an architect for 13 years to running an ocean-adventure travel company that organizes surf and diving trips around the world?
A. I was organizing trips and taking friends along, and it just grew from there. For the past 15 years, I've been traveling a lot and making contacts. I would find places that I thought people would want to go. ... It was naturally where I like to travel, so I put two and two together.
Q. Has being an architect helped your business in any way?
A. Being organized is the common thread that runs through architecture and what we do at Red Sea Ocean Adventures. That's what we do when we organize trips. It's like putting a building together, making all the pieces fit.
Q. How did you get involved with the TV show?
A. I've been filming (free diving) for about five years. I was actually airing shows on 'Olelo for about three years ... but I wanted to take it to the next level.
Q. "Hawai'i Skin Diver" debuted on June 4. Now the show, a monthly episode, airs nine times a week on OC16. What kind of feedback have you gotten so far?
A. It's been overwhelming. We've gotten good feedback from both the dive community and the general public. Mike Buck (host of an afternoon radio program on KHVH) has extended to us an open invitation each month where we talk about the upcoming show and other dive-related topics.
Q. Your show has the same name as a local dive magazine. Any connection?
A. Sterling Kaya and Cliff Cheng of Hawai'i Skin Diver Magazine have a symbiotic relationship to support the show. We promote each other, but our main goal is to promote the sport of free diving and spearfishing. I feel that the way the sport of surfing has recently exploded, diving is on the verge of that. Free diving and spearfishing are sports in themselves. In Hawai'i it's a big thing. It puts food on the tables of a lot of families. And the competitive side (of the sport) has really taken off.
Q. Will the unexpected death of free diving national champion Gene Higa, who may have died from shallow-water blackout on July 24, affect the sport?
A. It's been tough for the whole community. Gene has left a legacy for the dive community. You ask anyone about him and they'll say he was a real super-nice guy. ... Personally, I feel like there will be changes (because) this happened to a personal friend. Like anything else, it only really affects you personally when it hits home. With Gene, people knew him. They're going to start diving differently, and there'll be definite changes in the way people compete.
Q. Will you be doing anything about Higa in your next TV show?
A. Prior to filming the 2004 U.S. National Spearfishing Championships on the North Shore, we had been following the team every weekend leading up to the competition. We're going to do a future episode that will include a special on shallow-water blackout, with tips on what happens and what not to do.
Q. Is ocean awareness also a part of the mission of your show?
A. Awareness is very important. The TV show can be a tool to educate people, a vehicle to teach the next generation of divers safety and conservation. That's very important to us. The show can educate and inform, as well as entertain.
Q. What's your goal for the show?
A. To move toward airing two shows per month. ... But to do a dive show is more difficult than doing a surfing show. You can sit out there and you know somebody will catch a wave. But with diving, some guys go down 100 feet and there's no one else around. We're limited in our footage. ... Right now we're only airing my stuff. But I'm hoping divers at the highest level will contribute quality footage.
Q. You've been surfing for 22 years and diving for 10. How important is it to you that you build a career around something you're passionate about?
A. Well, that's the idea. You have to find what it is you really enjoy doing and make it your career. You call it work, but you're getting paid to do something you love.
