SUP | A Little History
Back in the 60's the Beachboys in Waikiki, like Duke and Leroy AhChoy, started standing up on big surfboards, using long paddles to maneuver. At times they would take a camera with them, and take pictures of tourists. It caught on with the other beachboys, as well as the kids growing up in Waikiki (such as myself). The sport later died out with the introduction of shorter, lighter, fiberglass boards, but Leroy was out as long as his age allowed him.
The sport had a renaissance during Retro movement. The Maui guys, Laird Hamilton, and Dave Kalama, and the Makaha Beachboys (Brian Keaulana, Bruce DeSoto & Mel Puu) began doing it again for exercise, training their core & legs for tow-in surfing, and for the pure enjoyment of the sport. Stand-up gives a paddling advantage, allowing them to catch waves early, a great help in the crowds at Makaha and in Waikiki. They also found that when surfing with these boards, the paddle could be used to help carve into turns, improving the maneuverability of the long boards they used.
With its growing popularity at Makaha beach, Brian Keaulana decided to add "Beachboy Surfing" to the world-recognized "Buffalo Big Board Contest" in 2004. The response was overwhelming, with over 49 participants entering the Stand-up division, which included many of Hawaii's elite waterman and past world champion surfers, using Pohaku Beachboy paddles.
The boundaries of the sport were pushed further by my good friend Archie Kalepa in 2004, when he was the first to cross the Molokai Channel solo on a Standup paddleboard during the Quicksilver Molokai to Oahu Paddleboard race. (time: 6hrs; UGG!) His effort inspired us to start "downwind " paddling runs, and to begin holding the Hennessey World Championship Paddleboard race on Oahu (Hawaii Kai to Waikiki , 10miles). It offers a Standup division with Prize money.
A Division of Team Standup Crossing was added to the Quicksilver Molokai to Oahu race in July of 2005; this race brought together a field of 9 paddlers, and was won by the team of Myself and Brian Keaulana, finishing 10th overall in the Paddleboard field with a time of 5:18 mins. 2nd place was the team of Archie Kalepa & Dave Parmenter less then 3 minutes behind.
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