Hawaii Paipo Designs

The HPD Paipo XL was born on the North Shore beaches of Oahu during the early surfing days of the 1960s. And ever since, riders from around the world have sought us out looking for the fastest bodyboard on the planet.
HPD paipos are a modern version of the ancient Hawaiian pai po (or pae po’o) surfboard. Ancient pai pos were smaller than their cousin, the Alaia. Paipos were usually carved from Koa or U’lu wood, and did not feature a skeg. This is how we made our first boards back in the day.

Mark Cunningham on Pipeline, Bodysurfing, and His Heaviest Experiences As a North Shore Lifeguard

"Mark Cunningham, aka "The Human Fish," is hailed as one of the greatest bodysurfers of all time. He grew up in Hawaii, became a lifeguard in the mid-’70s, and for nearly 30 years guarded primarily at Ehukai Beach Park, with a view straight into Pipeline’s barrel. Through the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, Cunningham won nearly every bodysurfing event he entered. But, as Cunningham would be the first to tell you, bodysurfing is not about winning or losing."

Larry ‘Aki’ Akiyama Celebration of Life Paddle Out

LARRY ‘AKI’ AKIYAMA Passed away peacefully at home on April 15, 2024 surrounded by his family and friends. He was 78 years old. He is survived by his son Kawika, grandson Kaimana, brother Kerry and sisters Janet and Irene.

Aki, as he was known on the beach, like former beach boy Gilbert Hisatake, was one of the last old time beach boys who grew up under the apprenticeship system playing ukulele, learning to teach surfing, of steering canoe, and captaining catamarans through the surf in Waikiki. Larry Aki Akiyama always let it be known that giving the tourist a good experience at Waikiki was the main goal of every beach boy.

He lamented as times turned the beach boy system into a commercial business factory, so he moved himself down to Kaimana Beach where he became the retired and elder beach boy protecting the tourists, the monk seals, and spreading his aloha.

Ashley Shock knew his power and produced a twenty-four minute video interview of Aki on Youtube titled “Times have Changed” Waikiki Beachboy, “Aki” talks about his life on the beach & Aloha Spirit.

His impact on every one he met was honest and fair. He will be missed.

Thank you to Bill Brooks for the use of his instrumental music on this video.

Aloha Kyle

The Shape of Things: The Dick Brewer Story at the 15th Annual Honolulu Surf Film Festival

Bob Campi launched the world premiere of his biopic film The Shape of Things: The Dick Brewer Story at the 15th Annual Honolulu Surf Film Festival before a crowd of Brewer’s friends, colleagues, and admirers.

Campi told this story through an interview format using a cast who included Laird Hamilton, Kai Lenny, Garrett McNamara, Derrick Doerner, Jock Sutherland, Jericho Poppler, Allen Sarlow, Steve Morgan, Jack Reeves, Anna Trent Moore, and others.

An original soundtrack performed by members of the surf community enhanced the quality of the film.

I’d like to thank director and CEO Halona Norton-Westbrook at the Honolulu Museum of Art and Sarah Fang in the Doris Duke Theatre for the many years of support the museum has provided to the surf community through its annual Honolulu Surf Film Festival. This thanks also includes the local sponsors who contribute to the success of the festival.

One of my favorite moments at the Honolulu Surf Film Festival years ago was the interaction between Australia’s Bob McTavish and Dick Brewer as both extremely confident men lay claim to the birth of the shortboard.

Thank you to the Honolulu Museum of Art allowing the filming of this post film panel discussion.

Please enjoy this post film discussion that followed the opening night screening.

Thank you to Sarah Fox for the use of her music on this video.

Aloha Kyle

Surfer Kimo Hollinger Memorial Paddle Out


Punahou 1958 graduate Kimo Hollinger joined his final surf spot at Aweoweo Beach Waialua where he could see his favorite Mt. Kaala from the waves.
Aloha Kyle

This is the memorial paddle out video for surfer Henry James ‘Kimo’ Hollinger. The paddle out took place at Aweoweo Beach Park, Waialua on Oahu.

Kimo and I saw the heroics and the foolishness of the world through the same lens. We applied common sense and fun to every activity. Kimo could cross between local kine pidgin English and Standard English as it suited his need to hustle mainland caucasian girls. Kimo absorbed his education with a special talent for writing stories about surfing.

Kimo’s daughters Jenna Hollinger and Holly Craft organized a loving get-together and paddle out for their father. They are thankful to all of Kimo’s friends, the family friends, and the wonderful support the family received from both the Honolulu Fire Department and the Honolulu Ocean Safety Department for supporting their endeavor. Aunty Vicky’s son David/Kawika emceed for the family, played ukulele, and sang with his mother. The whole Hollinger ‘ohana should be congratulated.

Special thanks to Bill Brooks for the use of his music on this video and to Tom McClain for his still photos and water video.

Three John Kelly Hydroplane Surfboards

We are honored to present another BRILLIANT video clip from Kyle Metcalf

I heard through the grapevine that three surfboard collectors were meeting at Barry Morrison's Inter-Island Surf Shop in Kapahulu. Each would be showing his John Kelly Hydroplane surfboard. Here is the video of that event.
Aloha Kyle

Kyle Metcalf's YouTube Introduction to this Video Clip:

Born in San Francisco but raised on Black Point in Honolulu after his parents moved to Oahu, John Kelly Jr. bore the mind of his two artist parents, John Kelly Sr. and his wife Katharine. John and his parents were good friends with the Kahanamoku family.
Unsatisfied with how the plank surfboards would not hold into the wall of a wave, by 1937 he designed the Hot Curl surfboard, a board that modified the squared plank design of surfboards of that time by rounding the tail section of the plank. A Kelly finless redwood hot curl board sold for more than $40,000 in one of Randy Rarick’s Surf Auctions.
From redwood to balsa, from finless to added skegs, surfboard design flourished through the 1950s. By 1963 in a quest to take more control over the biggest waves at Makaha and Sunset Beach, Kelly designed and patented a split hull design surfboard which he called the HYDROPLANE. I believe his intention was to give the board the speed to paddle into big waves while giving the same board better turning control once on the wave.
John was one of those early surfers featured in Bud Browne’s early surf films like Gun Ho.
John Kelly authored a 304 page book, 'Surf and Sea', which Matt Warshaw cites as the most comprehensive book on the aspects of surfing ever written up to that time.
A Marine Corps Medalist for diving exploits after WWII, his history is peppered with the social politics of the early 1960s as a communist party member with Pete Seeger, as a cofounder in Hawaii of Save Our Surf (after the loss of Garbage Hole surf break at the entrance to Ala Moana Harbor), and as a graduate of Julliard School of Music. He advocated Hawaiian Sovereignty (John’s wife Marion was Hawaiian) through the 1980s and tirelessly advocated for environmental awareness.
I received word that three surfboard collectors would be getting together at Inter-Island Surf Shop in Kapahulu to compare their three Kelly Hydroplane boards.
Greg Lui-Kwan, Barry Morrison, and Darren Park were surprised to compare the differences in their boards and to see three of the more famous surfboards in surfing history at the same location sixty years after the original board was designed and patented.
Thanks to Michael Leonard for the use of his music on this video.

Mark Martinson Pupukea Paddle Out

The island was flooding with landslides, but a brief window of weather clarity opened at Pupukea for the Mark Martinson Paddle Out. I would have liked brighter light for the camera.

I hope you recognize your friends. I hope you will get a solid flavor of the day if you wish you could have been there.

Aloha Kyle
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