Bill Lui-Kwan was a free spirit surfer. He lived his life uncomplicated and unfettered. He was always willing to lend a helping hand and give you the shirt off his back if you needed it.

He was an ambassador of the Aloha Spirit. He made friends easily. He shared stories, played ukulele and didgeridoo, and never missed a sunset.

Surfing was like breathing to Bill. He lived to surf and rode many waves with great style across the Hawaiian Islands and in Indonesia. He loved meeting new people through surfing.

Bill loved his extended family, especially the gatherings and visiting with the elders. He would bring them their favorite plate lunches or weed their yards, whatever they needed.

Bill is survived by his sister PennyAnne Spangler (Eric/Kiki), his nieces Kainoelani, Wailana, and Kianiwai (Calvin Jones) Spangler.

Mahalo to Jimmy Lucas (camera). To Sarah Fox and Bill Brooks for the use of their music. To Kyle Metcalf (camera) for his video edit.

Paddle Out and Celebration of Life

August 26, 2023 Rocky Point Paddle Out

Mikala Jones – April 3, 1979 to July 9, 2023

Mikala suffered a mortal injury when his surfboard fin cut his femoral artery while surfing in the Mentawai Islands.

The Mikala Jones Oahu Memorial Paddle Out was held at Rocky Point Rights. Somewhere between 500 and 1,000 friends attended. The family held a private memorial in a house on the beach while the rest of Mikala’s friends waited patiently on the sand for the paddle out. Too young and too soon.

This video is only intended to give you an overview sense of the day. Condolences to the family and his close friends.

Thanks to Michael Leonard and Bill Brooks for the use of their music on this video.

Aloha Kyle

We have come out of a Covid hiatus to welcome back the 14th Honolulu Surf Film Festival at the Doris Duke Theatre, Honolulu Museum of Art.

The opening night began with a reception in the Luce Pavilion which included live music by Temple Waves and a buffet dinner by the HoMA Café.

Halona Norton-Westbrook, the museum director welcomed the crowd back to the only surf film festival in the world that runs for a whole month. Doris Duke Theatre manager Sarah Fang and her committee chose the Sonny Miller classic ‘Searching for Tom Curren’, remastered by Derek Hoffman of Nalu TV, as the opening night film. Special guest surfer Tom Curren was on hand to field questions after the movie. Sarah Fang gathered together Martina Durand, Jon Santos, and Crystal Thornburg-Homcy to help select the films for this year’s festival.

Thanks Sarah Fox for the use of her instrumental music on this video.

“Dane’s ashes were added to the ocean at Pipeline second reef. A helicopter arrived from town to drop flowers on the paddlers. A school of dolphins worked its way north through the paddlers some jumping and spinning on the way.”

Roy Isamu Uemura, known to the surfing world as ‘China’ by those his senior and as ‘Uncle China’ by those younger, passed away on January 6, 2023. He lived life fully finding his own way as a surfer, professional surfer, and contest originator by starting two surfing contests, the Wahine Surfing Classic and the Longboard Surfing Classic. He was inducted into the Duke Kahanamoku Foundation’s Hawaii Waterman Hall of Fame.