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.