“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.