Duke Kahanamoku (1890-1968)

This LEGENDARY SURFERS chapter on “the Father of Modern Surfing,” Duke Paoa Kahanamoku, has been one of my most-popular over the course of the past 15 years. It contains all of Duke's life relative and specific to surfing, in addition to his other contributions -- especially as an Olympic swimmer. But, the focus is on the details of Duke's life as a surfer.

This biography of Duke was updated and expanded in 1999 and and then again in 2005. At one time, it was the most detailed account of Duke from a surfer's perspective. Although there are now several very good books on Duke, this ebook chapter remains the most inexpensive treatment of the subject of Duke as a surfer.

Word count: 31,007; total pages: 64 (1.46 MB), including images and 8 pages of footnotes.

To order for just $2.95, please click on a Pay Pal icon:

All order fulfillments are done manually, so please be patient in the case there may be a delay. Should you have any problems with your order, please comment at the bottom of this posting or reply to my email.

Aloha and Thank You for Your Interest in My Writings. I hope you enjoy Duke's story, and help spread the true Aloha Spirit that Duke, himself, helped foster throughout the world.


Malcolm Gault-Williams

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Contents of What You Will Receive:

  Descendant of the Ali`i
  Barefoot Freedom
  Under the Hau Tree
  Bigger Boards for Bigger Surf
  "Riding the Surfboard," Mid-Pacific magazine, February 1911
  Freestyle Records Broken, August 11, 1911
  The Kahanamoku Kick Overseas, 1912
  The 1912 Olympics, Stockholm, Sweden
  1st Surfing on the East Coast, 1912
  More Than A Beach Boy
  Hawai`i's Ambassador
  Duke Surfs Freshwater, December 24, 1914
  Duke As Catalyst To Australian Surfing
  World War I
  Duke & Dad's Half Mile Ride of 1917
  Olympic Gold and Silver, 1920
  Corona del Mar Save, June 14, 1925
  The Father of Modern Surfing
  Duke's 16-foot olo design
  Rabbit Kekai
  New Sheriff in Town
  Nadine (Nadjesda) Alexander Kahanamoku (1905-1997)
  World War II and After
  Physical & Financial Health, 1955-61
  Kimo McVay
  Twilight Years, 1962-68
  Duke Kahanamoku Surf Team
  The Passing, January 22, 1968
  Duke Swims Away

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"Out of the water I am nothing" - Duke

"Duke attained his greatest surfing satisfactions and some of his greatest achievements as a rider after his 40th year." - Tom Blake

"Why not honor a living monument?" - Arthur Godfrey

"My boys and I, we showed 'em how to go surfing." - Duke, speaking about the Mainland Surfari of the Duke Surf Team

"Duke was Duke. His values came from the sea. He walked through a Western world, but he was always essentially Hawaiian. And because of the simplicity and purity of that value system, money was never that important to him." - Kenneth Brown

"Duke was not in the business of being a beachboy. But in the larger sense of the word - of a man who lived and loved the ocean lifestyle - Duke was, as far as I'm concerned, the ultimate beachboy." - Fred Hemmings

"He had an inner tranquillity. It was as if he knew something we didn't know. He had a tremendous amount of simple integrity. Unassailable in integrity. You rarely meet people who don't have some persona they assume to cope with things. But Duke was completely transparent. No phoniness. People could say to you that Duke was simple - the bugga must be dumb! No way. That's an easy way of explaining that. Duke was totally without guile. He knew a lot of things. He just knew 'em." - Kenneth Brown