Page 9 - MidWeek Central - April 6, 2022

Aloha surfers and beachgoers,
Fun northwest and south swells have popped up recently, which is great news, not just for surf- ing but also for spreading the crowds out.
ing) and it is a do not miss. Directed by Isaac Halasima — with music by Tim Jones, and cinematography by Car- ter Fawcett — this show has quite the cast starring Kelly Slater, Jack Johnson, Laird Hamilton, Kai Lenny, Ca- rissa Moore, Kelia Moniz and Brian Keaulana. These names alone speak volumes.
Our Hawaiian icon was the big kahuna of watermen, and at 6-foot, 1-inch, and 190 pounds of pure athleti- cism, you can clearly picture it. His smile was disarming.
boxer Jack Johnson.
In far more ways than
guess what? Three-time world champ and four-time Rip Curl Pro Bells winner Mick Fanning is coming out of the retirement that he entered in 2018 to surf it.
Indeed, we saw record packs of people surfing for sanity during COVID and it seems the high volume is here to stay. Blame high quality “liquid therapy.”
The Duke Kahanamoku documentary, titled Waterman, debuted at Consolidated Theatres April 1. PHOTO COURTESY SIDEWINDER FILMS
documentary of Hawai‘i’s five-time Olympic medalist, ambassador of aloha and fa- ther of modern-day surfing.
17–19 MAY 2022 | HONOLULU, HI
“I think Duke shared surf- ing with the world because it was the greatest gift that he had received in his life,” shares big-wave legend and waterman Laird Hamilton.
An amazing Duke Kah- anamoku documentary (nar- rated by Jason Momoa) titled Waterman hit Consolidated Theatres April 1 (no fool-
There’s more to write about Duke Paoa Kah- anamoku — the most in- fluential surfer of all time — than could ever do him justice in my short column. Just know that you will be inspired and enriched by this
It’s more amazing still to realize that Kahanamoku was also a racial pioneer. We often overlook this struggle but he had to battle and com- pete in this arena, too. In do- ing so, he broke color lines like runner Jesse Owens and
See you at the movies! I’m buying (the popcorn).
BY GARY KEWLEY
Duke Kahanamoku Documentary Honors Waterman
This man owned the world stage by profoundly influ- encing two sports — swim- ming and surfing — with grace and aloha.
“To us, he’s the king of surfing,” says second great- est of all time Kelly Slater.
This will be fun seeing him take names. Fanning still rips at 41 and could easily disrupt some title campaigns. He knows this lineup better than 99% of the tour and his style is per- fectly suited. I’ m going out with a quarter final finish — at worst!
APRIL 6, 2022 9
one, Kahanamoku literally changed the world.
In other news, The World Tour kicks off in Austra- lia April 10 at Bells Beach (event No. 5 out of 11), and
GQ, droppin in 4 U!
gary@surfnewsnetwork.com
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