Buddy Kaohi & Lahaina Surf Designs ???

The sad part is, todays youth in general, has no interest is learning or knowing the history and lore of our sport / lifestyle.

Oral tradition traveled on the double hulled voyaging canoes to the Hawaiian Islands, bringing with it the roots of surfing and the stories passed on from generation to generation.

So  many of these larger than life real men and women have already passed on and the stories and impact on surfing are fading away everyday.

In every society, they story tellers were regarded highly, the unwritten history books of that people, getting these little snippets recorded like this preserves them for all of eternity

+1. Thanks PPK.

[quote="$1"]

These historical pieces get lost in the day to day jabber that is the General Discussion site - they deserve their own forum - they are sign posts that cant be found elsewhere.

No offence to the arseholes who rewrite history to suit their own needs, or really have no idea - Kahapea's piece is so rooted in the times, I can almost feel the day!

One post from Peter and I am transported.

MF

[/quote]

Thank you, Gents..your too kind.

Throughout the years that I've lived in assorted places, and had the pleasure of surfing and hanging with many, it's always a sense of loss when you loose a friend or a guy you thought was pretty neat to hang with.

Some come into your life and then go on, and 35-45 years later they pop back into your life again. It seems as I grow older, this has begun to happen more, maybe, folks reaching out one last time to rekindle the fires that once raged in our opu's. (bellys) Certainly, with the new era of Droids, Facebook, E-mail's and such, it opens our vulnerability up to such people seeking a " howzit brah. How you been It's been a long time, hasn't it"?

I found out about Buddyboy through a friend in such a manner as stated above. E-mail. It just said they had found his body in a parkinglot, in a car, dead, from an overdose. I'm bummed out. Buddyboy was like Cassius Clay, smooth, calculated and would sting like a bee, when he would noseride. He just had style, grace in his surfing. It was just the trend for that period.

And now, I answer another E-mail and another friend has passed, another surfer friend that I grew up with in the same time period. Same time as Buddyboy Kaohi. We're all getting up there in age now. It's just fact and you certainly become aware of your mortality a bit more.

Zoo-ba-dee Lau, or superD as he was known in his small kid days name, until it was somehow changed due to our sense of misconstruing our words here in Hawaii with our own pidgin english, but Zoo-ba-dee eventually became his given name. I never knew his first name. Such were nicknames for the day. Another friend lost, not in the manner of saying aloha to yourself in a lil strip mall parking lot, but with your daughters around you and lots of love & aloha.

Paddleouts, are becoming more frequent for me. It's just fact. It's just how it is.

Aloha, PPK

MF.. your a bloody Champ, My friend. A Man could ask for no finer mate, than you! Cheers!!

 

PPK

it might not make any sense to you now

but you should really pen a book

even if you just took all the snippets of your postings here and at Surfer Mag's Forum and put it togethor as a blog

it would be worth it to all the generations to come

 

i know its our culture to pass on the mana'o verbally

that why we are known to wala-au(sp?) too much especially when we're sauced

but the experiences you've had really can mean allot more to those who never had those opportunities.

the tales you've woven in the years I've watched here and over on the dark side

truly tell the tale of "The Life" as only one whose been there can witness.

 

Really..

do a book

it just takes the time to jot it down

you can even self publish if needed.

Sadly Jim Phillips is right.  Todays Surf generation approaches Surfing the way they would toss around a footballl on the weekend.  Get a little sweaty, take a shower and forget about it.  But a few peaople are still around who care about the Heritage.  So Peter if you do a book; let me be the first to place an order.

PPK, I have some bad news. Jimmy (that was his given name) “Zootabee” Lau passed away about a week ago. The big “C” & diabetes. I just met Zub a few years back and shared some great sessions with him before he became ill. He just thought he was “tired” and did not go to the docs. I came to learn that he was a pretty well known shaper in Town during the early '70s. Diff broke him in out on the North Shore. Zub was instrumental in the design & development of the “Stinger”. He told me Buttons & Lidell rode his boards until they came to him one day and said Ben Aipa wanted to make their board and asked if it was OK with Zub. Of course he said fine because as he explained it to me, Ben was a better conduit for the kids to go further in surfing because Jimmy was just shaping part time. He was a part of the shaper’s tree that I never knew about because I was on Maui at that time. Zub and I had many shared acquaintances and experiences and I loved talking story with him. He had pure, real aloha. RIP Zub.

 As far as BuddyBoy goes, well, at one point in time he was the best surfer out at Honolua. He used to pick me up hitching to work from one side of the island to the other. He was always holding da kine Brewers! He showed me the first board I ever saw with 3 fins (single with side bites) and the 1st diamond tail I ever saw. One of the gnarlyist fights I ever saw was him and Gene Harris going at it, up and down the trail at the Bay. Like Errol Flynn on a staircase in an old pirate movie. LSD surfboards, yeah, the money backing that was from a very colorful source. The board pictured? Something’s not right on the vintage and BuddyBoys date of death. RIP BB. 

    Howzit Peter, Are you talking about Zoob,I just heard about him passing away today from a friend of mine and Mike Edwards who I have been in touch with about Mike dying the other day. I guess Zoob went to the doctor and found out he had cancer of the pancreas and died 4 days later. I didn't know he had diabetes also and I bought his yellow VW bus from him about 5 years ago. I am going to throw Zoobs name in the hat with Mike and Gordon Kenny which mkes 3 as in things happen in 3's, that way I am hoping that is it for this year. Zoob was a great guy and had been helping Gordon's sister Marylou Drummy and living in San Clemente. I remember some body telling me about there will be a time when we start crossing off names in our phone books and it seems like that has been happening lately. I guess I was lucky when I had the premonition to go have that lump on my neck checked out and beat the Big C. Mike's family are coming over next week to wrap things up and if I can get my business taken care of I am going to try and get over there. I have been in touch with Mike's family and providing them with info on Mike they didn't know about. started checking the Garden Island paper for any news but can't find anything yet. You would think it would be front page news. Take care my friend and tell Deb Aloha from me.Aloha.Kokua AKA Wildog

    Howzit pointdog, Yes Zoob was a great guy and I knew him well from Kauai and also had many sessions at Hanalei with him. Like I said in my reply to Peter I just heard about Zoob today and it is such a shame when our friends leave this earth and go on to a higher place. I also am a diabetic and was diagnosed with cancer of my tonsils in Jan 09 but they were able to cut it out and then I did the radiation thing that was worse than the surgery but I am still alive. At least I have lived ong enough to get my first SS check in about 2 weeks. I lived in Hi for over 40 years and over 37 on Kauai and am a good friend of Peter's but due to a family problem I just had to move back to the mainland and am in Az.  I am just hoping that things will straighten out and I can move back to kauai for the rest of my life, but if it doesn't happen I am OK and it's nice to not pay rent for the first time in 45 years. Aloha,Kokua