Shark Country

General Discussion
1

I was going through old tapes, and found some video of Shark Country on a nice small day. The video was shot sometime in 1979 right in front of our beach houses.

On a good day when it’s big this part of the wave would be way inside from the main take off spot, and the ride would be about twice as long.

With the changes to the reef over the years, the wave isn’t as long as it used to be. There’s a lot more sections you have to get around.

One of the locals in this short clip is Debbie Bowers, who later went on to win the Marui Pipe Masters in 1982. Most of the local goofy footers rode pipe a lot in the late 70’s early 80s.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3233746966784752467

2

i already gave your old time movie to chipfish as an early xmas present see my earlier post.

he seems to like stuff like that.

you’re obviously not following mike’s “before you post” directions.

what was that anyway

super 8, 16 or beta cam?

we sure had funny styles back then riding those single fins (still do i guess)

who’s the guy mark sprayed

30 years later who da thunk…

3

The guy on the red board was workin’ it… all the warm looking water gives me some serious jones here at the start of winter… Thanks again for sharin’

4

The guy on the red board was my brother’s classmate at Kamehameha and he was one of my best friends. He used to take me up to the country all the time during the mid seventies after my brother left for college. The biggest waves I ever surfed were with Mark Kahalekulu. We scored so many unbelieveably great days at Puaena, Alii, Marijuanas, Leftovers, Aligator Rock, Laniakea and Chuns with very small crowds. We mainly surfed on the Haleiwa side of the bay, but occasionally at small Sunset or the spots between Sunset and Pipe.

That red board is a Gerry Lopez Pipeline board about 7’10". Probably be worth thousands of dollars today, but I don’t think it survived. Most of these guys rode boards that were about 8 feet long, all round pin semi guns. That’s back when we only had one board, so it had to be able to handle good sized country surf.

This video shows the second or third generation of Ewa Beach locals. All of us are now in our late 40’s or early 50’s. There was a another bunch of guys about 5 years older that dominated the spot in the late 60’s and early 70’s, and there are a bunch our peers that could tear it up. One of them is Kekoa Bacalso’s dad Tony. The Bacalsos lived about 200 yards from the beach and all of them surfed well.

The 70’s were a great time to be a surfer. I bet the 60’s were even better, but in the 70’s we had the semi guns.

5

just close your eyes and listen to the audio for a while…

6

One of the really stylish and hot guys from the early sixties was Guy Kamaka, surfed Hau Bush and shark country mostly, know of him ?

7

Hi Jim, I don’t remember Guy Kamaka. That would be before my time.

There have been a lot of guys that started surfing at Haubush. The care taker of the Ewa Plantation park, Coreno was incredible. A lot of guys from Ewa Town and Waipahu who surfed there in the 60’s were really good. That was back when the boards were all classic longboards. I met Barry Morrison this weekend surfing at Diamond Head. He is the current owner of Inter-island Surfboards, and another former Ewa Beach resident. He might know Guy, since he was around in the early to late 60s. We scored some really great waves on Friday, overhead and breaking all the way to the inside. He commented that it was like Shark Country but going right, or Officer’s Beach when it’s good.

Haubush had those short sections. You could get a little cover up then maybe a hard cutback then the wave would close out. I remember when there would be like 10 guys riding the same wave out there all in there own little section before the whole thing would close out.

We were in Germany from '61 through '64 then in Texas through '65. Dad got out of the military and we returned to Ewa then. In '66 Dad started taking care of the house that sits directly in front of Shark Country, it was redish brown. Dad grew up on the beach at Nanakuli where the city park is today. He prefered taking us to Nanakuli to body surf. After he started looking after the beach house, we spent every weekend daytime there, then drive about a mile to our house to sleep and back the next day.

Sometime while we were away Ted Farm bought the lease and house that was in between my dads 2 uncle’s houses. I think everyone remembers the Farms and the green house, but before that the house was owned by Jackie Roxburg. Jacky was the caretaker of Moanalua Gardens. He and my dad’s uncle worked for old man Damon (Damon Estate). Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop gave the Damons the Ahupuaa of Moanalua. In the late 60’s uncle Ted rented out his house, but he missed the weekends at the beach so he bought an old bus and converted it to his weekend home. After he stopped renting the house we built a big lanai fronting the bus and that stayed there until Haseko bought the land and kicked us out. Uncle Ted made a deal to be the caretaker of the area, and got to stay there until he passed away.

There have been a bunch of names of really good older surfers that lived in Ewa Beach, the Gardner brothers, Chris, Steve and ?? the younger one. They are all dead now. Dick Delong, Chris Green, lived there and made boards for us kids. The Sunn sisters Rell and Anela, used to come and surf Shark Country when it was really good. Randy Rarick has been there on a good day. Kimo Farm knew a lot of great surfers and they would come over and park at the Farm’s house. Lots of guys with Punahou connections would come over to surf. Sadly, Kimo is also dead. He was the only guy I know who rode his longboard all the way through from the 60’s on. He had unreal brewer short boards, but always had a really good single fin longboard. Kimo was very influential to me. Rode kind like Jock Sutherland, could switch, but was a regular while Jock was a goofy. Several of us younger guys learned to switch foot from their influence.

Until later… Aloha, Harry

8

Looks like you guys had a great time !

Thanks for sharing that video its really stoking me out, like many, I am now in freezing winter conditions…

Any chance of a full length feature!!!

Seems like you guys were “there yesterday” as it were, sure would be cool to hear all the old stories…

9

If Chris Green is the same Chris that was the glosser at Inter-Island, he was one of the very first surfboard craftsmen that I got a glimpse of how he did his job.

I would take my shapes that I did not glass myself to Inter-Island and have them done to a hotcoat, by Joe Kitchens for $35.oo.

I went to pick up one I had shaped for Cleanlines and Chris went to retrieve it from the back, he said “oh, you mean the bumpy one”, I protested that it was really nice, shows how far I had to go, but persistance and criticism paid off in spades in the end.

10

As crappy as everyone makes the surf to be there (although some of us know better), it sure produced a long list of pros and northshore big wave legends as well as famous board designers and specialists including Jim and Roger who cut their teeth surfing Barbers Point’s Officer Beach in its prime.

There’s something said about understanding how to maximize one’s personal and equipment performance in small gutless surf before migrating to the bigger more powerful stuff. Alot harder to downshift from power moves than it is to upshift into them.

nowadays its just memories we have left.

like watching and hooting from the shoulder as Alan Pantaleon performed his famous “alan wrench” deep in a standup winter west wrap barrel at Officer Beach in the early 70’s or watching a TV clip on H30 in the 90’s of isaac kaneshiro beating slater in a heat in australia to the cheers of all the “famous” hawaiian pros.

Classic stuff

11

You know what stokes me up about your note?

“rode boards that were about 8 feet long, all round pin semi guns. ”

The first great board I bought was a used 8 foot Lightening Bolt shaped by Bill B… I bought it in Seaside the year Cleanline Surfshop opened. Which was 1980 I believe… I loved that board - good in most everything for me. Explains why I still love a good 8 footer… Ha!

12
Quote:

I went to pick up one I had shaped for Cleanlines and Chris went to retrieve it from the back, he said “oh, you mean the bumpy one”

It’s hard for me to imagine a ‘‘bumpy’’ shape from you, Jim. I always assumed you just came out of the womb and started mowing

perfect ones. Don’t blow up my mental images like that!

BTW to oneula and sharkcountry - what a cool vid! There’s nothing like re-living your childhood for all us over-50 types. Mahalo for the stoke!

13

The guys that were a little older than us would only want boards from BK. Surfline and Lightning Bolt were the shops that he made boards for. Buddy Dumphy was another popular shaper as was Gerry Lopez. Lopez had a really nice town shape.

My cousin Brian Hamilton made boards for Lightning Bolt. He grew up on a boat at the Ala Wai harbor and was probably the best surfer at Bowls during his surfing years. He was good friends with Reno and Gerry once upon a time. He told me that he had a falling out with Gerry, and after that he dropped out of the pro surfing scene. He used to play music down by bowls with his friend Derek. They went on the be part of a group known as Hawaii.

I asked Brian to make me a board back around '73. That board was way ahead of its time. It had a very thin nose compared to the thick beaks that everyone else had, and the wide point was lower than the teardrops we were used to. It also had a wide squared off tail. I almost cried when he finally gave me the board because it looked so wierd. Not at all like the lightning bolts of the day that I was hoping for. But once I got it in the water and started to get used to it, I found it to be a really good board. He said you don’t need all that foam in the nose. Just keep the foam under your body and feet.

One day a bunch of us were going out to Makaha and we were driving a little too fast. The straps holding my board and Mark K’s beautiful orange Lopez pipeline gun flew off the top. Both boards were badly damaged, but we fixed them and kept on riding them. It was with that lopez gun that I learned how to glass from Brian Higa, another one my my brother’s classmates. He also worked for bolt, and was a great surfer.

I have more videos that I need to convert to digital movies, I’ll post them when I have the time.

Aloha to all, Harry

14

I have a reel of 8mm that Cleanlines and his dad shot, the Pipeline segment got fried, frame by frame, stopping the projector.

The Ala Mo’ part is still there, I just don’t remember falling off so much.

3 years ago, my pal Rob, my 10 year old son Ian and I went to Hau Bush after a trip to Yoke’s, had to see it again. It was a typical onshore, 2-3 with occasional bigger sets, I started to put on my leash and stopped in my tracks.

“Isn’t this where you swam nearly a half mile at a time for your mistakes”, I said to myself, I left that leash in the car.

I never had to swim more than 30 feet for my board that day and if it did go to the beach, so be it.

15

What a great video.

My wife loved the short clip of Debbie. They used to compete in lifeguard competitions together. Debbie was -probably still is -a terrific athlete. Described to me by another competitior as the best woman paddler ever.

She and her husband Dave were very kind to us in a very tough time after our first child died. Used to send Christmas cards but have lost touch over the years. Their boy must be big by now. If you are in touch with her please PM me.

16

Debbie joined the fire dept a while ago, and I haven’t seen her since then. She used to work out of the Waialua Fire Station, and live in Mokuleia or Waialua. I think she was the 3rd or 4th wahine to join the dept. She was a very good paddler, when I lived at Ala Moana, she used to practice in the channel at the park.

17

since someone wants to pull down his pants and exposed himself in public…

our first generation building the shark country beach houses in the 1930’s

while the second generation played in the shorebreak with his kamehameha schools classmates near our homestead land in nanakuli

only later for the following generation to enjoy the labors of their fore fathers (its all gone now bull dozed and a local dumping ground for decades)

early 70’s groms one dextra popout and two home made craft (1970-1971?)

My uncle Bill made the green board for his son mathew while Isaac Tanaka who lived across the beach house dirt road made that little blue hot dogger. Isaac was way ahead of his time as a shaper. Ultralight high performance craft (that didn’t last too long). His low centered backside surfing at Sharkcountry was an inspiration to us groms. Issac was our version of Reno and Butch Perriera was our version of BK while Dickie Delong was our version of Brewer.

this is what we did and ate every weekend enjoying the bounties of our front yard to feed all the families.

I can’t eat crab anymore

20 -30 pounds Awa’s to poke.

We learned fish wrestling as an art for holding your breath underwater in a tustle was good training for wipe outs

we were privilaged to have had a childhood many others could only dream of

probably why we view surfing and life the way we do

BTW none of these families who lived here were directly related but were as more of an ohana sharing in these adventures as we were with our real families…

such is this surfing tribe here on swaylocks I continue to pray and hope for…

18

follow-up on the so called red board “ripper”

my classmate owned a VW bus that we’d all haul into in the middle of the night and drive up kunia road to country(called northshore now)

usual it was Lani’s and we’d park on the side of the rode and sleep until just before predwn and be the first ones out paddling out in the dark. We did this every break we surfed (way before the movie Jaws came out) afterwards we’d bathe in the fresh water pools at chuns and dry off laying on the black rocks next to the tide pools before getting some shave ice on the long trek back home.

Anyway once after I had already left for mainland schooling this friend paddled out on another bolt minigun in the dark right onto what quickly became 10-15 foot close out laniakea. After sitting about 1/2 mile out scared shitless my friend started waving for help and friends on the beach called the fire department. Well when the truck showed up and when Fire Chief Gora found out it was one of his son’s Guy Gora’s stupid classmates from Kamehameha he refused to call the rescue helicopter and just waited there making my friend find his way in on his own as punishment for his stupidity. While trying to come in he snapped his favorite board in half and ended getting swept in on half a board to severe scolding from the fire chief for being a “stupid hawaiian”. I glad I wasn’t there paddling out with him that morning.

It was years later that Chief Gora’s younger son a underground northshore charger Dan Gora just dissapeared in the surf after a go out. I don’t think they ever found his body… I think Fire Chief Gora retired a little while later…

We were lucky to have those uncrowded early morning go outs back then. Just trying to drive up to the northshore and get to the beaches once you’re there is way too frustrating to make it worth it any more for guys like us who still hang on to those memories too tight…

19

That second photo shows the big keawe tree I used for lining up my take off when it was big. I wonder who’s sitting on the roof. Dad? uncle Stanley?

The top photo shows Grampa or uncle Tommy in the front, Jackie R. and uncle Sonny behind. Grampa could do anything with wood. We have a bunch of furniture he made. He built his own boats, and even made a violin.

I’m starting to look like dad. I really miss him.

20

What species of fish is that in your pics?

Except for the eye being too close to the nose, and some slight coloration differences, those look like the biggest

specimens of Albula vulpes I’ve ever seen.

I’ve spent a fair amount of time hunting down their cousins on various ankle deep flats in the Bahamas and Florida Keys.