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Famous surfers, young and old, attended a gala event, which opened the doors to the Museum, on the 100th anniversary of the town of Haleiwa, on August 8, 1999. Today the museum is open most afternoons. Locals, tourists and historians now visit the museum Famous Boardsdaily. The collection of old Many Boards and antique surfboards is of interest to enthusiasts and collectors.
History of Surfing on the North Shore
Surfing was said to have been the one sport in ancient times which Hawaiian Chiefs and the common kanaka shared in common. Early visitors to these islands were amazed that the natives would play in that part of the ocean that they had grown to fear the most.Ancient Surfing To take control of a breaking wave and actually ride it to the shore was something the most experienced seamen of the world had never considered. On Oahu's North Shore, men and women together surfed the waves known to them as Paumalo, named for the waves that were torn off the swimmer. We know that break today as Sunset Beach, the crown jewel of Hawaiian surfing sites. As good as the waves were on the North Shore, they remained a secret known only to the locals for some time.
Early Surfers Surfing with long hollow boards, built like small boats gained popularity in Waikiki, as did surf-riding with Hawaiian canoes. In time the availability of light balsa wood and later, fiberglass revolutionized the construction of surfboards as well as canoes. The sport of surfing was popularized by the Olympic swimmer Duke Kahanamoku. Californians took to The Duke with palsthe sport in droves and made pilgrimages to Hawaii for the big waves of winter.
Even as late as the Mid 1950s, the destination of visiting surfers from the West Coast was Makaha, site of the first International Surfing Contest in 1953. Makaha was, at that time, the place for big rideable waves. As Greg Noll recalls: "The North Shore in those days was as remote as the back side of the moon, the Great Taboo Land. The subject of many spooky stories and legends." While a few locals occasionally surfed at Paumalo, the best of the North Shore breaks, so well known and famous today, then lay ignored, unnamed and unridden.
When crowds at Makaha chased Noll and his friends to the North Shore, one fateful day, they spotted a young Hawaiian named Henry Preece surfing all alone at Haleiwa. When he invited them to join him, the stage was set for a shift in emphasis from Makaha to the wide-open spaces of Haleiwa and beyond. Over the next few years, Noll and other Californians pioneered the various North Shore surf spots. One of those surfers that pioneered the big waves at Waimea was a photographer named Bruce Brown. He is said to have named both Pipeline and Velzyland. To get an idea of how uncrowded the breaks were in those days, check out Bruce Brown's 1960 film Barefoot Adventure, now available on video at the North Shore Surf and Cultural Museum.
Surf Museum Front door From that point on, surfing the North Shore evolved. One day in the early 60s, Sunset was breaking big with excellent conditions. Just about every famous surfer of the era happened to be out in the lineup, tearing up the waves in a session so memorable that Fred Van Dyke wrote an article about it for Surfer Magazine. Surfing MagazineKimo McVay, owner of Duke's restaurant in Waikiki, read the story and conceived the idea of a special invitational Surf Contest, ridden for honor, that in celebration of Hawaii's legendary waterman, would be called The Duke Kahanamoku International Surfing Championship, with Duke himself presenting the awards.
Inaugurated in California in 1968, the Smirnoff Pro Surfing Contest was moved to Hawaii's North Shore in 1970. First place purses of $2000 and $1000 respectively, the Smirnoff and the Duke represented the birth of a North Shore Tour. After this, the number of surf meets held on the north shore and the amount of available prize money expanded almost yearly. The Hawaiian Professional Surfing Association Haleiwa Open was added in 1971, the Hang Ten American Pro Championship and the Pipeline Masters in 1972. Triple Crown of SurfingToday, the Triple Crown of Surfing has combined the three most prestigious contests and offered a very high purse if one surfer were to win all three. During the winter surfing season, there now seems to be an endless series of surfing contests. For more information on the History of Surfing on the North Shore, or just to watch the latest surfing videos, stop in at the North Shore Surf and Cultural Museum, in the North Shore Marketplace.