DUKE PAOA KAHANAMOKU

“Try meeting or leaving people with aloha, you’ll be surprised by their reaction.
I believe it and it is my creed.

Aloha to you.”

Duke Paoa Kahanamoku



















In a world torn apart by conflict and despair, we have a great and pressing need to seek out those individuals who bring a message of hope and vision. Duke Kahanamoku lived a passionate life devoted to the concept of Aloha which embodies kindness, unity, harmony and humility. We wish to help bring to light and celebrate the life of this unique and vital individual who has so much to teach us, so much still to give. The time has come.

Duke Kahanamoku is widely regarded as Hawaii’s greatest athlete, winning six Olympic medals, including three gold medals in swimming, from 1912-1932. Revered worldwide for his exploits, Duke is recognized as the “Father of International Surfing” and later in life was honored with the distinction of being Hawaii’s official “Ambassador of Aloha.”



The name "Duke" is not a title, but a given name. He was named after his father, Halapu Kahanamoku, who was christened "Duke" by Bernice Pauahi Bishop in honor of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, who was visiting Hawaii at the time of the elder man's birth in 1869. The younger "Duke," as eldest son, inherited the name.

Growing up on the outskirts of Waikiki (near the present site of the Hilton Hawaiian Village), Kahanamoku spent his youth as a bronzed beach boy. It was at Waikiki Beach where he developed his surfing and swimming skills. In his youth, Kahanamoku preferred an old-school (traditional) surf board, which he called his "papa nui", constructed after the fashion of ancient Hawaiian "olo" boards. Made from the wood of a koa tree, it was sixteen feet (4.8 m) long and weighed 114 pounds (52 kg). The board was without a skeg, which had yet to be invented. In his later career, he would often use smaller boards, but always preferred those made of wood.






















On August 11, 1911, in an amateur swim meet, Kahanamoku was timed at 55.4 seconds in the 100 yard (91 m) freestyle, beating the existing world record by 4.6 seconds, in the salt water of Honolulu Harbor. He also broke the record in the 220 yd (201 m) and equaled it in the 50 yd (46 m), but the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), in disbelief, would not recognize these feats until many years later. The AAU initially claimed that the judges must have been using alarm clocks rather than stopwatches, and later claimed that ocean currents aided Kahanamoku.