JULY 2020
The First Surfers of Santa Cruz
Did you know that three Hawaiian princes introduced surfing to the US mainland 130 years ago in Santa Cruz, California?
On Sunday, July 19, 1885, nearly 30 years before Duke Kahanamoku popularized surfing in the mainland United States, three teenage brothers rode long redwood boards into the waves at the mouth of the San Lorenzo River in Santa Cruz.
At the time, the meeting point of the Pacific Ocean and the San Lorenzo River reliably produced rolling breakers similar to those along Waikiki in Honolulu—familiar surf turf for the three young princes. (SantaCruzWaves.com: SURF HISTORY: REMEMBER WHEN…?)
Photo from SantaCruzWaves.com
Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole, David Kawananakoa and Edward Keliiahonui came to California as students at St. Matthew’s Hall, a military academy in San Mateo. The Southern Pacific railroad had recently connected San Mateo to the coast, which enabled the princes to easily spend many weekends in Santa Cruz, where they either stayed with family friends or boarded at the Wilkins House on Pacific Avenue and Cathcart Street. (SantaCruzWaves.com: SURF HISTORY: REMEMBER WHEN…?)
The princes’ Santa Cruz redwood O’lo surfboards, however, like so many of the toys and mementos of childhood, seemed to fade into their past. That is, until 2010 when Kristin Zambucka … spotted a distinctive 17-foot-long “pine” board in an exhibit of antique surf boards at The Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum in Hawaii. She later noticed a nearly identical o’lo board, this one labeled as redwood, in a Bishop Museum storage facility, and suspected she had found the princes’ lost boards. Later, the wood was matched to their source redwood trees in Santa Cruz.
The princes’ boards were enormous — 17 feet 2.5 inches and 150 pounds for Prince Jonah’s and 17 feet 9.5 inches and 175 pounds for Prince David’s. (SantaCruzWaves.com: SURF HISTORY: REMEMBER WHEN…?)
Photo from SantaCruzWaves.com
On July 19, 130 years to the day that the three princes rode local waves, a group of local surfers … tried their hand at surfing like their progenitors aboard replicas handcrafted by iconic Santa Cruz shaper Bob Pearson, of Arrow Surf Products. (SantaCruzWaves.com: SURF HISTORY: REMEMBER WHEN…?)
What amazing history! I never really thought about the first surfers in the Americas until I learned about these princes. And I can’t believe how ginormous their boards were. These guys must have been buff! 🙂
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