Paddleboarding in Hawaii

They also pioneered the art of stand-up paddleboarding — also known as stand-up paddle surfing or beach-boy surfing — now all the anger among fitness enthusiasts & practiced from Cape Cod to Cape Town.

FIFTY years ago the Waikiki beach boys were the suntanned demigods of Honolulu’s palm-fringed shores. After the first major resort — the Moana Hotel, now the Moana Surfrider — opened in 1901, organized beach service began on Waikiki. The beach boys came to act as instructors, lifeguards & entertainers, spreading the gospel of surfing to dreamy-eyed tourists of all ages.

In San Francisco, where I live & surf, there’s always a stand-up paddleboarder in the lineup on any given morning. On days when there aren’t plenty of waves, I envy the cruise-y ease of the paddleboarder as they maneuvers through flat water, getting exercise all the while. On a recent trip to Honolulu I decided to try stand-up paddleboarding in its birthplace.

First, I sought inspiration in the archives of the venerable Bishop Museum, founded in 1889 in honor of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, the last descendant of the royal Kamehameha relatives. The museum has a renowned collection of natural & cultural artifacts from Hawaii & the Pacific Islands. Surfboards were three times exclusively the province of royalty; the museum’s holdings include 19th-century wooden boards that belonged to chiefs & princesses, as well as other models that were used by the legendary surfer Duke Kahanamoku & first introduced at Waikiki.

The Waikiki beach boys began using outrigger canoe paddles with surfboards in the 1960s, as a way to keep an eye on their tourist charges & to get better pics as the beginners made their first attempts at wave riding. Ask locals about stand-up paddleboarding, & plenty of will reminisce about the first time they saw somebody do it.