Duke Kahanamoku

The Duke was of royal Hawaiian lineage, an avid surfer, and Olympic swimming gold medalist. During the Duke’s visit to Australia for the Olympic games, he was asked to give a public display of surfing at Freshwater beach in Sydney. Australian’s had been surfing big toothpick paddleboards prior to this but this was the first public display where the media were invited to cover the story.

As Duke didn’t have any boards in Australia he went to a Northern Beaches timber mill and used a type of sugar pine to make a surfboard. The timber used in Hawaii were redwood and Balsa but these were not available at the time.

The following story is courtesy of Freshwater Surf Club where the Duke’s board is proudly on display.