The Bonzai Pipeline |
What luck: Finding out you’ve booked a ticket to O’ahu at the end of December, all the way back in early September, at the tail end of the 2013 Billabong Pipemasters? For a kook, new to surfing, this is some pretty good news. Think about it: After having only surfed for the first time a year ago, you get the chance to sit with 10,000 people and watch the absolute competition pros (two of whom you can actually identify and name) ride one of the best barrel waves in the world (a break you’ve never really heard of).
What dumb luck: Arriving in Honolulu, at 9pm, the day the competition ended? Oh well, that’s karma!
Back to reality. When I booked the ticket to Hawai’i as an 8-day stop-over between Aotearoa New Zealand and Canada I figured it would be a great place to do a little surfing, and to see what O’ahu is all about. I mean think about it: This is the literal and cultural birthplace of surfing, and is so removed from the North American continent that my expectations were high for some cultural interaction, and some decent, and different, experiences. Hawai’i, in the western landscape (and here I don’t mean a style of painting, I mean more the definition given in Brian Black’s Petrolia: Culture + Environment = landscape) is probably one of green, towering volcanic mountains, epic waves, and magical beaches where time doesn’t matter, and you can leave your watch at home. For a lot of people it also means something more: being able to remove themselves from the realities of their day-to-day existence and experience an almost LOST-style magical island dissociated from the hustle and bustle of the rest of their typical existence.
Oahu Power Station (John Fisher, gohawaii.about.com) |
There is little I can say about Honolulu/Waikiki that entices. It is a wonderful international vacation destination built in the 1960’s (which gives it a nostalgic, time-tested feel) and populated by tourists (like myself) who have come in search of the elusive ‘Aloha.’ To see the marketing of Indigenous cultural values is – sadly – nothing new to me, and normally I can understand experiencing it as an extension of travel. Honolulu, unfortunately, has taken the notion (especially when one actually listens to what ‘Aloha’ meant in Hawai’ian culture) and, when coupled with the coal power and lack of recycling, not to mention the road-agro and other colonial North American impatiences that have found a way out here, the hypocrisy and blatant ‘cultural trope for sale’ marketing is hard to deal with.
Then, in the midst of all of this mediocre luck (missing Pipe and being stuck in Waikiki), I found solace.
The 'Bonzai Bishop' headed to Church |
F
Trash in the parking lot near Hali'ewa |
Having come from Aotearoa – another Pacific island colonized by Europeans that is now making a conscious effort to be as green and culturally-minded as outwardly possible – to Hawai’i, my expectations were that the small state would be moving in a similar direction: Towards a green image (one of NZ’s exception in this is John Key selling out oil off the coast) and a culturally inclusive population (in regards to Māori/Pākehā relations). What I saw, and the way Bonzai Bishop explained it to me, the reality is wholly different.
Although only reflective of a minority, there are surfers along the North Shore who are highly aggressive
More trash |
Butts near the beach (bad photo!) |
For a pale-chested Soul Surfer ambassador, wandering around some of the most challenging breaks in the world, it’s understandably hard to get people chatting about the environment, culture, and the potential for social justice that surf-travel allows. But fear not! All is not bad. Among the Bonzai Bishop and his mates I met a growing network of people who have had enough of the abuse, and the idea that the state of Hawai’i has completely dropped the ball in environmental and cultural (specifically in regards to Indigenous Hawai’ian culture) sustainability. From the ‘Beet Box,’ an organic store in Hali’ewa, to the Farmer’s Market near Waimea Bay (I went on Wednesday, and I think it goes on twice a week in the Waimea Botanical Gardens parking), there’s a great deal of grassroots movements picking up steam, and doing their best to promote sustainable living – and surfing – along the North Shore. I think, with a little doing, it might be possible to add the Soul Surfer Foundation’s voice to this movement, and I think it is in this area I might put more energies in the near future.
If you’re interested in learning a little bit more about what’s going down in Hawai’i, and movements
Bonzai Bishop, Carl, and Ria, checking the swell |
So, despite the title of this post (I’d say ‘which is my last,’ though I might – as it turns out – be lying) being a quote from Carl (‘Aloha is dead’), I think that there’s still some small sparks in the fire that can be stoked into flames. As Bonzai Bishop, Carl, Stu, and I discussed: It’s going to be a long, uphill battle, that will need to include so many different groups, peoples, and movements, there might be a glimmer of hope.
The lineup at Pipeline |
To finally end this epic post, I’ll stick with the ‘hope’ vibe: Even though I missed the Pipemasters (by mere hours), on my third day on the North Shore, the ocean looked more like a lake, and despite every break being nearly empty, the ‘Seven-Mile Miracle’ was charged with a crazy frenetic energy. A massive swell was coming in that night, fuelled by full-moon tide, it promised to go off in a really spectacular way. After spending Friday morning surfing just outside of Hali’ewa, Carl and Bonzai Bishop took Ria and me out to Pipeline where I saw the biggest waves of my life. And, despite most of the Aussie and other international competitors having gone to their home breaks for the holidays, we watched Kelly Slater and other pro’s charging hard, and grabbing some of the sickest barrels the world has to offer.
Mahalo for reading, and for being interested in the whole Soul Surfer, and Ride Aware projects. Stay in touch on facebook (check out both groups), and try and do your part while touring around, surfing, and giving back more than you take out. I go now into the horrible snow!
Bonzai Bishop & Kikila |
Ride With Care!
Aloha!
As a brief footnote: Mike, the Bonzai Bishop, is currently undergoing his own spiritual and physical quest (to be able to surf pipeline next winter, with only 2 years of surfing under his boardshorts). Having battled drug and substance addiction, and is now living a sober, healthy life, that came about through his love for surfing. He is working on a novel, and hopes to promote his experiential writing through a blog. As soon as it is up and running, I’ll probably promote it here, and through other channels. I’d say take a look at it when it’s up. He’s a really awesome dude, with a really awesome story, and I think his message is one that all of us can appreciate.
Charge hard, Mike!