What do you think of when you hear the name Ben Aipa?  Legendary shaper?  Hawaiian surfing icon?  Competitive surfer?  Scrappy brawler?  Nice guy?  Family man?  Well, they all describe Ben.  His shaping has elevated the Ben Aipa name to one of the most respected in the surfing industry.  Many people also remember Ben for his fearlessness in and out of the water.   When the publisher of this magazine made a new friend who knew Ben 30 years ago, the first thing he said when talking about Ben was “that guy punched me in the nose.”  When asked about the incident, Ben’s response was “I don’t remember, but he probably deserved it.”  That’s Ben, straight to the point.  Although Ben doesn’t regret being known as a tough guy, he always knew in his heart he had something bigger and better to offer, and he found it in shaping surfboards.

Ben at Makaha in December of 1966. At the age of 24, he was just starting his surfing career. Ben said he designed this board with the large stripes so his board would stand out to the judges during the competition.

Following in his grandparents’ footsteps, Ben worked in the pineapple fields and at the Dole Cannery in his teenage years.  While attending Farrington High School, Ben dove into athletics.  He was on the football, swimming, and weightlifting teams.   His years of training and playing sports at Palama Settlement paid off.  He was a star athlete.   Ben continued to be involved at Palama Settlement as a Junior Counselor and began his coaching career there.  He also volunteered as a football coach at Farrington High after he graduated.   For a short period after that, Ben played semi-pro football in a Hawaii League.   Ben started coaching surfing at a young age, including Mark Richards when they were both in their 20’s.

Ben is still coaching surfing today.  He takes young surfers under his wing and guides them into the professional surfing arena.  He has coached some of the best suffers in the world – including Bethany Hamilton, Koa & Alex Smith, Bruce & Andy Irons, and Sunny Garcia.

Ben ripping on his hand-shaped 10-foot ‘modern longboard’ at Lani’s.

After that first ride, Ben continued to surf as often as he could.  “I ate it a lot, but I made it a lot, too.” During his second year of riding waves, he managed to get in the water with his surfboard all 365 days!  He was smitten!  Surfing was all he wanted to do.  To finance his life in his mid-twenties, Ben drove a truck for Mid Pacific Lumber, a local building supply company in Honolulu.   But as he emphatically states, “I never worked overtime because I wanted to be out in the water.  I wanted to surf!”

Because Ben was a big football player (240 lbs.!), and the boards he was riding weren’t exactly to his liking.  (Many surfers are shorter and most were definitely lighter, and so their boards didn’t work for him.)  He wanted a custom board.   “I wanted to shape my own board so it would do what I wanted it to do.”   So he did, and jokingly recalls, “It wasn’t easy.”  His first board was one of many on his route to perfection.  He knew how his boards needed to be shaped to get the most out of the waves. 

When he was 25 years old, Ben began competing in surfing contests in Hawaii and internationally. He won a couple of amateur events and took sixth place in the 2nd year of the Duke Kahanmoku Contest. From left to right are the finalists at the 10th annual Duke Kahanamoku Invitational (Hawaiian Surfing Classic): Shaun Tomson, James Jones, Ian Carnes, Ben Aipa, and Larry Bertleman.

In the 1960’s, surfing was catching on fire, boards were getting shorter and faster.  “I wanted to be part of that movement.  I wanted to be where surfing was going, to be part of it, to be part of the change.”  Ben did become part of that change.   Although he knew nothing about aerodynamics, he began analyzing airplane wings, visualizing ways to incorporate those planes and rudders into his surfboards.  He watched surfers in the water.  He was always looking for ways to make his boards for big guys quicker and faster.  He was developing shaping techniques which would make his “heavyweight” boards as easy to ride as the ones made for lighter guys.  As he explained, “I experienced it by being in it.”

Yes, Ben became the change.  He developed the “swallow tail” – the world-famous Ben Aipa hallmark going back to the days of Larry Bertlemen and Michael Ho.  Ben chose the term swallow because of the bird’s fast change in directions.  He also created the “sting” which is a wing on the edge of the surfboard that makes it surf waves faster.  He modeled it after the hydrofoil on a boat.  With Ben’s innovations and designs, his shaping business grew.  As he says, “Surfing and board building have been good to me, real good to me.  And I’m still enjoying it!”  Ben has devoted customers who have had him shaping their boards for 30 years, and now he’s shaping the boards of their children!  When asked about what the future holds for him, the 70 year-old Hawaiian surfer/shaper replied, “I never left the future, yet!”

Yes that’s the great Ronnie Lott. No, Ben is not schooling him on how to play football.

If you haven’t talked to Ben for a while, or if you want to meet this surfing legend, visit Ben in his shaping room.  Ala Moana Surfboards is located at 1164 Waimanu Street (near Ala Moana).  He’s there from 10 to 4 on weekdays.   The shop number is 808-591-9283 or you can reach Ben directly at 808-589-0804.

We were unable to identify many of the photographers of Ben’s photos.  If we used one of your photos, please contact Ben.

By Rex Dubiel

The Hui Nalu Club.

By Taryn Wong Fowler –

The history of Waikiki Beach and surfing cannot be told without mention of the Waikiki beach boys.  The “glory days” of the beach boys were during the 1920s to the 1930s on the famous stretch of beach from  the Moana Hotel (now known as the Moana Surfrider) to the Royal Hawaiian Hotel .  The original beach boys gave the gift of Hawaii to the rest of the world and helped preserve a piece of Hawaiian culture, thus creating what is now today’s surf culture.

Waikiki Beach was the beach boys’ lifelong playground.  The beach boys on any given day would be surfing, outrigger canoe paddling, playing music, singing, fishing, coconut climbing, weaving hats, and talking story.  They made their livelihood off teaching tourists how to surf and taking them out on outrigger canoes.  The original Waikiki beach boys were very unique men mostly Hawaiian or part Hawaiian with equally unique nicknames like Chick, Steamboat, and Rabbit.

The standard surf lesson assisted by a push from the instructor; the beach boy is also helping to learn balance on the board. The beach boys were true “ambassadors of aloha” and the first lifeguards on Waikiki Beach.

The first Waikiki beach boys resided under two friendly rival beach clubs, the Outrigger Canoe Club and the Hui Nalu, which both had clubhouses at the Moana Hotel. The two clubs comprised of the best watermen in Waikiki, and they even had surfing and outrigger contests between the two.  Eventually, the Outrigger Canoe Club became more of a social club, whereas the Hui Nalu began to capitalize on the tourism boom and became more of an organized business.

After the opening of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in 1927, tourists, especially wealthy celebrity figures such as Nelson Rockefeller, Douglas Fairbanks, Shirley Temple, and Doris Duke, began to visit Waikiki.  The beach boys welcomed the visitors, taught them surfing and canoeing, and entertained them.   The beach boys’ spirit of aloha, the spirit of “unconditional giving,” and “ocean is life” is at the heart of a true Waikiki beach boy.  This persona and lifestyle made a huge impact on the visitors who came to the islands.

Around the mid 1950s, tourism really began to explode in Hawaii and more hotels and businesses began to open.  Fast forward to present day, and the beach boys still exist in Waikiki.  Tourists that visit this famous strip of sand can still get a surf lesson, an outrigger canoe ride, or catamaran sail from a Waikiki beach boy.  Nowadays the new generation of beach boys still cherish the old timers’ spirit and what Duke Kahanamoku represents, the true spirit of Aloha.  

Waikiki beach boys you should know…

Duke Paoa Kahanamoku

Duke Kahanamoku

“The King of Waikiki Beach” and “the father of modern surfing” was born in 1890 and raised in Waikiki.  Duke was a true waterman, surfer, canoe paddler, record breaking swimmer, and the “first truly famous beach boy.” Duke was one of the founders of the beach boy club Hui Nalu and later became Hawaii’s unofficial ambassador. Credited with introducing surfing and Hawaii to the rest of the world, Duke was a world traveler and the first man to surf on both the east and west coasts of the United States and to take surfing to Australia. Throughout Duke’s life he had an Olympic swimming career, was in 28 Hollywood movies, and worked various odd jobs, but always returned to the ocean.  In his later years, he and his brand became a iconic figure that will forever embody the true spirit of Aloha.

Duke’s Legacy is carried on today largely by the efforts of the Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Foundation.  The mission of the foundation is to financially support the development of individuals and organizations that perpetuate the spirit and legacy of Duke Kahanamoku by encouraging athletes and scholars whose endeavors will contribute to the growth and development of athletics in Hawaii, supporting athletic events both locally and internationally, educational support, and assisting in preserving, perpetuating and developing sports which have a special cultural and historical significance to Hawaii.

Chick Daniels “The Happiest Hawaiian”

‘The Cocktail Shake’ being performed with musical help from Willie Cohen, Panama Dave, Mystery Cockett, Melvin Paoa, Duke Kahanamoku, Kalakaua Aylett and Jimmy Hakuole. (courtesy Charlie Lambert)

William “Chick” Daniels was born in 1899 to German-Hawaiian parents and raised on the island of Kauai.  In his 20’s Chick starting working as a Waikiki beach boy as the head beach attendant at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel and got the nickname from other beach boys after a popular movie detective.  Chick was a strong swimmer, surfer, spear fisherman, and entertainer who played the ukulele, danced hula, and sang.

Chick was a hard working beach boy, but is most remembered for his fun and generous spirit, spending lots of money, and years of entertaining.  His entertainer career lasted about 40 years long, and he was known for his infamous “pants-dropping act” that was at the climax of his performances.   Chick passed away in 1982 and it’s said that no beach boy “was as well loved as Chick Daniels.”

Albert “Rabbit” Kekai

From Left: Russ Takaki, Rabbit Kekai and Wally Froiseth at Makaha Beach in 1949. (courtesy Wally Froiseth)

Born November 11, 1920 and is the only living Waikiki beach boys from the “glory years.”  At the age of 10 Rabbit learned about surfing and outrigger canoe paddling from Duke Kahanamoku.  Rabbit was a member of the second generation of the Hui Nalu surf club and by age 14 he was one of the club’s best steersmen. In the 1930s, Rabbit was one of the first surfers to start surfing shorter surfboards like paipo boards (wood boards the size of the modern day body board).  Rabbit is credited with being one of the first surfers to start “hot-dogging” (ripping, carving, or zigzagging) on face of the wave.  At age 15, Rabbit was also the youngest Waikiki beach boy to get his captain’s license.

Rabbit has had countless accomplishments throughout his life and is a champion surfer and canoe man.  He is one of the founders of the Waikiki Surf Club and in 2002 started the Keiki Surfing Contest.  Most recently, the Rabbit Kekai Foundation was founded “to perpetuate the lifestyle of the Waikiki beach boys and educate Hawaii’s youth in Hawaiian Charter Schools.”  Rabbit Kekai is a true Hawaiian living legend.

Want to Learn more about the Waikiki Beach Boys and history of surfing?  Check out one of these great books.

The Soul of Surfing by Fred Hemmings

Waikiki Beach Boy by Grady Timmons

Images in America, Surfing in Hawaii 1778-1930 by Timothy Tovar DeLaVega