Australia to Celebrate the 100 Year Anniversary of Duke Kahanamoku’s Visit

Hawaiian Surfing Champion invited to play Duke Kahanamoku for a Day

San Diego, CA, Tuesday, Nov. 4th, 2015 – Two-time World Longboard Surfing Champion, Duane De Soto has been invited to play Duke Kahanamoku at Duke’s Day, January 8-10, 2015 at Freshwater Beach, Sydney, celebrating the centenary of ‘The Duke’s’ famous exhibition of Hawaiian style surfing which lit the fuse to popularise surfing in Australia. Duane was chosen during the Dukes Ocean Festival held annually in August on Duke’s birthday in Waikiki.

A custom made exact replica of the 8ft 6in board Duke made in Sydney during Duke’s visit in 1914/15 was taken from Australia to Hawaii for some of Hawaii’s greatest watermen to have a surf on it.  After three days of trials, Duane seemed the most comfortable and accepted the invitation to represent Hawaii and play Duke Kahanamoku during one of the highlight events at the three day celebration. He will re-enact, with respect and humility, what happened 100 years ago in Australia.

“I am not even close to the Duke,” Duane says. “It’s not that I would feel I would be replacing or close to replicating what Duke did, but just trying to come close and humbly put on a good show that would make him proud.  I’m extremely psyched and excited and I also think it’s wonderful that Hawaii and Australia have a great bond through surfing and we will be coming together to share this great occasion.”

Eric Middledorp, who has been handling the building of the board and overseeing the re-enactment that will take place on Saturday, Jan 10, 2015 had this to say about Duane de Soto’s selection. “We really wanted an Hawaiian to play Duke and I must say that we had our concerns about riding such a big heavy board that weighs close to 40kgs (90pounds).  The first day at Waikiki, Duane picked the board up, threw it onto his shoulder and paddled out to the break.  On his first ride I knew we’d found our Hawaiian to play the part of Duke Kahanamoku during our re-enactment”.   “Make no mistake – this board could easily kill anyone whose head got in its way. De Soto catches a couple of waves and rides them with aplomb, switching feet and generally toying with the board. Then he paddles in and collects his daughter Pua, 9, for a display of classical tandem. It is brilliant to watch, even if it is as far removed from the modern version as surfing can get.” Fred Pawle – The Australian.

The search is now on for a young female surfer to play the part of Isabel Letham during the re-enactment, who was plucked from the crowd back in 1915 by Duke to give the 2000 strong crowd a display of tandem riding. Click on link to Tandem footage

Dukes Day, January 8-10, 2015 will be an event for the entire family and anyone who loves the ocean and surf culture.  Presented by the Freshwater Surfing Communities with love and respect for the ocean, it will commemorate the 100 year anniversary of Duke Kahanamoku igniting Australia’s surf culture and the spirit of Aloha! Go to dukesday.com for history, program, events, sponsors and also details about the Duke Shorts short film competition and your chance to win a Panasonic GH4 still/video camera valued at $3000.

To read more about Duane’s selection, please go to Fred Pawle’s great audio visual presentation here.