Current Campaign

Campaign #5 - Nā Poʻina Nalu O Hilo

Weʻre so stoked for this collaboration with Malani and Homesteady! Last December at paddling practice at Hilo Bay, aunty Nālani (Keao's mom) was talking to Malani about the interesting break names of the Hilo surf she came across while reading articles by Jon Papa Iʻi. They were so hoihoi, making connections with those names and the currents, pointing at each area mentioned in the kai, full on excited about this information they never knew before! She knew it had to be the next merch focus but didn't know what to do about it and Malani said "COLLAB!" and off it went! We are really proud of this one and excited to share it with you.

Surfers give names to the breaks they frequent but did you know that this isn't a new practice and these surf breaks already have names - ancient names that are hundreds, if not thousands, of years old? This collaboration focuses on Nā Poʻina Nalu O Hilo - the Surf Breaks of Hilo - from the time before the Breakwater was erected and includes their ancestral names and their ahupuaʻa and/or ʻili. Honoliʻi, Kaipalaoa, and Waiuli are well-known even among non-surfers. But before the Breakwater was built, Hilo - from Palikū to Hanakahi - was replete with various breaks for surfers of every age and skill level. Because of environmental changes, including damage done to the marine ecosystem and ocean current movements as a result of that breakwater, many of these breaks no longer exist at all and others, when conditions are just right, allow you to see small remnants during certain swells.

If they no longer exist, why spotlight them at all? Because our ancestors named things that were important. Because surfing is a cultural practice born of Kanaloa. Because they are mentioned in sagas such as those of Keaomelemele, and Pele & Hiʻiaka. Because they are esteemed in chants and songs for wahi pana and aliʻi. Because they are chronicled by scholars like John Papa Iʻi in Ka Nupepa Kūʻokoʻa where he recounts, “The surf of Kapōʻai is a long one, said to run a distance equal to that of fifteen ahupuaʻa, beginning at the Honoliʻi stream” and we gasp imagining what that must have looked like. Because the names should be known. They are our history, our stories, our places, and our kuleana.