Amateur Movie Makers (Dec 1926-Dec 1927)

—I *r -*„ CATCHING A BIG ONE OFF DIAMOND HEAD REELING Hawaii's ROYAL Sport A MID-FEBRUARY a f t e rnoon, warm, sunny, glorious. Ideal cinematic weather, blue skies ; sea of jade and topaz ; white beach flooded with sunlight. Throngs of bathers in the water and on the sand ; spectators in summery frocks and sport clothes up on the lanai of the Outrigger Club, under the arbor at the Moana and dotted along the little pier which reaches out from the palm court two hundred yards or more into the sea. Altogether a typical afternoon at the height of Honolulu's winter season, which of late is being recorded by so many amateur movie makers. While bathers and spectators alike on the beach and on the club lanais are languid, indolent, steeped in the mellow warmth of the tropic winter sun, the little group in the pavilion at the end of the pier is a lively one. The cause of this animation, of the excited pointing of cameras to seaward, of the bursts of laughter and exclamation, is to be seen in the surf a hundred vards or so out from the pier. There, where the long swells roll in from the broad reaches of the South Pacific, strike the shallow reef, raise their crests skyward and break in a crashing smother of foam — there, in glorious, fearless freedom the surf -riders, rough riders of Waikiki's waves, do their stuff, and the cine enthusiasts are the daily historians of their flights through the spray. Every able-bodied citizen of Hawaii, and almost every visitor, has a fling at surf-riding, some time and in some form or other. Of all those who try. only a few attain skill or Twenty-two By Harold H. Yost even the ability to ride the smaller breakers on a board ; but there is always solace for the less gifted in outrigger canoe surfing, for with a skillful pilot in the stern-sheets any bunch of landlubbers can operate LET 'ER BREAK! one of these clumsily graceful craft and get all the thrill of that breathtaking shoreward rush through the water. As with other things, learning the how of surfing is half the fun of the game. You learn, if you are wise, in the shallow water near shore, when waves happen to be breaking that far in, or in the "Malihini surf" out by the abandoned diving stand in front of the Outrigger Canoe Club. The waves break quite gently there, without the terrific impact and the crash and roar of the "big surf." You begin by standing in breast-deep water, facing shoreward, the board pushed behind vou. Your place should be where waves are actually breaking, for the propelling strength of a wave is right at the break. Over your shoulder you watch the swells until one higher than the rest rises and starts to curl over in the break. Then you snap the board forward, grasp it with both hands as it comes, roll on and start paddling like mad. If you've -landed squarely, and have enough forward momentum, or gain it by paddling, you're off ! The wave apparently seizes the board from behind and thrusts it forward in a mad rush through the water. When you've mastered the small ones you're ready to tackle the big time stuff. A paddle of a hundred vards or so from the small surf takes you out into the "canoe surf," out beyond the pier. There you pull vourself up and sit straddling your board. All round are other surfers on their boards, and further out to seaward, out at "first break," some canoes and perhaps a board or two. The long swells roll in and pass under vou. to break further inshore. Finally a swell comes which is higher than the others. Somebody bawls "Let's go !" Behind you the canoeists, yelling like wild Indians, are digging their paddles into the water. As the mounting swell rises, vou flop flat on that board and paddle