Mixed Plate Special - Giving back at Makaha

Giving back at Makaha

Wednesday, December 12 2007

Rob Machado at the mercy of Todd Bradley's steering skills, Photo: Allen Mozo

World champion Mick Fanning, former world champ Mark Occhilupo, Pancho Sullivan, Luke Egan, Myles Padaca, Rob Machado, Luke Stedman, Jake Paterson, Bonga Perkins, Duane Desoto and a bunch of good friends accepted a golden invitation from West Side waterman Brian Keaulana to enjoy a day of surf at Makaha Beach on the original "beachboy" equipment of stand-up boards and outrigger canoes.

Luke Egan finds Makaha magic. Photo: Allen Mozo

Away from the contest stage, crowds, media, bells, whistles and banners, these surfers enjoyed the hospitality of an old-school surfing community and an established group of Makaha beachboys and lifeguards that span generations of world class watermen. In return, surfers and companies within the surf industry left the West Side a better place, donating more than $10,000 in surf product, school supplies and monetary gifts for the local community. The major benefactor was Makaha Elementary School.

Mick Fanning and friend: No paddle battle here! Photo: Allen Mozo

Keaulana and his stand-up surfing company C4 Waterman provided a warehouse-worth of equipment for surfers to pick from and play at their leisure. For a brief moment in time it was no longer about one-man-one-wave, scores and serious surfing; it was about sharing a few rides with friends, laughing hard, and going home with that sun- and salt-brushed, satisfied-tired feeling that only a surfer knows - the kind of feeling that first got you hooked as a kid.