Mike Diffenderfer was known off Kaua’i as a world-class surfboard shaper, as the man who named the Banzai Pipeline and as one of the first modern-day surfers to ride the huge waves of Waimea Bay on O’ahu’s North Shore back
Mike Diffenderfer was known off Kaua’i as a world-class surfboard shaper, as the man who named the Banzai Pipeline and as one of the first modern-day surfers to ride the huge waves of Waimea Bay on O’ahu’s North Shore back in the 1950s.
On Kaua’i, Diffenderfer was known as one of the best golfers on the island in the 1970s, and as a member of the crew of surfers who migrated to Kaua’i during that decade to get away from the crowded surfing scenes on O’ahu and in Southern California.
Diffenderfer died on May 16 in the Kahuku Hospital on the North Shore of O’ahu after years of struggling with brain tumors and the after effects of treatment for them. He was raised in the beach town of La Jolla along the San Diego coast and first surfed Hawai’i in 1956.
Hanalei surfer and surfboard maker Bill Hamilton knew Diffenderfer as a golfing buddy and as a fellow surfboard shaper.
“He was a great craftsman, a great surfer, a great golfer,” Hamilton said. “He could have gone pro, he had a card from the PGA. He was one of the great surfboard shapers of our time, and he had an incisive and keen intellect.”
Hamilton recalled Diffenderfer’s time on Kaua’i. “He was pretty instrumental in the world of surfers, and was on Kaua’i during the early ’70s through ’78. He was renowned for shaping balsa boards. He taught me how to golf in 1976 at Princeville’s first courses, he was one of the only pro guys around at that time. I learned quite a few things from him shaping wise. I had him make me a surfboard in 1968-69, along with one by Dick Brewer, to help me learn about my own shaping skills. He was a great guy, a fun loving guy.”
Brian Lansing of Kilauea met Diffenderfer in South Africa at Jeffrey’s Bay in 1970, a time Lansing said was the peak of Diffenderfer’s career as a surfer and perhaps the happiest days of his life.
Lansing said a description of the surfboard shaper as “the Michaelangelo” of shapers was an apt one.
A memorial service for Diffenderfer is scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m. at Ali’i Beach in Hale’iwa on the North Shore of O’ahu.
