It was almost midnight when the duo set out. While sunburned tourists were settling their bar tabs in Waikiki, Laird Hamilton and Dave Kalama were leaving O‘ahu’s North Shore atop a 16-foot surf board, stand-up paddling across the dark ocean
It was almost midnight when the duo set out. While sunburned tourists were settling their bar tabs in Waikiki, Laird Hamilton and Dave Kalama were leaving O‘ahu’s North Shore atop a 16-foot surf board, stand-up paddling across the dark ocean surface. When the team had originally planned the 79-mile trip from Ka‘ena Point on O‘ahu to Kalapaki Bay on Kaua‘i, they had anticipated that the tradewinds would hasten their journey, but instead Kona winds threatened to blow the budding expedition back to where it started.
By 2 a.m., scattered showers had turned into a steady rain, and visibility dropped to almost nothing. The flesh on Hamilton’s hands had begun to fail, and the inside of each finger bubbled and blistered. The notorious Kai‘ei‘ewaho Channel began bucking in earnest, and the pair were forced to lay prone in order to continue.
After 19 hours of paddling, the men finally arrived on the sands of Kalapaki, but the journey wasn’t complete.
The duo had set out to travel some 430 miles cross the Aloha State to gain attention for the film “Beautiful Son,” a documentary about filmmaker Don King, his wife, Julianne, and their autistic child, Beau. The multi-day trek by bike and board began on Oct. 4 at South Point, the southernmost tip of the Big Island, and culminated Oct. 11 at the Kilauea Lighthouse.
Known throughout Hollywood for his work on such films as “Castaway,” “Blue Crush” and the hit television series “Lost,” King decided to let the camera roll on his own family’s personal journey when Beau was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Hamilton — who had worked with King on his 2005 American Express commercial and the surf flick “All Aboard the Crazy Train” — recruited Kalama to help publicize the film and raise money to distribute the documentary to the widest audience possible.
When the team arrived at the lighthouse less than 24 hours after the overnight crossing, it marked yet another milestone for two of the most respected watermen in world, and offered new attention on the plight of families touched by autism.
“Beautiful Son” is scheduled for release in January.
