Wehewehe Wikiwiki Hawaiian language dictionaries

1. Surf site, tow-in surf site, Haleʻiwa, Oʻahu. Second-reef, big-wave surf site. A small group of local surfers from Haleʻiwa named this site in 1954 while watching it from shore on a big day. Its huge, powerful waves, spilling massive amounts of whitewater, reminded them of an avalanche. Veteran big wave surfers Henry Preece, Buzzy Trent, and Fred Van Dyke were the first to surf it in 1955. 2. Surf site, Waimānalo, Oʻahu. At the east end of the reef off Makai Research Pier. Named by surfers from Waimānalo during the late 1950s after the surf site of the same name on the North Shore. Also known as Makai Pier, Submarines.

moʻolelo I was born in Nānākuli on April 13, 1929, and I started surfing about 1947 on the old redwood boards. George Downing made me my first good redwood board, and Wally Froiseth made me my second, a redwood laminated with balsa. One of the places in Nānākuli where I learned to surf was Keaulana's, which was named for Buffalo Keaulana's uncle. He had a house there on the point. As I got better, I started surfing big waves at Mākaha and Māʻili Point, which is what we used to call Green Lanterns. In 1953, I moved to the North Shore, and for three years from 1954 to 1957, I lived in a shack on the beach where the surf center is now at Aliʻi Beach. One day after work about eight or ten of us were drinking at my place—Bobby Chun, Buffalo, who was a life-guard at the old Army Beach, David Pahoa, and some other guys. We were just talking and watching these huge waves breaking on the second reef to the west of us. Somebody commented that when the waves broke, they looked like an avalanche, and from then on that was its name. I surfed it in 1955 with Fred Van Dyke and Buzzy Trent. lt was really big, and each of us only caught one wave. As far as I know, that was the first time anyone surfed it.

Henry Preece, October 12, 2000