Visit Huntington Beach Presents: "Feel the Stoke with Duke Aipa"

How do you earn the nickname "Surf City?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efOoswNVAuA

First, the location must have good, consistent waves. Second, the area must also be the epicenter of the surf industry, with surf shops, surf businesses, and home to iconic surf contests. And third, the community must be tight-knit, care and respect for each other, all the while exhibiting surfing's greatest quality: aloha.

There’s only one location around the world that embodies all of this: Huntington Beach, otherwise known as Surf City, USA.

A beach break that can break right or left over a sandy bottom, Huntington Beach geographically attracts many swell directions, especially west, northwest, southwest, and south swells. This, combined with consistent morning offshore winds from the northeast results in good waves year around. In the summertime, you'll have fun-size waves perfect for longboards, and in the winter time, you'll have barreling waves of consequence, perfect for high-performance shortboards.

Most of this action takes place at the Huntington Beach pier, with the backdrop of Main Street, a row of businesses where you can eat and shop pre and post surf. Like a true surf community, if the waves are really good, some of these shops may be closed with a "went surfing" sign on the front door.

Whether you're in the water, on Main Street, or in other areas within the city, you'll witness a strong sense of community that can be described as aloha.

All of this is why Duke Aipa moved his Aipa Surfboards business to Huntington Beach.

For Aipa, the sense of aloha in Huntington Beach is more than just words — it involves his namesake.

In 1925, Hawaiian Olympic champion and surfing pioneer Duke Kahanamoku visited Huntington Beach and surfed around the Pier with local lifeguards. On June 14, 1925, when a fishing boat capsized off the coast, Kahanamoku paddled out through heavy surf to rescue eight men, a feat that showed the value of surfboards in lifesaving. Duke's prowess and skill on a surfboard, including the ability to save lives, impacted the Huntington Beach and greater Southern California community.

Kahanamoku practically weaved surfing into the fabric of Huntington Beach.

Years later, when a Hawaii surfer and pioneering shaper named Ben Aipa had a son, he decided to bequeath him the name of his mentor: Duke. In the years that followed, Duke Aipa grew up surfing and building boards, learning everything he could from his father, who had pioneered new surfboard designs like the double-edged swallowtail and the stinger and shaped boards for surfing's best, including Fred Hemmings, Larry Bertlemann, and Michael Ho.

When Duke Aipa eventually took over Aipa Surfboards from his father, he moved the business to the surf epicenter of the world: Surf City USA in Huntington Beach.

More than 100 years after Duke Kahanomuku first visited Huntington Beach, Duke Apia says that the city and community cultivated what he planted: aloha.

As Duke explains, you feel something different when you're walking on the Huntington Beach pier, you're paddling for waves in the lineup, or you're just cruising on a bicycle. That feeling is why so many people visit Huntington Beach, its why so many people have never left, and its why so many people keep coming back.

Today, Huntington Beach is not only a necessary stop on a surf pilgrimage; it's one of the top tourism destinations in the world, and for good reason. It's home to the Surfing Hall of Fame, Surfing Walk of Fame, the world-renowned Huntington Beach International Surf Museum, the annual US Open of Surfing, several adaptive surfing contests, and a towering bronze Duke Kahanamoku statue, watching over it all.

Huntington Beach's aloha isn't just something to be experienced; it can also be life saving. In the same way that Duke Kahanomku used his aloha to save the lives of fishermen, the aloha in the community wrapped itself around Duke Aipa and his family when his son, Kolby, tragically passed away. Duke Aipa credits the community as saving grace during the tragedy, and without it, he's not sure how he would have made it.

In "Feel the Stoke", Duke Aipa says to visit Huntington Beach for its waves, community and aloha. Above all, he says that once you experience this feeling of aloha, take it back with you and share it with your community, perpetuating it forever forward.