Almost two weeks ago, the surfing world lost Dane Kealoha to cancer. And Hawaii lost a true icon. Kealoha, of course, was an extremely gifted competitor, a world champ, really, who got caught in a political dustup with the ASP in 1983 that essentially ended his competitive run. But he was truly one of the most beautiful surfers the world had seen at the time. Sure, he was a power surfer, who could easily lay it on rail. But his approach was beautiful, too. He had a smooth, controlled style that belied his ability to push on his tail.
Just after his death, the YouTube channel Overhead Unlimited posted this three-minute vid, a blast from the past showcasing Dane’s mastery of Pipeline, and especially, Backdoor. The man had the place on lock. This is one video in the YouTube chaos that definitely deserves more views so it doesn’t get lost to the algorithm. Below is another perspective of Dane, with Tom Curren, Sunny Garcia, and Johnny Boy Gomes from the movie, Legends of Backdoor and Pipe.
