How about you hold it at the superbank

would be interesting to see if "bustin down the door" was mentioned as detroying the aloha spirit.....and why hasn't any of the ussies responsibleappologised to the hawaiins.....?

Not condoning what went on..perhaps youthful exhuberance...however, didnt the "offenders" meet with the elders for reconciliation...perhaps we are paying for it now with some of the brazilians who come to Australia. The book goes into a lot more detail than the movie.

we were the brazillians of the 70's80's in hawaii...not welcome and harassed because a few egos spat in the Aloha Spirits face...there was an attempt at mediation,but never an apology...the older Hawaiin surfers still remember!

thats why Dukes day would be a good day for Australia to "say Sorry"........would still mean a lot!

kanga cairns not humbled at all.

Anyone who thinks Australian surfers need to apologise simply wasn't there! Ego and naivety on our part was met by violent over-reaction, but only on the part of a tiny minority of Hawaiians, who would have been venting on some one else if the loudmouth Aussies hadn't been such a convenient and high profile target. Many of the Australians - the Neilsens, Terry Fitzgerald, Mark Richards, to name a few - were unaffected by the temporary hostility. It's worth remembering that the most feared of the Hawaiians, Eddie and Clyde Aikau, were on the Gold Coast for the Stubbies two months after this, partying hard with all their Aussie mates. So much for cultural humiliation.

It's been one hell of a beat up then.

Stu,Rabbit had a chance to appologise,even as late as Nick c's Historical Bomboora......sorry would have been nice!

As for phils claim that if you weren't there you wouldn't know,were you there phil...? No..so you only have second hand stories and if you weren't there how would you know how deep the insult went and that in one year......Aloha went ,and hoele boy was used as a greeting.

I hear jack mc Coys bringing out a movie that is all about the aloha spirit....can't wait to see it!

I know I look like a much younger man, Brutus, but I was there.

So was I phil,and u bunch of loud mouth egotistical aussies,insulted the aloha spirit,ran with their tails between their legs,and asked for protection....probably one of the darkest periods in surfing history....we all should be ashaamed what went on....

Wish I had a buck for every time I've ruined the aloha spirit.

I was sharing a condo with Rabbit and a few others when this happened. I then spent the next three months surfing the North Shore everyday and never had a problem. I have no recollection of any other Australians beyond Rabbit and Ian Cairns being harassed. It was an unfortunate incident that grew out of the personalities of the main players. Apologise? To who? the bullies who punched Rabbit out? Not in this lifetime! Don't believe everything you read everyone loves a bit of drama especially when they are the star. Surfers are a pretty boring bunch out of the water so any incident that is even remotely interesting is likely to be drenched in hyperbole by the time it gets into print. What year was that again? Jesus we're even more boring than I thought!

hey phil ya didn't ruin the aloha spirit,it was the surfers,not the suits and blindboy appologise to the hawaiin people for insulting their aloha culture.....still not too late!

Insulting their aloha spirit Brutus? You probably think that anyone who doesn't know the second verse of Advance Australia Fair should be deported. The aloha spirit was the justification for an appalling breach of it. A bunch of ego damaged bullies decided that violence was the solution to a problem that only existed in their own tiny minds.

Old boys bickering about a skirmish 35 years ago. Well flip my wig and hold onto my dentures!

Ha ha....love it.

blindboy,nah you wouldn't understand what aloha was,you never experienced it,before or after the boys had busted down the door....well in their own minds/egos......
to this day there is still their lingering stench,ask shaun T,rabbit ,BK,GL Reno ,Dane etc.......
if ya can't back it up ,shutup.....or don't whine about the consequences of your actions.

ya reckon we would have learnt a lesson from this infamous chapter,but some are just blinded to what really occurred!

Yeh I'm with Dewhurst it all happened a long time ago, my basic point was that it was a beat up so get over it. The end.

just because it happened a long time ago,does not mean we forget it,unless ya a redneck and believe that we shouldn't have said sorry to our indigenous people,or the holocaust -just forget it?? or australia day ...just forget it.or ...???

I agree the whole "bustin down the door" was a beat up,just a bunch of liteweights mouthed off and then ran like chickenshits!!!

now thats end of story!

girls please who did what to who is not the point , the point is that us aussies really have no idea what aloha means hence the problem with big mr rabbit et al, we are a very insular lot us

Yabba yabba yabba

bigwayne spot on,blingthing ya ruddy necks showing....

I can never resist bullshit so bigwayne exactly where does gang bashing those who offend you fit into the aloha spirit? And if it was all the Aussies fault then presumably it was all the Hawaiians fault the year before when Narrabeen locals had to be dissuaded from bashing them for their bad behaviour in the water. Oh and Brutus "ran away like chickenshits" who exactly and where did they run to since they all stayed on the North Shore and surfed all the major breaks for the next couple of months. I lived at Sunset Beach for most of that winter with a well known Hawaiian family I surfed with whoever was in the water including the two drug dealing scumbags you were supposed to paddle in for if they came out. Most of the Hawaiians I knew were appalled at the violence and the aloha spirit, if it meant anything at all, came out most strongly in their disapproval of the behavior of a bunch of thugs.

oh c'mon blindthing......who got gang bashed......?

I know who called the meeting at the then Kuilima,which Reno presided over...and for the next few years it was not a nice place to be an aussie...ask rabbit how comfortable does he still feel or shaun..or....I was there also and stayed with kanga/PT and witnessed first hand everything I have said and a lot more.....what violence are you talking about?

I guess the good news for the hawaiins , bustin down the door,in affect created Da Hui,and the wolf pak......so at least there was a positive......as for your thug claim......and narrabeen claim.....thats all they are!

Take off the rose coloured glasses Brutus it wasn't just Rabbit that got bashed. If you were there you'd know that Peter Drouyn was bashed by a coconut tree. Drouyn gave it everything he had but still lost the fight and got a broken fist.

Peaceful Hawaiians my arse.

LOL. Wonder if it was the same tree that mugged Michael Lowe?

ah...... well it seems conflicting reports have surfaced, and seeing as one is bigwayne and the rest of you are not , one will settle it right now , it was you ever so humble lord and master that instigated this whole mess back when one was showing all and sundry how to surf and before you know it the girls got their nickers in a twist, knowing better than to approach the (un)disputed heavyweight champion in the surfing industry, they started to carry on like juveniles ,so as expected , one made a dignified retreat (bailed straight out of there) and headed back to ones castle . so thats the true story honest

Brutus as I said I spent the whole season there, surfed everywhere and never had a problem. All the Australians seemed quite comfortable to me and there was quite a crew that year as you presumably noticed. I would still like to know who ran where and at least a hint as to who was chickenshit since it stands as an insult to all of us who were there. As for the incident at Narrabeen I am not sure it was reported in the surf media but I am sure anyone who was around NN at the time would remember. Rory Russell was one of those involved. In regard to the other issue of Hawaiian thugs if you were on the North Shore that year and you can't name the two I described you must have had your head in the sand. If you know but don't think the description applies then we probably have different standards regarding the acceptability of criminal violence.

the whole bustin down the door crew..were the chickenshits,and the fact in the years to follow,that Kanga/Rab/thomson/MR etc ,were very uncomfortable to say the least,there was a noticable change in attitude to all the haoles....i have spoken to a lot of americans who also noticed the change.....

but you seem more interested in you and your mates being insulted ,than the aloha spirit.....which was severely tarnished by those "door busters"..amazing when you think that we aussies were still learning to surf hawaii,using hawaiin shaped bds,watching and being inspired by great hawaiin surfers,but demonstated little respect for their culture......

yeah we have different standards of criminal violence,it happens every day in the surf,as we surf in an anarchy based sport....if ya can't back it up ..shut up!

so the initial damage that was done, festered over thefollowing years..as there was no apology...and no remorse for the effect the "door busters" had.. but not too late!

So you are calling Wayne Batholomew, who probably rode the heaviest Pipe waves of anyone that year, chickenshit? And "the whole bustin' down the door crew" would have to include your mates PT and Kanga and the rest of the well known Aussies so the only non chickenshit Aussie that year was brave brutus. What a load of bulllshit! You are so far off the mark I am beginning to think you weren't even there.

blindthing,yeah rab was a chicken shit,as were all the other aussies,whose egos led them to make such silly statements,

they busted down the Aloha door,and when they found a mob of angry hawaiins behind the door,they whinged like girls about thugs,needing security,and found it very hard to free surf.....

and no I wasn't the only aussie who respected the Hawaiins,and their culture....wayne dean,john Pawson were in the house with us,and we were given a real aloha welcome......

just for the record....just because ya can surf and think you are better than someone else,does this give you the right to denigrate them?

brawling has never been one of Bugs stronger talents, lol, couldn't fight his way out of a wet paper bag.

hope some of these posts don't try to get on a Jetstar flight, cos they are well over the 20kg baggage threshold.

those guys kissed and made up decades ago.

whenever they re-unite they laugh about it all.

just like old state-of-origin adversaries.

Denigration or reality check? The southern hemisphere crew were the best surfers that season and the season before. The reasons for this are at least partially climatic. The east coast of Australia had had a succession of good years with plenty of size and quality all the way from Noosa to the Victorian border. At the same time for reasons that were never clear to me the next generation of Hawaiians who clearly had the ability and experience just didn't step up into the space left by that older generation of BK, Owl, Sam Hawk, Hakman etc.
The Hawaiians, through the likes of Fred Hemmings, had also been trying to control the competition structure and manipulate it in their favour. Personally I was never a fan of the whole professional "let's be like tennis and golf" mentality but that was the mood of the moment and though I disagreed with the concept I consider it took a great deal if personal courage to take on the existing structure head on.
Then there was the whole question of the relationship between the North Shore surfing scene and the Waikiki criminal scene. You may not have been aware of some of the stuff happening that year but there were quite a few drug related rip offs at gun point. I went to pick up a board that a mate had left for me and was greeted by the owner of the house at gun point. The night before he had been tied up while three crims ransacked his place looking for drugs and money. The hostility to the Australians may not have started with the crims but they were certain involved in the surfing community and probably still are. If you want to call people names feel free. Each of us who were there had our own experiences in the end with the few obvious , exceptions I tend to believe that people on both sides behaved In a civilized manner and, in a lot cases including Rabbit, with great personal integrity. You take a less generous approach maybe you should remember that 70s cliche about crowds "the vibe you give out is the one you get back". I had a fabulous time that year and so did the rest of the Australians I was in contact with. Maybe all those smiling faces who seemed quite happy to share their waves with us were hiding some deeper resentment but I don't think so. Happy surfing!

OK blindthing,the aussies were not the best surfers on the Nth shore,but were new,young brash.....there was no aussie that even came close to BK at sunset....for pure surfing abilty BK was the man...Reno was an incredible surfer and diplomat,and if ya didn't know it,his dad was shotgunned to death in a bar in the 60;s ,as he was head of the hawaiin mafia that kept all other criminal gangs out of hawaii.....when he died the gates were open for the yakuza,mafia etc.....so there has always been a criminal element as you call it,in surfing.....but your claim that the aussies were the best is merely your opinion.....
but if you think that gives you the right to "give a reality check to the hawaiins" that you are now great and they are not,thats your style,certainly not mine.

I have been lucky to spend nearly 30 years going to the North shore,and always hung with the hawaiins,and thats why i have a different insight into what the hawaiins felt and how hurt they were by the insults from the busted door crew.....

we all have opinions and our versions of what happened......my problem was i was in the middle...just ask rabbit,as his arse was saved numerous times by some of my hawaiin friends....

speaking of the aloha spirit...

whatever happened to johnny boy gomes.?

I seem to recall him being given a close inspection of a sawn off shut gun slotted inside an overcoat at Kirra one year .

just askin.?

All very interesting & would love to have been "a fly on the wall" during all this. Sorry havent read the bustin down the door book..what did Rabbit actually do wrong..got too many waves & forgot to say Aloaha!..Jeez Rab do us all a favour and do a K.Rudd say sorry and we can all move on. How did the Duke day go anyway?...

amb,just get a copy and read it,and ask what would happen today,or if brazillians came to aust and claimed the same thing...

sorry would be nice,but that means admitting you were wrong.....

Jeez, that discussion was interesting. And to Mr. Jarratt he does look indeed look terribly young for his age!

Onto Duke's Day. It was a great success and many thanks to Swellnet for the plug. Duke's Day will continue in 2013 & 2014 leading into the 2015 Anniversary of Duke's first visit to Freshwater.

Highlights? Bruce Raymond along with Steve & Barrie Boehne as our 2012 guest speakers. Just some wonderful stories and many, many laughs. However the real highlight was the genuine and sincere spirit of people wanting (maybe learning) a little more about Duke and the greater spirit of Aloha at hand.

2013 - We have Jack McCoy confirmed as one speaker and should have our second speaker confirmed soon. Thanks to all who attended, smiled, shared a wave or two and left Freshie a better place than when they found it.

Cheers!

great to see that Jack McCoy will be your next years Duke day,especially as his new movie deals with aloha,and he has similar opinions as myself to what happened with bustin down the door...maybe next years event could be a chance to say"sorry "...it's never too late,and i am sure jack would luv to do something that would end a dark chapter in ausr surfing history!

Series 6 > Tonight on Hard Quiz

{ Mel } Expert Subject "Duke Kahanamoku"
Crew are cheering on Surfie Chick Mel...Go for it!

The Hard Quiz Champion is...(No Spoiler!)
https://iview.abc.net.au/show/hard-quiz