Blog

THE VARYING CULTURES OF TOKYO AND OSAKA David Kelly | Owner, Hawaiian South Shore One of the convenient perks of being a surfer is that we are often inspired to travel. Although we may plan most of our trips around swells and specific waves, the travel that we do in pursuit of surf, exposes us to a wide diversity of cultures, which broadens us and makes us better informed and more tolerant. Plus, it’s exciting! While it is common to find different cultures in different countries, many people fail to realize the cultural diversity that is present in different regions...

KUROSHIO CURRENT AND ITS EFFECT ON THE WEATHER David Kelly | Owner, Hawaiian South Shore I’d never heard about the Kuroshio Current until a couple of days ago. My wife was watching a documentary, and asked me if I knew what it was, or that it was possibly the reason Hawaii has had such wonky weather over the past few months. Anything that can affect the weather (and by extension, the surf) has my interest, so I decided I’d better dive in and start researching the phenomenon. The Kuroshio Current is a north flowing current located near Japan. It is similar...

I GUESS SHE WAS RIGHT… AGAIN David Kelly | Owner, Hawaiian South Shore I got my first tattoo when I was in the Navy, and I guess it was more of the influence of the people around me. Many on board the ship had them, and I was open to the idea of getting one. I have one on my chest and another on my leg. The leg tattoo was the first; it’s a sailing ship, in the form of a pirate’s ship. After being on board the ship and learning how things worked, I got really intrigued about how to...

THE WRONG IMPRESSION David Kelly | Owner, Hawaiian South Shore Twice a week for the past two or three years when I drop items off at the CPA, the office lady would come down to pick everything up. From the very beginning, she suggested that instead of me finding parking in the building, that she’d just come down when I come. It definitely saves me time, plus she can get some fresh air. Sometimes, I would be there just before lunch, so she would invite me to eat lunch with her boyfriend. After a few lunches together, I got to know...

For the past year or so, I really didn’t really give much thought to how long we’ve been selling the Takayama Halo Fins. It’s been our #1 selling fin for a long time, but I always thought it was about 10 years or so. When I posted it on Instagram, someone mentioned that he purchased one from us almost 15 years ago. Wow! Man, time flies! I had to verify this with Noah Shimabukuro, who’s from Maui, but has been in Oceanside with Donald since he was young, learning the ropes and now, he is the person heading up Takayama...

WHAT...? I DON'T UNDERSTAND? David Kelly | Owner, Hawaiian South Shore Back in 1990 or so, I was in the Navy. I remember when I first came to Hawaii, a lot of places reminded me of Okinawa, especially around Tantalus area and certain parts of Kaimuki. I went out to dinner with some friends after being here for about six months or so, I remember the place was called the Chuck Wagon or something like that, on Kapiolani. I think it was near McKinley Car Wash. I remember I had to make a phone call, and of course, in those...

MOGUSA – THE GREAT REMEDY David Kelly | Owner, Hawaiian South Shore When I was a kid growing up in Okinawa, I remember my parents always signed me up for sports. I was one of those kids that could never sit still, and I was always getting into things… so yeah, I was a hyper kid. I played soccer, football and baseball. My father was in the Marine Corps and the coaches were usually Marine Corps grunts (Marine in Infantry), so they didn't put up with any BS. I remember spraining my ankle often and when I did, the coach...

HAPPY NEW YEAR! DID YOU CLEAN HOUSE? David Kelly | Owner, Hawaiian South Shore In Japan, the New Year celebration is one of the most important events on the Japanese calendar. They have a variety of different customs and events. One big event is “Osoji,” what we call ‘Spring Cleaning.’ The ritual is traditionally done at the end of the year as an opportunity to reset and begin the new year fresh. If you didn’t do your end of year cleaning, do it now, it’s not too late! When I clean, I use straight baking soda and a scrub sponge...

NEW YEAR'S EVE: SHARK ATTACK ON THE NORTH SHORE Ricardo Taveira | Owner, Hawaii Eco Divers WARNING: THE IMAGES PROVIDED IN THIS ARTICLE ARE GRAPHIC. THEY ARE NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART. PLEASE PROCEED WITH CAUTION. Aloha did you hear or see the news about the lady that got bitten by a shark at Hulton's? After I heard about it the next day I received an e-mail from Ricardo. He owns Hawaii Eco Tours, whom I’ve met through his Apnea Surf Survival class. He sent me an e-mail and I wanted to share with you. Please get the word out...

Moskova Underwear Moskova is an underwear that will last you for years. I've been wearing mine for over 4 years, which isn't a rare case. These underwear are incredibly comfortable and are popular with the MMA Fighters for comfort and strength. (They use the ones that have a little longer length.)  Ocean Sunglasses  Looking for a gift for someone that fishes, surfs, boats or just works around the water? The Ocean Sunglasses from Europe are UVA, UVB, polarized and float. We've been selling these for the past 5 years. We have many different shapes and sizes at the shop to...

HOLIDAYS WERE LONESOME David Kelly | Owner, Hawaiian South Shore The support when you are underway on a ship between shipmates was something that kept your sanity, especially during the holidays. I was in the Navy prior to coming to Hawaii. Our home Port was in Yokosuka, Japan. During my time aboard (4 years), we were mostly out to sea. The longest we were in our home port was 3 months. The guys that were married with kids, had it tough. We’d spend a few weeks off Russia, then zoom down to another place for some operation with the fleet....

Hawaiian South Shore's Member of the Month - Mark When and what got you into surfing?  I grew up in Brooklyn, New York so surfing was really limited. My father took my brother and I to Nassau in the Bahamas when I was about 12. They were renting surfboards on the beach, so my dad rented me one and I paddled out, no lessons, no tips, pure kook in the water. It was the late 60's so the board was fairly cumbersome, but there was a young, tan, blonde haired college girl who took pity on me and spent some...

Apnea Surf Survival Class By David Kelly, Owner, Hawaiian South Shore Did you get a chance to read last month’s article by Matt Rott about wipeouts, hold-downs and how to survive them? Well that inspired me to take a class because I know 20 seconds feels a lot longer for me and sometimes I feel like I’m not able to hold my breath long enough when I get wiped out. When I posted that article on our blog and Facebook, one of our members sent us a link about a class called “Apnea Surf Survival Class.” I’ve heard about this...

It was around seven years ago, on a surf trip to the Coffs Harbour region of Australia’s NSW, that I first started noticing TCSS logos. And no wonder. At the time, The Critical Slide Society was a fledgling enterprise started by two local boys, Jim Mitchell and Sam Coombes. In fact, it was more of a movement than a brand. TCSS started as a blog, and slowly grew into a community. But then things started to gain momentum, and suddenly, less than a decade later, TCSS is a multi-million dollar surf brand. The irony, of course, is that TCSS is...

While soft-top boards were all but written off 10 years ago, these days it seems like everyone has one. From total beginners to pros who rip the snot out of them and paddle them into double-overhead Pipe, foamie surfboards are everywhere. Jamie O’Brien has pretty much built a career around surfing critical barrels on soft-tops, and pulling stunts like mid-barrel transfers from foamies to normal boards. Kalani Robb has seen his career revived after signing with a soft-top brand, and Koa and Alex Smith are notorious for breaking and returning so many soft-tops to Costco that they forced the retail...

  I’m on a surf trip in Iceland at the moment—that’s 66 degrees north, just a hair shy of the arctic circle. In other words, it’s cold. At the moment, the water is around 48 degrees, the air is a bit less, and the wind is ripping at a solid 40 knots. But it’s ripping offshore, which means that I’m doing multiple sessions per day. After all, the wind could turn tomorrow and it could be onshore for weeks—gotta get it while it’s good! Having grown up in Hawaii and spent 15 years on an island in the south Pacific,...

We won't bore you with our biased opinion of why we love our tees so much, hell, we designed ‘em, we had better like them, right? But it’s what we can’t show you on screen that you should be paying attention to.  All the cotton we use throughout our range of tee shirts is 100% Organic. “Ah yeah, cool man. Pretty cliché though. What isn’t organic these days?” Actually, it’s not as common as you may think, and the global benefits are pretty amazing. You see, conventional cotton accounts for about a quarter of the world’s insecticide usage, 10% of pesticides and it’s...