John Kelly Hydroplane Surfboard Day

Born in San Francisco but raised on Black Point in Honolulu after his parents moved to Oahu, John Kelly Jr. bore the mind of his two artist parents, John Kelly Sr. and his wife Katharine. John and his parents were good friends with the Kahanamoku family. Unsatisfied with how the plank surfboards would not hold into the wall of a wave, by 1937 he designed the Hot Curl surfboard, a board that modified the squared plank design of surfboards of that time by rounding the tail section of the plank. A Kelly finless redwood hot curl board sold for more than $40,000 in one of Randy Rarick’s Surf Auctions.
From redwood to balsa, from finless to added skegs, surfboard design flourished through the 1950s. By 1963 in a quest to take more control over the biggest waves at Makaha and Sunset Beach, Kelly designed and patented a split hull design surfboard which he called the HYDROPLANE. I believe his intention was to give the board the speed to paddle into big waves while giving the same board better turning control once on the wave.
John was one of those early surfers featured in Bud Browne’s early surf films like Gun Ho.
John Kelly authored a 304 page book, 'Surf and Sea', which Matt Warshaw cites as the most comprehensive book on the aspects of surfing ever written up to that time.
A Marine Corps Medalist for diving exploits after WWII, his history is peppered with the social politics of the early 1960s as a communist party member with Pete Seeger, as a cofounder in Hawaii of Save Our Surf (after the loss of Garbage Hole surf break at the entrance to Ala Moana Harbor), and as a graduate of Julliard School of Music. He advocated Hawaiian Sovereignty (John’s wife Marion was Hawaiian) through the 1980s and tirelessly advocated for environmental awareness.
I received word that three surfboard collectors would be getting together at Inter-Island Surf Shop in Kapahulu to compare their three Kelly Hydroplane boards.
Greg Lui-Kwan, Barry Morrison, and Darren Park were surprised to compare the differences in their boards and to see three of the more famous surfboards in surfing history at the same location sixty years after the original board was designed and patented.
Randy Rarick checked in with a correction: Saw the clip you guys did on the Hydro. Very nice. One correction, you had it wrong about “Surfing on High Heels”. That was stated by Paul Strauch, not Joey Cabell. As you know I’ve restored about eight of them and I have John Kelly’s old templates, which his daughter gave to me, when he passed away.
A second comment by surf author and historian John Clark:
Thanks, Kyle. Interesting video. I have a quick story about John Kelly’s hydro.
My family home for 40 years (1952-92) was at Kaalawai on Palaoa Place, which is near Triangle Park. So Brown’s was one of my backyard breaks, and a spot John K. surfed, too. Living on Black Point Rd, he was close by. One day when Brown’s was breaking, John paddled out on a new board and showed me his unique hydroplane design. He said he’d just made the board and asked me if I wanted to try it. I said sure, so we switched boards. I was riding a 9’0” Velzy. I caught an overhead wave and angled right. Then I stepped forward to trim and the board accelerated so fast, I fell backwards and lost it. No leashes in the mid-60s, so I had a long swim in after it and luckily there weren’t any dings from the reef. I paddled back out, thanked John, and gave him his board back. I didn’t want to swim again.
And a final comment from Mark Cunningham: Awesome Kyle, wish I’d heard. Would’ve loved to have brought down the one Katye and I acquired years ago at one of Randy’s first auctions. In CA. now, I’ll send a few pics when I get home.
ALOHA, MC
A new comment from Bob Hudson.
As a high school kid in the early 60s I purchased a Gordon Woods hydroplane from John Kelly at his home on Black Point. He was bringing some in from Australia as I understood but may have been NZ ??? I can send you a photo from a surf magazine from back then of me dropping in on an overhead wave at Haleiwa if you're interested. Bob Hudson.
Thanks to Michael Leonard for the use of his music on this video.

[@aliaskong1723]

Barry did you go to HBA in the 60s? I rode a hydroplane in the 60's and it was very maneuverable. Around Ewa Beach.