{"id":116072,"date":"2021-01-19T05:56:24","date_gmt":"2021-01-18T20:56:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/go-naminori.com\/kirbyfukunaga\/?p=116072"},"modified":"2021-01-18T13:58:28","modified_gmt":"2021-01-18T04:58:28","slug":"aloha-coach-ben-aipa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/go-naminori.com\/kirbyfukunaga\/?p=116072","title":{"rendered":"Aloha Coach Ben Aipa…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"when i was a teenager, Ben Aipa was my shaper, and also my surf coach. \u00a0he was very strict, but very dedicated. \u00a0throughout the years, i would always see him on the beach or in the water, and we would share stories and laughs.<\/p>\n

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and when he surfed, my camera would always be on this legend. \u00a0a true Hawaiian surfer that i respected very much.<\/p>\n

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and when my friends from Japan would come to Hawaii, i would always introduce Ben to everyone.<\/p>\n

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and we would go out and share waves. \u00a0i would always tell everyone, “when you see Ben paddle for a wave, don’t even try to paddle. \u00a0just watch.”<\/p>\n

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Ben use to hang out at contests coaching Hawaii’s best. \u00a0and i’ll never forget the first time i took Shun Murakami surfing at Kewalos. \u00a0Ben was watching Shun carefully and told me “that Japanese kid is really good!” and that’s a huge compliment coming from him.<\/p>\n

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hey Ben, thank you for being such a great coach and shaper! \u00a0and also thank you for just being a nice guy to me and my friends. \u00a0i appreciate all those years of coaching and i will continue to use your techniques when i coach my students. \u00a0goodbye Big Ben…<\/p>\n

watch this video of classic Hawaiian style surfing by Ben Aipa…<\/p>\n