Free Surf Day for Kula Kaiapuni O Lahaina

At Gotʻum Surfing surf school, some of the most meaningful days in the water are the ones focused on giving back to our community. Recently, we had the privilege of hosting free surf lessons for haumāna (students) of Kula Kaiapuni o Lahaina, a West Maui Hawaiian language immersion program. What a solid day of learning, perpetuating our culture, and connection. This has been a part of our Got’um Surfing mission: getting Hawaiian keiki in the ocean.

As a Hawaiian, I grew up at the beach and not just at the beach, but surfing. It has always been a mission of mine to get the kids who live here out in the ocean. An even bigger part of that mission is getting Hawaiian keiki into the wai and connected to the ocean.

We started teaching surf lessons in 2008, and since then we’ve taught thousands of keiki from around the world. However, we never had the opportunity to teach local kids from Hawaiʻi.

As a surf school, we believe that surfing should be accessible to everyone. Surfing is not just an activity people do on their Maui vacation. Surfing brings us in direct alignment with perpetuating Hawaiian culture. Providing free lessons to local youth is one small way we can help share the joy of surfing and strengthen our connection to the community. These ʻōpio represent the future of Hawaiʻi. They are the caretakers of ʻāina, and we are grateful for the opportunity to strengthen their connection to the land and waters and their kuleana to care for it.

It was a huge honor to teach the keiki of Kula Kaiapuni o Lahaina and help them learn heʻe nalu. Mahalo to the haumāna and ʻohana who joined us, we had just as much fun as you did.

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mālama i ka ʻāina a me ke kai

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If you're a school, youth organization, sports team, homeschool group, nonprofit, or business looking for a unique and meaningful group activity, we'd love to connect. Contact us today to learn more about group bookings, partnerships, and special events.

Mahalo for being part of our journey!