サーフ・ウィズ・ア・レジェンドビル・ハミルトンと学ぶ人生の波の乗り方

ウォーターマンの流儀は、海への深い敬意と海との相乗効果によって成り立っている。カウアイ島の伝説的なサーファーでありシェイパーであるビル・ハミルトンは、その驚くべき例である。子供の頃から波や砂の上で毎日を過ごすビルは、海の中が自分の家のようにくつろげる場所だと感じている。

サーフィンは幼い頃から彼の人生の中心となり、海を研究し、海との関係を日々深めるための爽快な出口を与えてくれた。やがてサーフィンへの愛情は人生のあらゆる局面を超越するようになり、やがて彼は自分の手で超個性的なサーフボードをデザインし、作り始めた。それから数十年、彼はこの精神を体現し、海での時間を大切にし、細部にまでこだわったカスタムサーフボードを作り続けている。

サーファーとして、そしてシェイパーとしての彼のユニークな道のり、世界中のお気に入りのサーフスポット、デザインの背後にあるインスピレーション、若い頃の自分へのアドバイス、そして1 Hotel Hanalei Bay素晴らしい「サーフ・ウィズ・ア・レジェンド」体験について、ビルに話を聞いた。 

カウアイ島の伝説的サーファー＆シェイパー、ビル・ハミルトンにインタビュー

You’ve said that your early lessons in life were taught to you by the great outdoors and watermen. How did nature help to carve your career path?

I continue to thank my parents for providing an awesome environment to grow up in. We moved to Laguna Beach, California in 1950 and settled into a small apartment above the beach with a grand view of the ocean. I had salt water and sand on my body from day one, and I continue to have that to this day nearly 75 years later. The ocean and its surroundings became my teacher as did the people who frequented it. Fortunately for me, the epicenter of surfboard building and wave riding was just a few miles to the south of Laguna, Dana Point. In 1959, at the age of 11, I purchased my first used surfboard from Joyce and Dick Pettit, who happened to be a resin and fiberglass salesman with surfboard and sailboat magnate Hobie Alter and some of the boat designers and builders in Newport Beach, like Joe Quigg. I was surrounded by ocean people and quite naturally became one myself. As a diver and a fisherman, I learned skills that I would later use as a commercial fisherman on Kauaʻi. Probably the most pivotal experience of my life was traveling to Hawaiʻi when I was 14 to surf in the Makaha International contest in December 1963. I fell head over heels for the environment of the islands and discovered at a very young age that I wanted to spend the rest of my life as a lifelong surfer and ocean-born man.

What is your favorite memory of surfing and your favorite place that you’ve surfed? 

Surfing has a magical, almost mystical, and spiritual presence in the sense that you exist purely in the present moment and it's very addicting. The feeling of having saltwater on your body for hours on end also has an electrifying effect on your entire being. Having mastered the surfing technique over many decades of time, I find myself flying over the water with the freedom of a bird. The surfing experience when you reach that level is all-encompassing. I have surfed in many beautiful places throughout the world and discovered a few notable surfing locations. One of them is in France, called Hossigor, and also Nazarre in Portugal in 1968. But the best surfing memories are on Kauaʻi and the queen of all surfing locations, Hanalei Bay.

You’re known as a legend within the surf community for both pioneering the world as a surfer, but also as a shaper. Can you share what inspires your designs?

Making surfboards for good surfers and being able to ride the designs with knowledge of how they work, from small to Mount Everest gigantic. Hydrodynamic theory is constantly being explored. Right now, I am shaping the old surfboard designs from the 14th to the 17th century in Hawaiʻi. The surfboards are incredibly designed and crafted from native wood like breadfruit (ʻulu) and koa and the very light wiliwili. It's amazing to me how advanced the early Hawaiian surfboard designs were. I’m sure they were traveling sideways and at very great speeds. The water ski thinness of the rails and their square hard edges, combined with modern-day thickness and width, made for an exceptional craft. It became a lost art at the turn of the 18th century but was rediscovered in 2006 by a pro surfer in South Africa, who copied one he had seen in a museum in England.

What advice would you give to a younger you? Similarly, what advice would you give to a surfer coming to Kauaʻi for the first time?

Ask me this question 50 years ago, I would say follow your heart. But with wisdom, I will add a bit more. It's important to find and pursue the things you love. It's also important to take inventory of yourself. Who are you? Why are you? The fact that we are given a lifetime with a body to make it well over seventy years on this planet, you need to take care of yourself and check the oil now and then. Remember that the choices you make sometimes will change your entire life, for better or worse. My motto has been to leave this a better place than I found it. Never create chaos in thought or action, and maintain a high degree of light and happiness.

What advice would you give to a younger you? Similarly, what advice would you give to a surfer coming to Kauaʻi for the first time?

Ask me this question 50 years ago, I would say follow your heart. But with wisdom, I will add a bit more. It's important to find and pursue the things you love. It's also important to take inventory of yourself. Who are you? Why are you? The fact that we are given a lifetime with a body to make it well over seventy years on this planet, you need to take care of yourself and check the oil now and then. Remember that the choices you make sometimes will change your entire life, for better or worse. My motto has been to leave this a better place than I found it. Never create chaos in thought or action, and maintain a high degree of light and happiness.

1 Hotel Hanalei Bay "伝説のサーフ "体験と、その特徴について教えてください。

私はパーソナライズされたサーフボードを作るテーラーです。あなたの体格、体重、水の経験、どんな波に乗るか、現在のサーフボードのサイズ、サーフボードに何を求めているか、具体的なアート（色、デザインなど）の希望など、細かいことまですべてお話しします。あなたの技術レベルに応じて、親切でストレスのないエリアや、シングルブラックやダブルブラックダイヤモンドの領域にお連れします。カウアイ島に50年住み、1974年にハナレイで最初のサーフスクールを設立した経験から、教えることが大好きで、経験も豊富です。1 Hotel Hanalei Bay 、ウェルネス・メニューを多数用意しています。天候に恵まれれば、思い出に残る一日になるでしょう。マハロ

レジェンドとサーフ 

1 Hotel Hanalei Bay、ビル・ハミルトンとともに思い出に残る1日をお過ごしください。90分のプライベート・サーフ・セッションから、ハミルトン自身とのプライベートな食事まで、サーフィンの奥深さをはるかに超えた、かけがえのない知恵を得ることができるはずです。