Who is the most influential surfer: Poll results

Thanks to everyone who voted in our "Who is the most influential surfer of all time?" Poll. We are going to keep it running for while to see who comes in second and third (Its Laird and Gerry in the running for now), but the book for winner is closed with Duke Kahanamoku taking the top spot with 36% of the vote.

Voting Duke as being the most influential surfer of all time is no real surprise as the man is the father of modern surfing. He laid the foundation stones that lead to the phenomenal expansion of global surfing and "beach boy" lifestyle aspirations we embrace today. So as promised we are going to run a biog on the winner of the poll and follow this up at a later date with Bio's on the second and third placed surfers. Duke Kahanamoku's story is a fascinating one, so to do it justice we are going to break it down into sections:

Duke Kahanamoku: The early years

"Duke", who was born Aug 24th 1890, inheriting his name from his father, Halapu Kahanamoku, who was christened "Duke" by Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop in honour of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, who was visiting Hawaii at the time of his fathers birth in 1869.
Duke Grew up on the outskirts of Waikiki spending his formative years as one of the original beach boys. Waikiki Beach was the perfect environment to nuture and develop his surfing and swimming skills, which would influence his life and so many others around him.