Here’s another bit of island history found at the bottom of a box of my dad’s assorted papers.

It’s the program for the First Annual Lahaina Invitational Surfboard Paddling Races, dated June 11, 1960. Sponsored by the Maui Surf Club, Puunene, Maui. Click on the front cover to browse through the program.

It’s in poor condition because the color from the red cover leached through the interior pages. So cover ink plus normal aging let you know that this is 50 years old.

There’s also a handwritten cover letter from the event’s general chairman, Teruo Uchimura, to my father, John M. Lind, founder of the Waikiki Surf Club.

Inside the program is a brief history of surfing on Maui, tracing its modern history to the Hookipa Surfriders Club formed in 1935. The club held monthly meetings at Hookipa Park, and the county built surfboard lockers to hold 50 boards. Surfboard paddling races were held in Kahului Harbor on Kamehameha Day in 1939, and again in 1959 when surfing began a new revival.

There are also great advertisements for Maui businesses, some of which are still serving the island 50 years later.

Here’s a nice photo from the program, captioned “Maui Surfers”.