A passionate chant filled the salty air, just steps from the waves at the Huntington Beach Pier where Kolby Aipa could be found riding waves on any given day.
“I am Kolby! I am Kolby!” the crowd let out loudly, a mantra that has reverberated throughout Surf City in recent weeks since the death of the beloved young surfer. A bronze plaque honoring Aipa into the Surfers’ Hall of Fame was added during an emotional ceremony on Thursday, Sept. 19, next to grandfather Ben Aipa’s cement stone from 2018 honoring the iconic Hawaiian board shaper.
Both are placed just below a statue of Duke Kahanamoku, a Hawaiian “ambassador of aloha” who 100 years ago came to Huntington Beach to spread the surfing stoke.
“Aloha is a word that gets used so lightly. But the depth and meaning is so heavy. It’s the very reason we even exist as people, to love each other,” said an emotional Duke Aipa, during the ceremony. “There’s so much division and hate in the world that makes zero sense, because we’re here to love each other.”
Now, Duke Aipa’s mission is to share the aloha, like his father Ben and son Kolby, and Kahanamoku, he said, to share love and respect for one another the way they all did during their lives.
The surf community has been mourning Kolby Aipa, who died in an e-bike accident in early August; there is a paddle-out memorial planned on Saturday, Sept. 20, at the Huntington Beach Pier.
“This was to recognize Kolby Aipa for his contributions to the surfing world, in the little time he was with us,” Aaron Pai, owner of Huntington Surf and Sport and founder of the Surfers’ Hall of Fame, of the new plaque.
Aipa’s induction makes him the youngest-ever among the collection of iconic surfers who have had an impact on the surfing world, which include his grandfather, Ben Aipa, who wrote the word “aloha” next to his hand and foot prints, as well as world champions such as Kelly Slater and Lisa Andersen, and more than 100 others who have influenced surf culture, innovation and sport.
“Though born in surf royalty, Kolby’s greatest impact came not through trophies or titles, but how he loved humbly, deeply and without condition,” Pai said.
Aipa was a standout on the amateur circuit, winning several National Scholastic Surfing Association titles during the 2022-23 season. He was a soul surfer with a natural ability to find barrels.
At a recent city surf contest, a group of two dozen local kids had the letters “KA” written on their surfboards in honor of Aipa.
“I think that’s a testament to who he was in the water,” said friend Taylor Pai. “Everyone loved surfing with Kolby in the water. I loved watching him surf. He was super special, in the water and on the land.”
Aipa was described by friends and loved ones as a surfer who spread kindness and was humble in and out of the water.
“He became a modern ambassador of aloha,” Pai said.
Aipa’s grandfather was a staple in the surf world, friends with Kahanamoku after he started surfing in the ’40s, a strong surf competitor who became well known for his “double-edged swallowtail” design after watching the swift movements of swallow birds.
Duke Aipa and his family moved to Huntington Beach from Hawaii about a decade ago. Duke Aipa is a regular at surf ceremonies, often blowing the pu, or conch shell, and leading prayers.
“The blowing of the pū is not just a sound, it’s not a thing – it’s an honest invitation to connect those who have passed before us, with us in this moment,” he said, repeating the ritual Thursday during his son’s induction into the Hall of Fame.
Surfers recounted stories of Kolby Aipa, a building-sized image of the young ripper on the side of the HSS building looking back at the crowd, flowers added to a memorial that has grown at the site.
Peter “PT” Townend, surfing’s first world champion, talked about getting a warm greeting from Aipa in the morning as he worked at Sugar Shack, then later in the evening as the youngster would be on the night shift at HSS, where he worked for four years.
“I’ve done a few eulogies in my time, this one will be tough. Like Billy Joel sang, ‘Only the good die young,’” Townend said.
Coach Andy Verdone talked about Aipa’s years as captain of the Huntington Beach High School surf team, a surfer who “always found the barrel,” who could see perfection in an imperfect wave.
“At 20, he lived the life better than many 80 or 90-year-olds,” Verdone said.
Aipa’s best surfing came when he was competing on a team, Verdone said.
When the Huntington Beach Boardriders Club was invited to a contest in Australia, the first-ever international competition for the group, Aipa was one of the four surfers selected to represent Surf City.
“We didn’t advance as a team, and Kolby was so mad, so disappointed. It wasn’t because he didn’t come out of the tube, it was because he knew a whole city was watching, and that’s all he cared about,” said Chris Moreno, co-founder of the Boardriders.
At the ceremony, Aipa’s family, parents Duke and Val and sister Sky, spread Aipa’s ashes around the plaque, later covered in cement to become a permanent addition to the Hall of Fame site in front of the HSS surf shop.
“I’m trying not to take this as a moment of sadness, I’m really trying to embrace this as a moment of pride and love … legends never set out to be legends,” Duke Aipa said. “They just live their life and leave it up to us to celebrate them.”
The elder Aipa called his son “a torch-bearer for the Duke’s flame of love and aloha, which will burn forever brightly here in the city of Huntington Beach.”
“Kolby Aipa, you have the heart of Huntington,” he said through tears. “I love you boy.”
The paddle-out memorial in Aipa’s honor starts at 9 a.m. on Saturday on the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier by lifeguard Tower 2.