Legends
Rabbit Kekai: Waikīkī Beachboy and Surfing Legend
Jun
Rabbit Kekai: The Last of the Waikīkī Beachboys
If you’ve ever felt the freedom of sliding down a wave, you owe something to Rabbit Kekai.
Born in Honolulu in 1920 and raised on the sands of Waikīkī, Rabbit was more than just a surfer—he was a living bridge between the ancient Hawaiian tradition of wave riding and the global surf culture we know today. Starting at age ten, he trained under Duke Kahanamoku himself, learning not just how to surf and paddle outrigger canoes, but how to live aloha—with humility, humor, and heart.
A Surfer Raised by the Sea
Rabbit was paddling out before most kids today learn to swim—he started at age three under his uncle’s watch and was surfing solo by five. By his teens in the mid-1930s, he was charging the powerful outer reefs of Oʻahu on finless “hot curl” boards, pioneering new moves like the drop-knee bottom turn and hotdogging—quick-footed, zigzagging maneuvers that were decades ahead of their time. He wasn’t just keeping up with the sport—he was rewriting it.
They called him “Rabbit” because of his speed and agility, both on land and in the water. But his real gift wasn’t just his talent—it was how he shared it.
He backed up the flash with results, too. Rabbit won both the Makaha International and the Peruvian International, cementing his reputation as one of the most complete surfers of his generation—equally dangerous on a wave and calculating in a heat.
War and a Return to the Water
Like most able-bodied men of his generation, Rabbit Kekai set surfing aside when World War II arrived. He served with the Navy’s Underwater Demolition Teams—the forerunners of today’s Navy SEALs—clearing the way for American landings across the Pacific. When the war ended, he came home to Waikīkī and picked up almost exactly where he’d left off, spending the next several decades as one of the beach’s most beloved fixtures.
Waikīkī Beachboy to World Ambassador
As one of the last original Waikīkī beachboys, Rabbit carried on the tradition of surf instructors who taught tourists, entertained with ukulele, and kept the stoke alive for everyone who came to the beach. He could be seen at Canoes, smiling and joking between sets, still paddling out well into his 80s.
Rabbit was a mentor to generations of surfers—including Joey Cabell, Donald Takayama, and Harold Iggy—and counted many of the biggest names in modern surf history among his students. He didn’t care where you were from—if you loved the ocean, you were family.
More Than a Legend
Though Rabbit passed away in 2016 at the age of 95, his legacy lives on in every surfer who drops into a wave with style, respect, and soul. He was inducted into the International Surfing Hall of Fame (1991), the Surfing Walk of Fame in Huntington Beach (2001), and the inaugural class of the Hawaiʻi Waterman Hall of Fame (2010)—and in 2012, his hand and footprints were set in cement at the Surfers’ Hall of Fame. Yet he remained humble to the end.
He didn’t surf for fame or fortune—he surfed because it was who he was.
Rabbit’s Legacy
At hawaii.surf, we honor Rabbit Kekai not just as a surfer, but as a cultural icon who carried the torch of Hawaiian surfing through war, tourism booms, and changing tides.
As Longboard magazine put it back in 1998, capturing exactly what made him irreplaceable:
“Rabbit is the living link to surfing’s entire modern history.”
Mahalo, Rabbit. You’ll always be part of the wave.
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