The Da Hui O He’e Nalu, or in English ‘the club of wave sliders’, is considered as one of the most notorious surf gangs in the world. The Black Shorts, as they’re also know, is a group of locals that protect their waves from tourists who disrespect the Hawaiian surfing culture and traditions.

Disrespect

There was a time in the ’70s when a few Australian surfers like Wayne ‘Rabbit’ Bartholomew, Mark Richards and Ian Cairns were invited into Hawaiian contests for the first time and pretty much won everything. This was unique and they wrote history. The only thing was, they started bragging about it. ‘We conquered Hawaii’ and ‘Aloha is Dead’ were some of the things they wrote. These magazines found their way back to the North Shore and the Hawaiians were furious.

Da Hui

The next winter Rabbit returned to surf the North Shore. As he paddled out the lineup cleared and he couldn’t believe his luck. Little did he know that he was about to be introduced to the Black Shorts for the first time. A group of Hawaiian giants paddled out on longboards and gave him a good old cracking. Respect and hierarchy have always roamed the Hawaiian waves but since then the Da Hui make sure everyone knows that the locals aren’t to be messed with.

Da Club was officially established in 1976 by a group of North Shore surfers to protect the rights of Hawaiian and local non-Hawaiian surfs. These are extreme and proud people who have strong feelings about Hawaiian culture and will stop at nothing to defend it.