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By: Kristie Griffith
Photos: Nikki Brooks

Foam Magazine Fall 2007

This is my article on Tiare Lawrence, Hawaiian stand-up paddler (SUP) out of Makaha. It is in the current issue of Foam magazine. Words below pictures…

Tiare Lawrence… Makaha’s Adopted Daughter

By: Kristie Griffith

Maui-bred waterwoman Tiare Lawrence is known around Makaha as the “Hanai Keaulana,” which is the Hawaiian way of saying she is pretty much an adopted family member of the famous Hawaiian surfing clan the Keaulanas. Makaha is a strong hold of Hawaiian surf culture, and the Keaulanas might be considered the nucleus of that beach.

Growing up on Maui, Tiare and her siblings (all younger-two boys and a girl) were referred to as the “harbor rats.” Every day before and after school and on weekends, they faithfully made their way to the Lahaina Harbor to ride various types of surf craft-from bodyboards to longboards to canoes. Tiare also began paddling for an outrigger canoe club and dancing the hula.

She met the Keaulanas as a child through her uncle Archie Kalepa and grew up spending holiday breaks in Makaha with the family. Brian Keaulana, the renowned waterman, lifeguard and stuntman, chose her as his tandem partner when she was 12. The duo competed together for two years in Maui contests until she started becoming a woman and was too heavy to lift. When she entered high school, she competed in a lot of bodyboarding and longboarding contests. Her life changed direction right after graduation, when she was one of five local girls chosen to dance professional hula in Japan for Tokyo Disney. She had a blast, visiting various cities and enjoying the people and the culture.

When her time was up, she moved to Oahu. Her boyfriend during that period was from there and he got her into shortboarding. Although settled in Makaha, she was lured back to Maui for a lucrative job with the performance troupe Ulalena. In what might be a first for a Hawaiian surfer chick-she headed to Montreal, Canada for circus school. The discipline she studied was called Tissue [in French it sounds cooler (tiss-oooo)]. It consists of performing acrobatics on synthetic silk sheets that hang 30 feet. “It was eight hours every day of blood, sweat and tears-literally,” Tiare says. “I never thought my body could go as hard as it did. Your hands, because you are gripping for dear life on a tissue, your hands get really worn out. You can get burns from the tissue, when you slide down the sheets. The sheets burn your skin. We had to do 100 pushups. We’d put one leg on a chair and the other leg on another chair and do the splits and balance for five minutes.” She returned to Hawaii looking like a bodybuilder and rivaling her male cousin’s biceps.

Tiare went with the flow, performing for Ulalena as a hula dancer and aerialist in tissue for two years until a doctor gave her an ultimatum-be an acrobat or be a surfer/paddler. Her shoulder was too wrecked and overworked to do both. She gave up the money and the troupe and moved back to her soul home-Makaha, near her adopted family-the Keaulanas. “They mean the world to me,” Tiare says. “Especially Uncle Brian because he’s my biggest motivator. He has motivated me and inspired me and he is someone that has always believed in me and believed that I can go big and I can do it… I lost my dad (as a teenager) so having Uncle Brian and Uncle Buff at the beach, I have a sense of security with them.” Tiare also loves Makaha for the consistency and power of the waves. She surfs everyday during the winter when the waves are big and about three days a week during the summer. She can’t wait for the big winter swells to march back into her life.

Her latest love is the revived beach boy discipline, stand-up paddle (SUP). The boards are large, generally 12 feet long, 30 inches wide and four to five inches thick. SUP’ers can even snake longboarders by sitting way outside. The boards are ridden standing up with one long paddle (six inches longer than the surfer) used to steer the board and propel it through the water. SUP is perfect for Tiare, as it blends her loves of surfing and canoe paddling into one activity. As yet, there are no women-only categories for SUP and Tiare competes against the men. She recently made it to the semi-finals of the open C4 Waterman event at Queen’s in Waikiki. She is also training for a 28-mile race across the Molokai Channel at the end of this month, which will take five to eight hours, depending on conditions. “If it’s dead wind, I’m not crossing it,” she says. “It’s gonna be way too gnarly, it would take like 14 hours. But if there’s wind and surf, I’m gonna do it.” If Tiare crosses, she will be following in the footsteps of her Uncle Archie who was the first person to cross the Molokai Channel on a stand up paddleboard during the 2004 Quiksilver Molokai to Oahu Paddleboard race.
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In addition to SUP, Tiare competes with the Hawaiian Canoe Club on Maui. During the race season, June to October, she flies over three times per week for practice and competition. At night, she is a cocktail waitress at a local hotel that strategically allows her days free for surfing, school and training. She takes classes at a local junior college where she is trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life. One thing she is certain of is that she is pushing her surfing to the limit and wants to step up to the boys in competition-just like her S-hero Rell Sunn did. At 25, she has plenty of time to hone her skills and keep the bros on their toes.

Tiare has a sweet groove going on and, although single, is open to meeting a cool person. “Do you know any hot young guys? Bring em’ my way! They have to surf, have to be ocean-oriented so they can block waves for me! Block guys from catching waves and let me go and catch the wave!” Spoken like a woman with her priorities straight…..

Sponsors: Honey Girl Swimsuits, Xcel, and C4 Waterman.