Inspired by Dorian "Doc" Paskowitz, the man credited with introducing surfing to Israel, Nadav Elimeleh says he started surfing in his native Israel when he was 10 years old and dreamed of moving to Hawaii to pursue his passion.
Elimeleh realized his dream in 2003 and even met his inspiration after arriving here. He said he took off from work after spotting Paskowitz and had a two-hour conversation with the person he calls the Duke Kahanamoku of Israel.
"At that time he actually inspired me even more," he recalled. "He gave me a lot of strength, not in surfing, in life. It was an amazing conversation I will never forget."
Others shared similar stories Saturday at a memorial in Waikiki for the man also known as the patriarch of the first family of surfing and founder of a renowned surfing school in Southern California.
Paskowitz died last November at 93. His wife, Juliette, son Moses and daughter Navah were in Waikiki Saturday to spread his ashes in the ocean just past the break in view of the Duke Kahanamoku statue.
Moses said his father was born in Galveston, Texas, moved to California when he was 12 and, after marrying his third wife, raised him and his eight siblings in camper vans in California, Hawaii, Mexico and South America. However, he said, Hawaii was his father’s life.
"In June 1939 he came to Hawaii because he heard of people surfing here. When he came around Diamond Head, he said you could smell the flowers and he almost jumped off. That year changed his life forever," Moses said.
He said his father wanted his ashes spread at Waikiki, at San Onofre, a surfing spot near San Clemente, Calif., that he helped popularize, and in Tel Aviv, Israel. Moses said he spread his father’s ashes at San Onofre last year and hopes to do the same in Tel Aviv in July.
Among the people attending Friday’s memorial was former state lawmaker and former world champion surfer Fred Hemmings.
He said when he was growing up, Paskowitz was one of the prominent surfers who frequented Waikiki Beach.
"I distinctly remember he had a beautiful balsa surfboard with the Star of David on it. Many of us called him Doc Israel out of respect," Hemmings said.
Paskowitz picked up the moniker "Doc" because he was a physician and had practiced medicine in Hawaii in the 1950s.
Hemmings said Paskowitz’s contemporaries were the other big-name surfers and beachboys of the time.
World record-breaking big wave surfer Garrett McNamara said he met Paskowitz through one of Paskowitz’s sons, Israel.
Israel founded Surfers Healing, a nonprofit organization that takes autistic children surfing.
McNamara said he went on a Surfers Healing tour of the country’s East Coast with his son, Israel and his son, and Paskowitz. From then on he said he always counted on Paskowitz for advice in all aspects of life.
"He helped me quite often with anything that was troubling me or any time I was going on a mission and I was struggling with thought. I would call him for guidance and he always picked up and gave me amazing guidance and amazing advice," McNamara said.
Newly crowned Big Wave World Tour champion Makua Rothman said Paskowitz taught him breathing techniques to overcome his asthma while surfing.
He said he saw Paskowitz as a grandfather.
Rothman said when he was 10 years old and traveled for the first time by himself to California for a surf contest, Paskowitz took him in at the Paskowitz Surf Camp. And when he was not doing well in his personal life, Rothman said, Paskowitz gave him the advice he needed to pick himself up.
"All of my surfing success I owe to Doc," Rothman said. "I bettered myself and now I’m the world champion. I would have loved for him to see it."
