A conch shell blared Saturday morning as canoes slipped off the sand at Kuhio Beach Park, heading out into the Waikiki surf that Donald Takayama loved so much.

Close to 200 of his friends and relatives were already circled up past the break, their hands clasped in honor of the surfboard craftsman known around the world for his aloha and generosity.

A song rose around the circle once everyone gathered under a slight drizzle.

"It was just beautiful," Takayama’s sister, Gwen Mole, said of the rain that seemed to fall just for her brother’s blessing.

"To see how many people loved him — I think he would have been happy."

Takayama, 68, died Oct. 22 from complications related to a surgery.

His death has deeply affected the surfing community that he always treated as his ohana.

"Donald was the man," fellow surfing legend Joey Cabell said during a remembrance ceremony on the beach before the paddle-out. "He was the man of making boards, he was the man of surfing, but there’s a part of Donald we’ve talked about already: He had an aloha about him. He was a giving, loving; he had the gift of life. He was kind; he was unbelievably kind."

World longboard champion Duane DeSoto said Takayama was the kind of man who made him want to be a better person.

"He was always smiling, always happy, (had) good things to say, and … it seemed like he didn’t have a care in the world every time you talked to him," DeSoto said. "I think as a surfer and someone who grew up seeing all these great people like Donald, it just makes me want to be like somebody like Donald, you know. And I think that a lot of us would say that he inspires us to be better people."

Takayama was born on Oahu, but he moved to California when he was 12 to pursue surfboard shaping.

He honed his craft with one of the best, Dale Velzy, and became what his admirers say is the best — not just because of his sought-after boards, but because of his spirit.

"There are a good handful of us all around the world that he played the other dad (for), the mentor, the devil’s advocate and the shoulder to cry on, the person to bounce ideas off of," said Mary Bagalso, who had known Takayama for 17 years and surfed on his Hawaiian Pro Design team.

"He was always thinking of other people," she said. "He would call you on your birthday, put your fins in on your board when you just bought it. It seemed like every board (was) an extension of who he is and why he made it that way."

A simultaneous paddle-out memorial for Takayama was held in Oceanside, Calif. More ceremonies, which Bagalso referred to as "rings of loyalty spread among many oceans," were organized in Italy, Japan, England, Australia and Brazil.

"There will be many words that you can read about him and his accomplishments in the world of surfing," Bagalso said. "But this man was so much more than the emblazed image in our minds from magazines and movies. He was a boy who grew up into a man with a zest for life and love for adventure. He’s a dedicated husband, brother, father, mentor and, in my mind, carries a doctorate in the highest honors of aloha."

Longtime friend Suzanne Walker said that Takayama and his wife, Diane, were planning on spending more time on Oahu, and they recently purchased a condo in Waikiki within walking distance of the beach.

"It was a perfect place because between the two buildings he could see the ocean, see the surf," said Mole, Takayama’s sister. "He loved that place, it’s just too bad he couldn’t, you know, live longer to really enjoy it."

Bagalso said Takayama tried to retire for many years, "but it was like asking him to not take a deep breath or enjoy the beauty of the ocean."

"The smile on his face when he sees someone stoked on one of his boards, that was Donald’s medicine," she said. "And he was addicted to that."

Takayama’s ashes will be spread when his wife dies because the couple planned to be laid to rest together in the waters off Waikiki, Walker said.

So flowers were symbolically tossed instead.

And everyone waited after the circle dispersed — grinning and laughing — to catch a wave back to shore riding one of Takayama’s treasured boards.