The Conversation: Election results; Capturing the solar surface

Aloha, this is Catherine Cruz. Mahalo for joining us here on the conversation. It is Monday, August 10th. We talk about the results from the primary election, the winners, the losers, and we look ahead to showdowns in the general election. We take a closer look at the Democrats' post-primary election tradition, the unity breakfast. And we also hear about new research that zooms in on the surface of the sun with help from a Maui telescope. Solar physicists are calling it a breakthrough discovery. And we get to know the first skateboarder to be inducted into the Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame, from riding drainage ditches in Hawaii, Kai, to hanging with the Dogtown crew and competing with the likes of Tony Hawk. You're tuned to the conversation here on Hawaii Public Radio. I'm Catherine Cruz. It has been a long-standing tradition for Democrats to meet the morning after the election for a unity breakfast. And that is where our government reporter, Audrey McElwoy, was bright and early after a long night tracking results of the primary. Good morning. Good morning, Catherine. Yeah, it's always fun to see that, you know, because you've got the winners and the losers. And, you know, the losers are trying to put on the best face, even though they're still licking their wounds. Yes, I think that sort of captures what I saw. There were a lot of... very happy candidates, those who won and then those who lost, maybe were looking a little more sad. But Ed Case looked thrilled, like a load of been lift off his shoulders. And another thing, so in some of the speeches, some of the more experienced politicians talked about when they lost what it was like. And they were really trying to give encouraging words to those who... who fell short and to encourage them to run again and to not not. give up. Yes, campaigns are stressful. Yeah, and Brian Schatz in particular, he shared how, you know, when he first ran for Congress, he hadn't lost any races up until that point when he had been in the state legislature and he was sharing how he thought, oh, I'll run for Congress, this will be good. And then he wound up placing sixth in a very crowded field. But, you know, he has gone on to become a U.S. Senator. And so, you know, that setback did not. hurt his career. Yes, and I know the candidates generally try and, you know, show up, but not everybody.

can make it. Yeah, well, so one major person missing was the winner of the party's nomination for lieutenant governor. Derek Kaakami did not make it. His campaign manager told the crowd that he wasn't feeling well, so he missed it. Yes, and I think some of our congressional folks also have other demands as well. That's right. Senator Maisie Hirono wasn't there, and Congresswoman Jill Takuda wasn't there either. And what about Lieutenant Governor Sylvia Luke? Well, Sylvia Luke was not there. So she's taking a leave of absence from her lieutenant governor job. And she was not there. Also, she didn't really come up either in any speeches, many of the conversations that I heard. And I know that a lot of the previous governors often turn out to support the party. Yes, I think there. So there were four previous governors there. There was Governor Abercrombie, Cayetano, Ige, and Wahey, were all there. The party elders, maybe you might say. And so obviously the big question was, you know, what was going to happen in the lieutenant? of governor's race, which Kawakami, you know, handily won that race. But what did Governor Green have to say about the state of things in the party? Well, so one, so many incumbents won. their nominations, again, where the Democratic Party voters wanted the incumbents to return to be their candidates if that result came through pretty clear. And then also you had Derek Kaakami, an ally of Governor Green was picked to be the lieutenant governor candidate. So it seems very much as though Democratic Party voters endorse the status quo. At the same time, you know, when... When we spoke to voters or we asked candidates, what are voters care about? Very often we heard that voters are upset about the high cost of housing, high cost of living, that just life is really difficult in Hawaii. And so I asked Governor Green how to square those things. And he said, well, voters are against the Trump administration's policies but are supportive of Hawaii's congressional delegation and his administration. There are two things that you're talking about. There is some despair and loss of hope in the world because people see what's coming out of Washington, D.C. They see a war that is terrible. They see people being victimized with high prices that are unnecessary because of this terrible conflict in Iran. But that has nothing to do with the heart that Derek or I have or Ed or Brian or Jill have. I mean, we... are putting up a fight against those forces. And so I think that's why Hawaii has been very generous in supporting us. I will tell you, I'm grateful for the support because to get about 90% of the vote tells me that I can take the trust of the people and translate it into even more housing, even more homeless solutions, pushing back against the kind of damaging things that are coming out of the Department of Health and Human Services at the federal level.

That really helps me. I'm lifted up by those kind of supportive numbers. So there is a disconnect. The country is feeling it. The state of Hawaii actually knows that we are on the right track. So he's framing it in that way, Republicans, Democrats. Yes, yes. And, you know, so he mentioned getting 90% of the vote. So he made a joke about that at the breakfast. He said his numbers in the primary election were Putinesque. So, but at the same time, you know, he, I don't know that anyone would really want to be compared to Vladimir Putin, but he. clearly is happy that he got such a high percentage of the votes in the Democratic primary for himself. And then anything, any mention though, about the bribery scandal in those indictments? Yeah, and I did not hear anybody, no one in any of the speeches brought up the bribery scandal, which has pretty much it has involved. some senior figures, major figures in the Democratic Party. There's Lieutenant Governor Sylvia Luke was indicted for bribery and bribery allegations. And Ryan Yamane also indicted. He was a former state representative and was Governor Greene's cabinet as the Director of Department of Human Services. Of course, they have pleaded not guilty and are presumed innocent. But it's... It's a big issue for the party. I did ask, I asked Senate President Ron Kochi about it before the breakfast got underway. During this election and the run-up to the election, like a corruption scandal broke involving major figures of the party. Do you think the party needs to change how it does politics at all? What do you take away from that? What I take away is the only way to restore the fate is to continue to do good work. I think preserving the tax cuts for the 90% and not giving... this take over, you know, the cuts to businesses, you know, increasing the tax on the highest earners instead of taking care of the wealthiest is part of the messaging that, you know, we're trying to take care of the most vulnerable and those people don't own us and we're going to make decisions that are right for the community. President Kochi here was talking about how what the party is trying to do is to address the needs of Hawaii residents by cutting their taxes. And then even when there were financial pressures and they had less money to work with during the last session, they cut back those tax credits for the wealthiest residents, but they preserved them for...

everybody else. That's what was their goal was. And he's saying that this is how we're addressing the needs and concerns of Hawaii's people. Yes, and I know I'm talking to the party chairs that they're headed over to, I believe it's Texas for the National Democratic Party meetings over there, I think to plot their strategy for the general. And the Republicans don't normally hold a unity breakfast like the Democrats do. So we hope to hear more about their strategy in the weeks to come. Yes. All right. Well, thank you so much, Audrey. Thank you, Catherine. We've been talking to HPR's Audrey McEllboy. You can read her stories at HawaiiPublicradio.org.

Support for HPR comes from Ferraro Choi, architects for the Noah Daniel K. Inouye Regional Center, committed to design that serves and celebrates the environment, culture, and community. Ferrarochooy.com. The Trump administration has made it clear it will target broadcasters it deems critical of the president. So if a national programer wants to run a particular show or doesn't want to run particular programming, the local TV station has the right to preempt and to push back and make a different decision. Now the FCC is going a step further and threatening to revoke broadcast licenses for eight local ABC stations. We'll talk about it on the next On Point. Beginning this afternoon at two, after the world. Support for the conversation comes from the HPR Local Talk Show Fund, which helps Hawaii Public Radio sustain and grow its locally produced talk shows. Mahalo to contributor, PCAT, Pacific Center for Advanced Technology Training.

We are back with the conversation to continue talking about primary election results. We are joined by Honolulu Star Arbiters, a political reporter Dan Nacaso, to talk about his takeaways from the primaries. Good morning, Dan. Good morning, Captain. Yeah, we have to, I think, acknowledge the turnout because it was pretty low. Yeah, not a record low. It was 28%. participation after the first election return of Saturday night. Following Sunday's third results, it ticked up slightly to 33.1%, which has where we've been in primaries, the last few primaries, but not really anything to boast about. Well, you know, I was just wondering, you know, what impact the bribery scandals may have had or even the ruling by the court, you know, that had counsel chair Tommy Waters ineligible, you know, while his campaign was in full swing. Yeah. Both things are true. The... People did express to us as the voting went on that they were turned off by the latest bribery allegations and corruption allegations. The Tommy Waters- Trevor Ozawa situation is, you know, there's, it's going to be in turmoil for months as it winds through the Intermittic Court of Appeals and eventually the Hawaii Supreme Court. But it's unclear whether... voters in District 4, East Honolulu, from Hawaii to Waikiki, waited until the last minute if they got a hint that there might be some drama or how the, if people voted mail in. early, our reporting showed that there were constituents that were pretty frustrated that they cast a ballot for a candidate that may not even be eligible. Yes. So you want to make sure that if we're in the same predicament, you know, next time that we can iron this kind of stuff out because it doesn't help the process at all. No, and that was, you know, that is a common complaint, but, you know, former council member, Trevor Ozawa, hadn't filed its complaint until after ballots had already been received. So it's not like a systematic. problem that can be solved in advance when uh you know that challenge hadn't even been made um the the other issue about the uh low voter turnout was of course there weren't really many high profile competitive races um the governor's running but that's

It's going to be insurmount. He has an insurmountable lead. There's no Senate races. The two congressional races are interesting, but Joe Takuta Seat is safe in the primary. And the competitive main race was between Senator Kea Hokolole, Jared Kea Hokolole, running against incumbent Ed case. that was decidedly decided on behalf of the incoming U.S. rep case. Yes. And what else do you take away? I mean, I was actually surprised that Senator Lesirah lost his race, a longtime veteran lawmaker. Right. And that was not even close. Rep Jackson Siamah won with 51% of the vote. over Lesihara's 29.2%. So that was quite a stunner. That's the closest thing we have to this mainland trend of younger, progressive Democrats knocking off incumbent, well-trendced political names. But that was the exception in this race. To the point about... why people don't vote, you know, for all of them above reasons that you name, but also because people, A, don't think their vote counts. And I would say take the House race for Kalehi, District 29, between incumbent Icahousi and longtime former area representative John Mizuno. And as you know, it doesn't take many votes to become a state senator or a state representative. And in that race, he's got to Hussie's leading with 47.5%. over Mizuno, 46.4. I know. It's just crazy how close that race is. And then also the race out on the west side, too, with veteran Republicans trying to unseat the incumbent. But, yeah, there may be recalls in our future. Recalls. I'm sorry. Recounts. Yeah. Well, so. In the Hussey, Mizuno match, Hussey got 1,394 votes, and Mizuno received 1,361. That's a difference of 33 votes. And so that race could have swung either way if there had been more turnout. And, of course, we won't know the final results until Friday night. Yeah. When people who feel they, you know, were notified their, they didn't sign their envelopes or whatnot, then challenge. But just like in...

Trevor Ozawa and Ikeke Emerson, I'm sorry. Tommy Waters, yeah. Tommy Waters, thank you. Which also went to a court challenge the last time they faced off. Right, so be interesting to see what happens in these close races. But thanks so much, Dan. Anytime. We have been hearing from Dan Nacaso from the Honolulu Star Advertiser. You can read his coverage in print or online at staradvertiser.com. Support for HPR comes from Hamajang Studio on Hawaii Island, architects and interior designers providing services to residents and businesses statewide. Hamajang Studio.com. Scientists have made a major breakthrough in solar physics with the help of the Daniel Kanoi Solar Telescope on Maui. By pushing the new telescope to its limits, researchers captured the highest resolution images of the surface of the sun ever taken. They revealed twisting, whirling masses of gas that look like tiny whirlpools on the sun's surface. This discovery could help us better understand solar flares. The conversations, Maddie Bender, spoke with two scientists on the team. David Bolberts is the National Solar Observatory Associate Director, and Friedrich Vugar is senior scientists at the National Solar Observatory. Vugar starts us off. Originally, when we were looking at this experiment and acquiring the data for this, we had something completely else in mind. I always find that funny is that you start out trying to do something and end up doing something completely different. So in this case, we really were trying to efficiently and effectively... reach the absolute performance limit of our telescope. We were trying to just find methods to get there in a better way than we've done in the past. We have reached the diffraction limit in the past, but in this way we were able to more effectively do that. And so what ended up happening was we were sitting there with our colleagues and looked at the data at these images and we were like blown away by what we were seeing. We see these vortex-like structures develop like waves on the ocean on a windy day. They curl and they grow and then they go away. That was really absolutely something we have never seen before. The other part was, you know, there's these stripe-like structures that move. And it turns out that the underlying process is the same. And it is a well-known phenomenon in fluid mechanics that basically happens whenever you have two fluids that...

touch each other, but move at different speeds. And when that happens, the friction between those two fluids make the interface between the fluids unstable. And you see these structures develop that really look like ocean waves. And the reason for that is that ocean waves out in the ocean in windy conditions are exactly the same thing. I'll just add to this. This experiment shows the power of a ground-based telescope. Right? And so compared to, say, a space-based telescope like the Hubble Space Telescope or the JWST, the fact that you can go up and you can actually tweak and run experiments like this and you have access to the instrumentation and to the telescope itself is really a testament to the power of ground-based astronomy. I was wondering, David, if you had anything to add on what these images looked like when you first were shown them. rippling, mesmerizing. I mean, listeners should definitely check them out because they'll see different things in them. But what crossed your mind? I was just blown away because you've never seen the sun like this. Even in our previous measurements that we made, these are just above and beyond. If you show them to any solar physicist, they're just blown away and saying, wow, I really didn't expect that. Maybe Friedrich, if you could pick up here with the explanation of how these images actually get us to a point where we're able to better understand a process like the formation of solar flares. Okay. So, well, first of all, I wanted to point out that when you look at these images or when we looked at them, we kind of already recognized there is this phenomenon there. As I said, it's a well-known phenomenon. the Kelvin Helmholt's instability. And we had to convince ourselves, however, that these are really that. So just because they look like that doesn't mean that they actually are. Kelvin Helmholt's instability. So we went through a lot of effort using numerical simulations by our colleagues at the High Altitude Observatory here in Boulder and our colleagues at the MaxPunk Institute for Zonphysic in Germany to really work together and look for the right parameters that convince us that it's Kelvin Helmholt's instability. And we did that. And once we are able to really convince ourselves that that actually happens on the sun, We can now continue further work, and you've already pointed that out. How do we get from these tiny little small scale structures that rotate and dissipate, meaning go away? How does that impact the large sun? And the answer is that the energy, the mechanical energy that comes from...

the boiling of the plasma on the surface of the sun is that's a large-scale mechanical energy that then gets converted by the Kelvin Helmoltz instability into smaller and smaller and smaller energetic particles. And you can see at the end, it ends up being heat. And the other part of that... is that these mixing, these curling motions, they can actually start to twist and bend the magnetic field lines on the sun. that then are able to transport the energy into the higher layers of the solar atmosphere. And therefore, because it happens everywhere, and that was the other, you know, breakthrough discovery here, is that these Kelvin Helmholt's instabilities are all over the place. And so you can imagine that they contribute. Each a little bit, but as a mass, a lot of energy that goes into the higher parts of the atmosphere. And so the braiding of the magnetic field, together with the heat production, so to say, will hopefully trigger a lot more research into how much this actually helps with explaining these phenomena like flares, like CME's coronal mass ejections. Like, why is the corona of the sun so hot? Yeah. I really just keep coming back to those images and the scale of them, too, because one of the really helpful visuals that was put together superimposed the Hawaiian Islands on top of one of these images, and you just see... how vast we're talking about, oh my gosh, like even the island of Hawaii looks tiny compared to just one of these swirling instabilities. Yeah, and that's true. We know that the sun, of course, is so much larger than the Earth, that it's hard really to understand how we talk about 20 kilometers or 16 miles being really, really tiny for us when we look at the sun versus when we overlay the islands of Hawaii. then then that looks a lot bigger but you have to remember when we

resolve a structure of 20 kilometers on the sun. That's like detecting and measuring the motion of an ant from about a hundred miles away. I love that. That totally puts it in perspective. Yeah. And then David, so Friedrich mentioned that this work came about as almost a way to pressure test the system to see how fine grain you could really... get to. Did it shape now your best practices or standard operating procedures of the telescope going forward now that it seems like you might have a technical answer to that question? Yeah, you're exactly right. This is sort of the setup for future work, right? And what could be done beyond this, right? And so, yeah, this was a one-off experiment, but there's lots of new experiments that we can think about that would... play into this or come from this experiment. And so we're thinking about the in a way itself is a very flexible tool, right? And this is just one aspect of it. We have four instruments on the in a way that range from the visible part of the spectrum all the way out to the infrared part of the spectrum. And so, and we do both spectrographic measurements, which are measuring the magnetic fields. And then we do these visible imaging types of experiments. And so one of the things we could think about is trying to now extend this work and determine the magnetic fields that we see, that we don't necessarily see from the imaging, but that we can do with the spectrograph. I have one more silly question for both of you. You know how kids love to draw outer space and planets and the sun? Knowing what we know now about what the surface of the sun looks like. Is there a more accurate way that we should be drawing the sun rather than just a circle colored yellow? Well, if you want to be very accurate on the small scales, then you might enter the Van Gogh type vision with swirls. Yes, starry night. Yes. I love it. Okay, so some orange swirls maybe. Yes, yes. Exactly. I think that would be very appropriate. We have been hearing from David Bowdoz and Friedrich Wugar about new research, powered by the Daniel K. Anoy Solar Telescope on the summit of Haleakala. That study was published last week in the journal Nature.

Support for HPR comes from the Scheidler College of Business at UH Manoa, offering the global MBA with 21-month, 24-month, and 36-month options. Learn more at Scheidler.hawaii.edu. The Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame will celebrate its 2026 class of inductees later this week. And for the first time, a skateboarder will be honored. Darren Ho was one of town and countries first sponsored pro skaters. He was known for shredding pools and bowls with grace throughout the 1970s. He traveled around the country for contests and hung out with the Dogtown skate crew that ruled the era. And then for nearly four decades, he left that world behind. Now in his mid-60s, he's had a renaissance of sorts who recently sat down with HPR's Kevin Allen. I mean, now being a skateboarder is something... You don't have to put your head down, right? You know, in the 70s, when I was going through the whole transition of, you know, turning pro and traveling and stuff like that, it wasn't like it was looked on with older people as being, you know, something like a great, you know, an athlete or anything like that. But through the years of people that could really promote the sport really well, like Tony Hawk and some other people. I mean, now it's with the Olympics and stuff, it's crazy because now it's like you're somebody. You know, you can walk around with your head proud and stuff like that. And I love it. I mean, skateboarding, the seat of progression is taken from my time to now. I mean, it is nuts. Do you remember the moment where you got on a skateboard and thought, oh, this is it? I mean, was there like a eureka moment for you? I think when I saw the first skateboarder magazine come out and it, on one of the front covers was Greg Weaver and he was carving an empty pool. And he was like halfway up the wall or something like that. And you know, Greg was like the poster child for California, right? You know, the blonde hair, blue eye, you know, that thing, right? And yeah, I remember seeing that and go, damn. I got to, I mean, somehow we got to come across an empty pool and check this out. Well, Hoy's always kind of been known for having a lot of the drainage ditches and stuff. I mean, was that kind of a similar thing for you? Yeah, the drainage ditches was a natural progression, right? I mean, freestyle was what? was considered, you know, all the tricks and stuff you did on flat ground. So anybody could do that, right? You could just go to your basketball court, a tennis court and just, you know, settle in and work on a routine and stuff like that. And then the drainage ditches became more because like, especially in Hawaii, they, uh,

They had so much new construction, new homes. But the first thing they have to put in is that drainage ditch, you know, snaking all around, right? I mean, before you can put up the homes, right? So I remember when one of the more popular drainage ditches in Hawaii, Kai, and even till today, it's like still an iconic drainage dish is wallows. And if you have any knowledge about... Hawaii and skateboard and wallows is like you know people come here all the time and they ask you know can you take me to wallows you know can we ride and I'm going right you know I try to explain to him you know that you know mother time and weather is pretty much took in you know I mean there ain't much to see there is there a specific spot that you think you really cut your teeth on in terms of becoming the skater you you you are today and especially in the 70s and 80s? I mean, you could turn around and utilize, say, you know, Wallows because that's the Holy Grail, right? I mean, that's the one you see all over YouTube and stuff like that. But because, like I told you, I live by the stadium era, there was a spot right behind Radford High School. And they called it, we called it Zones. So that's a cool name. And it was a classic when it was poured. It was smooth. It had, it had some really great. things to play on and stuff. And I went to Radford at that time, right? And so lunchtime, me and my friends would ride that all the time. I mean, that place was packed like the football stadium, man. But, yeah, I would say Radford and Mwanaloo Valley, there was another place called Verticals, another, you know, I mean, not well, you know, the mainstream. But, yeah, there was places where I could ride with my friends and just kind of groom my... you know, try to learn stuff. And you definitely kind of developed a style. And I think especially back in the day, but even now, style is kind of, especially in board sports, is incredibly important from just like the way you drop your knees mid-carve or how high you hold up your arms while you pump. It can be like a make or break factor, depending on whether or not you're going to go pro or just kind of stay amateur. Can you talk to me, I guess, back in the day, but even now, how important style was for a skater coming up? For back then, the 70s, I mean, style was the most important thing that you needed to project. You know, I mean, being a surfing, you know, we were the surfing icon, right? I mean, everybody, you know, pretty much put... portrayed a lot of the who was good at the time, you know, and, you know, Larry Burtleman would be probably the best example, right? Everybody wanted to be Larry, right? They wanted to be able to touch the ground and, you know, and... Get the Pepsi Cola boards? Oh, yeah. I mean, I got one. I got her... My friend Marcello made me a beautiful board like Larry, like that. He signed it and everything. But, you know, getting back to style, the style is everything. I mean... It's the whole dog time thing was based on that, you know. And I was very fortunate to have the hook up, you know, with them. I lived over there in Santa Monica. I live with Jay Adams in on the North Shore. And.

It was cool because they would come back to here, right? And then, you know, a ton of country would set them up with boards and, you know, they could ride with, you know, Daneke, Aloha, them. You know what I mean? So it was like we were swapping. But I was fortunate because I got along well with Jay and, yeah, we lived together for quite a while. And, yeah, he's probably the heaviest influence on my. And just watching a guy that good. I mean, if you can't take away. good things from what you see and you must be blind because that guy was just so impulsive and it was a pleasure you know I mean he there's a lot of things that people don't realize you know their their culture is a lot different from ours you know I grew under my dad was more like a drill sergeant and and stuff like that. So when I did get to Santa Monica, I mean, just when they picked me up at the airport, and it was the whole Dogtown crew, they wanted to make it like an event or something, right? But they're like picking up, I'm trying to get my bags, right? And they're like, you know, riding like it's a skate park in there, right? In the airport? In the airport. And by the baggage claim, right? And they're like slamming off. You know, like how they try to climb up stuff like that. And I'm sitting there going. What the hell, right? And my dad killed me, you know what I mean? You know, but it was just, it was really hard because I came from a whole different style. So that, you know, indoctonation to, oh. Dog town. Yeah. Must have been quite the culture shot. It was the culture shot. It was for sure. And, you know, Jay's mom would emphasize the fact that she loved having me around because I was still deep into the martial arts thing, right? So she always knew that I could settle the crowd, especially Jay because, man, that boy was right for me. Well, this is not the only travel that you've done. You're actually one of the first traveling professional skaters for TNC, which, I mean, that sounds like a novel I would love to read, being a professional traveling skateboarder in the 70s for town and country. I mean, I can't imagine just what that life was like back in that time. It comes down to one basic story. My mom had a sister and... She was going to be a professional roller, what do they call them at the old Civic Auditorium? Roller Derby, right? And she was really, really a good skater. And she was supposed to travel back with the team back to, I think was California. But their mom wouldn't allow it. So she lost an opportunity, and she was really good at what she did. So my mom seemed that... how it might have ruined part of her life, right? Or, you know, it did change things, right? What would the chances be that I at 10th grade would be presented the same opportunity, right? I got to travel because now they've...

made a circuit of, you know, like any surf circuit, right? They call it the Henry Hester series. And you travel to all these skate parks wherever they might be a different state or whatever. And you just traveled month to month. And whoever had the most points at the end when, you know, same thing like a surf event. Sure. And you were in the 10th grade. I'm sorry. 10th grade. That is okay. Wow. So basically. I had to get all my work forward to me like that, get it approved through all my teachers. My mom and dad had to, you know, say that they were good with it and stuff like that. And, yeah, I would be like on the road, you know, whatever contest where it was, right, travel. Now, this is the kicker in the butt. I mean, literally, I traveled by myself. I traveled by myself, 10th grade. I don't think you should. You can do that. And I went all over. And I stayed with, usually I stayed with friends. And if they were good with it, you know, because town and country was my sponsor then. So they paid for my, you know, flight. And they gave me a per diem, like, to play with. And yeah, I would usually give the parents the money, you know, for the food and, you know, my. But yeah, it was crazy. I literally just get on place. And a lot of times when I would travel to like these weird places, you know, wherever it might be, Tennessee or Texas or whatever the case may be, right? I'd land there and just like wondering and be looking around going, man, I hope somebody's here to pick me up because I have no idea, you know what I mean? Where the hell I am? Where are going to go? And I was just there. And there was no cell phones or nothing, right? And my dad made it, you know, and says, hey, if you really have to, you can call collect, but try not to. But it was trippy. And, you know, we brought up TNC town and country quite a few times. You were one of the first TNC riders. Man, that whole TNC thing, I mean, it's a weird, I wasn't a huge fan of the contesting. I love jam sessions. I love just hanging out with my friends and just playing. And the way the contest is our format, you know, more in pools and stuff like that. You know, that's him. And you were a pool guy. Yeah. And it was weird because we would have a lot of people that would come to Hawaii. And, you know, and we had a pool that was open 24, you know, I mean, all year round. And it wasn't the best of pools, but it was there. And it's funny because town and country, the shop. wasn't too far away from it, you know, less than a mile away. So every time they had guests, they would, you know, bring them down to the pool and, you know, show off there, right? And I was comfortable there. You know what I mean? And it's hard to explain, you know what I mean? When I get comfortable, then I get, then it becomes like bragging rights, you know what I don't care who you are. You're going to come in. You're going to have to beat me in my surrounding drag. In your turf? Yeah, and that's hard to do. I mean, it was. They would come there and go, this is the ugliest pool I ever saw, right? Because they were riding, you know, the great drought in L.A., right? They were riding everything under the sun. Oh, sure. Yeah, there was no water in the pool. My friend and myself is dead, you know what I mean?

flew Cessna's auto recita area and stuff like that. Yeah, we would go up and actually on a map mark the empty ones and then go back and covertly try to frequency if we could ride them, man. We had it down to a science. Yeah, we was down to a science. It was crazy, but I mean, that was. I mean, back then when I went in that drought year, man, I mean, how many pools did it sample? When I came back home, it was so weird, right, because I had to go back to the Pearl City pool, which was like, oh, man, it was like a dead trap. But basically that's what it was. That was HPR's Kevin Allen and professional skater Darren Ho. We'll have more from their conversation right after a short break. Support for HPR comes from Haleakala Ranch with a legacy of livestock, conservation, and land stewardship since 1888, working to restore, maintain, and preserve the open vistas and natural beauty of Maui. More at Haleakala Ranch.com. Aloha, I'm Chris Vandercoop. Join me and my band for Hawaii Public Radio is live from the Atherton on Saturday, August 29th at 6 p.m. for Big City Blues. We'll celebrate the music of B.B. King, Ray Charles, and the post-war blues masters with an evening of soulful, high-energy blues. Get your tickets now at HPRTickets.org. This event is sponsored by HMSA. Support for the conversation comes from the HPR Local Talk Show Fund, which helps Hawaii public radio sustain and grow its locally produced talk shows. Mahalo to contributor Anchor Systems, Hawaii.

Let's get back to our chat with professional skater Darren Ho. He was one of town and country's first team skaters who found success with his distinct style of riding, but skateboarding was moving fast in the early 80s. The bowls were getting steeper, the tricks, riskier. And after traveling from contest to contest with dwindling success, Ho's world began to fall apart. He decided at a contest in Del Mar that enough was enough. More than 100 skaters had entered to compete, including rising stars like Tony Hawk and Stephen Caballero. And only the top 10 would be featured on TV. Hotels, HPRs, Kevin Allen, what came next? I just came to the point where I just go, you know, I want to leave the business with my face. At least I could say, you know, when they had this, you know, I was in, you know, in the thing. But. Keeping up and the travel and all that. Yeah, you know, and just getting after a while, I was getting a little homesick just hanging out in, you know, hotels and stuff. I didn't have my, yeah. And did you stop skating? Was it always kind of something you tried to keep? I cut it completely. Oh, wow. I literally told Tana Country not to hand out my phone number or anything to anybody. And it was weird. It was like a bitter thing, you know what I mean? It was. I something that I love so much but at the end it's pretty hard to stomach you know what I mean you're like you're I mean like two years ago you're you know in the you know considered you know and now he's like man I gotta go prove myself every damn you know what I mean and it's hard You're at the top of the world. Yeah, it's tough. But, you know, like I said, G mode, right? You know, you get a government job. You get married. You have kids. And then you're kind of like, you know what I mean? Check off the list. Yeah. And it's sad, right? I mean, it's like any love, any story these days and out, right? I mean, you know, you get divorced. I was a single parent. And, you know, life's lessons. Going back to the skateboarding part, I never stopped. I always loved skateboarding. I would literally go to Hickham. You know where Hickham hangar is? There's a skate park in there? Oh, I didn't know there was a skatepark. Oh, there's a, and at one time, you know, maybe 20 years or 15 years ago, they used to have these huge events, right, where they had the, you know, the guys come over from, and they would ride at Hickham like that. And so literally, I would cheat at lunchtime like that and go watch, right? You know, just stand in the stands, right, and check it out, right? I sit there and I'll be eating my sandwich and knowing I've got to go back to work. in a little while, right? And I'm thinking, man, what are these days? I'm going to come back here, right? This damn place. And it's weird because I kind of just hiding. I didn't want to get mixed up anything because a lot of times who ran those events was town and country. So I kind of really just, you know, hitting the thing. Oh, you're like stealth mode. I did it for the longest period of time. And then I was getting near retirement. And I was kind of wondering. But, you know, I mean, one thing that was always jerking my chains was skateboarding. And my girlfriend of Jody, she's been with me for a while. And she was like my backbone. She pretty much kept on saying, you know, why don't you just try? You don't have to tell anybody who you are or nothing. You just see some old guy with a beard running around. You're there. So.

early in the morning, who'd care? You know what I mean? Look at that homeless guy. What the hell is he doing? I think he tried to skateboard. You know what I mean? But yeah, well, you went. I remember we went to Manana in Pearl City, and it was like 4.30 in the morning. It was still dark. And there was homeless people around the bathroom. And I'm like, ah, that's okay. You know, we go into the park. And some of my good friends, they melt me some pads and some boards and stuff. So I slapped everything on. I tried and I tried. You know, she filmed it, right? But it was weird. The moment I got over myself of being, you know, thinking that it was important that I had to have that same level of skating, you know what I mean? Once I got over that and myself, I started having fun. I mean, literally, I mean, I started like progressing. I mean, I had my downfalls. I mean, we visited the ER, Jesus, two shoulders, three concussions, you know, ribs, this, that. I mean, the list goes on. I get on social media and then, poof, everybody starts flying. Hey, where are you been, man? You're back on this evening. Yeah, you ghosted everybody for like 30 years. Yeah. Oh, no, 38 years. 38 years, I ghosted everybody. You know, I did. did come back and I'm so glad I did. I progressed. I'm even kind of amazed that I can do what I can. And what you had said, I think is just so important. Just the fact of getting over yourself, right? Like thinking that because you're at this one level that you can never come back to something. And I think that even past being a professional skateboarder, I think a lot of people feel that way about a lot of different aspects in their lives. Like, you know, oh, I was at this level. And I'm so scared to come back to this thing that I love because what if I'm not there again? So you. felt very similarly about skating. Oh, yeah. I mean, everybody throws those same words at you, right? I mean, it's all those words, those cliches, right? You know, you don't have nothing to prove and this, that, blah, blah, you're talking to the head. You know what I mean? No, I do got something to prove. I got to prove to you that I, you know what I mind. I was worthy of those accolades back then, and I'm going to be worthy of them now. It's just going to take me some time. And, uh... Man, through all the injuries and stuff and her encouragement, I mean, Jesus Christ, I didn't have her in my corner. I probably would have bailed out of it, but yeah, she was pretty good. I mean, she was great about it. She was... I wasn't used to that, you know, because even my parents weren't really big believers of what, you know, was going on. Just having someone in your corner is such a... It was a huge difference. And it made all the different... I mean, look at them. I think we're... I've been going for about 13, 14 years. And even when I go to the park today, right, I mean, even steadily, right? I mean, you know, I'm like I was joke with some of the other interviews, right? Right, right. I'm the janitor. Basically, you know, they look at me.

Hey, what's the janitor putting it on his pads for? When did you just go clean up the bowl over there? Guy might get hurt. So I know they inside their phone, they already got the 911, you know, ready to go. Just in case he takes a fall. We can get the fastest service to him like that. But yeah, it's weird because after you do ride, right, right, and they watch it. You know, then they gravitate, right? And they start talking. Hey, my uncle. You know what I mean? That's my name name. Uncle. Hey, uncle. I'm checking. I get. You know what I mean? It's the Santa Claus thing, right? But I ain't got no. I'm not worried about that. So it's a few white hairs. He's aging gracefully looking to see. It's a great beard you have. I mean, no one can see it on the radio, but it is fantastic. And then it's weird because I'll talk to people. And I wasn't the greatest of that when I was younger. But, you know, with the age and all the life lessons and stuff like that, yeah, it's different. My approach to it is way different. I speak to a lot of the young. Young pros, you know, the Olympians, you know, there's, you know, Hamana Reynolds. There's, you know, J.D. Sanchez, that's a big deal right now. There's a young girl that I always been hanging out with Coppola, her names, Lily Erickson. And, yeah, I mean, she's another going to be an Olympian. And I really like what you just said there about lessons and, you know, being able to, like, impart lessons and kind of wrapping this all up. Okay. You know, at the end of the day, you've... really spent a huge part of your life skating. You've had a career in it. What have you taken from it all? I love all those, you know, the self-taught lessons of skating. They've been a lot of good and a lot of bad. You know, people see what they see in the magazines and stuff like that and they kind of get this false impression that you travel here, this, that, but they don't see the downsides and stuff. I love the friendships. I love being creative when you're young to be able to... Try something, but keep trying it, but to pull it off at one point and walk away and know it's in your arsenal now, that's an awesome feeling. That's like, you know, you can take that to any challenge you have in life. And I love that. And, you know, I'm not ready to, you know, just walk around the block and that's my exercise. Right now, you know, I go skating maybe once a week. And, man. Usually for one week, I walk around with a smile on my face. So, you could bottle that crap, but we'd be in biz. Well, Darren Ho. Thank you so much for sitting down with me. And again, congratulations on your induction. No, no, thank you. Thank you very much. I'm the pleasure to be here. That was Darren Ho, and HVR's Kevin Allen. Ho will be inducted into the Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame this Thursday as its first skateboarder.

I'm sorry. Well, that's it for us today. Tomorrow, we plan to get a sneak preview of Hawaii Pacific University's inaugural flag football team, making way for Wahina in the sports world. Got an idea, real question. Call or talk back line, 808-792-17. Find the conversation as a podcast. Head to Spotify or Apple or check out our website. I'm Catherine Cruz. We'll be back tomorrow for more of the conversation. Thank you.