HMSO's History
The Hawaii Military Surfing Organization was originally founded sometime between 1966 and 1969 by a small group of military surfers stationed on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. At the time, it was called “Ali’i He’e Nalu Surfing Club” and it is rumored that the club ran the first known “All Hands” Military Surf Contest was at Kewalo Basin in 1968! Officially, the club was organized in 1969, as that is the year the first real documentation exists.
This grassroots effort was not a rebellion by troops, but merely a way for service members returning from the Vietnam Conflict to band together as surfers. The club, much like our nation; struggled through the end of the Vietnam era and through the 1970’s. Membership increased and decreased through the years due to many factors. Membership records were not maintained nor were other administrative files however, in true Hawaiian tradition, a verbal history was maintained. Much of this verbal history has been lost through the years but enough remained to have a legacy. In the mid 1980’s the club saw a slight resurgence in activity with the onset of competitions at beach breaks on Oahu. Aside from these club competitions, other club functions were virtually non-existent.
In the early 1990’s the club was renamed “The Hawaii Military Surfing Ohana” (HMSO) and there was an increased level of activity and membership along with an occasional club competition as well as occasional surf trips to outer islands. In 1995, Mike White took over the leadership role in HMSO. He and other club members decided to move the club from an occasional surf contest into other activities. He obtained contest sponsorship through Glen Moncata of Quiksilver, Fred Patacchia Senior of Hawaiian Surf, John Moore of Strong Current Surf Shop, and Kenny Bradshaw of Bradshaw Hawaii. Randy Rarick and Bernie Baker (both very influential members of the modern day professional surfing industry) also became friends of HMSO and the club began to become a shaker & mover in surf circles not only on Oahu, but also worldwide!
In 1998, Mike White handed the HMSO presidency over to Mike Fulcher who had a vision of a larger HMSO that included military surfers from around the globe. Upon assumption of the HMSO presidency, Mike Fulcher initiated a membership drive that took HMSO from a mere 24 members (located only in Hawaii at the time) to well over 500 members worldwide. As folks rotated on/off Oahu, some of them established self-governing chapters in Japan, Southern California, Northern California, Florida, Mid-Atlantic, and even as far away as Western Europe. The annual HMSO competition was promoted worldwide and became the “Annual International Military Surfing Championships” whereas troops would obtain Permissive Travel Status to compete. Soon there were members from Australia, Japan, England and South Africa competing in the annual competition and members from all over the United States converging in Hawaii to show their mettle!
Sponsorship of HMSO also jumped considerably and included not only local Hawaiian small businesses, but also large businesses such as Anheuser Busch/Budweiser, XCEL Wetsuits, SURFER Magazine, The Military Times, The Surfrider Foundation and many others. As the club grew, activities outside contests did also. HMSO gave back to the local communities by providing manpower to assist with the construction of the Triple Crown of Surfing event venues as well as The Haleiwa Arts Festival. In conjunction with Surfrider Foundation, HMSO members conducted beach clean-up activities also. Another thing that HMSO did was via an agreement with Town & Country Surfboards (Glassworks Hawaii) – the club began repairing surfboards and provided those boards to underprivileged local children.
HMSO also started sponsoring an annual surf trip to the outer islands with members getting a taste of surf up and down the island chain. Some other places that club members travelled to were The Mentawai Islands of Indonesia, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, and Costa Rica.
In 2003, as Mike Fulcher was retiring from military service, the club became stagnant and remained so for over 5 years. The military was deep in a war and membership dwindled as folks became engaged in other activities or just wanted to spend time with families when not deployed.
In early 2009, the club began to show signs of life yet again. It was taken over by Chaz Bowser after some prodding by Mike Fulcher, long standing HMSO member Dave Elliott, Hurricane Bob Brown, Mike Casey, John Spruill, and Johnny Moore all of whom were involved years before and knew the good the club and its special bond could create as a byproduct. Between Mike, Dave, and Chaz; a plan was hatched where the club would reinvent and would be restructured into a more modernorganization with a business type approach to provide stability for the club while providing a service to military personnel. The approach also took the club from a contest oriented club to a more service dedicated club where folks could give back to support each other during war. A Wounded Warrior focus became the major source of effort in lieu of a yearly contest and the Board Donation Program was reinvigorated donating boards not only to local kids but also to kids of service members. All these efforts gave the club an official lifeline and it was renamed and “The Hawaii Military Surfing Organization…established in 1969″. The rest is history in the making!
