TV show of 1965 Duke Kahanamoku surf event resurfaces for first time since original airing

Opper Films, home of the world’s largest historical surf film library, has acquired 22 rare, legendary surfing event titles and film footage from Larry Lindberg Productions in New York.

Lindberg was a pioneer in sports television coverage in the early 1960s; and he was the first to package and produce televised surf competition for the major national television networks beginning with the 1965 Duke Kahanamoku Invitational Championships, the first event held at Sunset Beach on the North Shore of O’ahu.

Beginning today, the production of that championship will be available to watch on thesurfnetwork.com. It is the first of rare surfing titles by Lindberg that will be released monthly. There is a free 7-day trial for the network.

None of these Lindberg surfing productions have been seen since their initial airing, according to an Opper Films press release.

Lindberg’s films show the evolution of surf contests for the next two decades, up to the 1985 Sunkist World Cup, a major professional event also held at Sunset Beach.

More than simply covering surfing events for TV, Lindberg helped shape the perception and direction of competitive surfing through his representation of the sport, which included innovative aerial and water photography, athlete interviews and cultural content that were new in the 1960s and 70s.

“The quality of Larry’s surfing film imagery is visually captivating,” said Ira Opper, CEO at Opper Sports, Inc. “But even more amazing to watch are the extremely rare interviews with legendary surfers like Duke Kahanamoku, Miki Dora and Eddie Aikau.

“In focusing not just on the surfing but the surfers themselves, Lindberg has created an invaluable historical and cultural record that transcends more traditional surf movies.”

TheSurfNetwork provides streaming access to the world’s largest surf movie library, offering more than 1,300 titles from the sport’s top filmmakers, legends and new talent. The library spans 100 years and includes archival classics from the 1950s and 60s, top hits from the 70s, the very best of the VHS and DVD eras, and the latest titles available today in the surf world.

TheSurfNetwork is available on Amazon Prime Video Channels, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Google TV and mobile devices.