“ZAPPED!”
John Zapotocky Shares His
Hawaiian Ocean “Religion”
What have YOU been doing for 70
Years? Ninety-one year-old John Zapotocky has been riding the waves and
paddling a board longer than most of us have been alive. As he makes his way
out on his paddleboard again today, it’s a friendly reminder that this “new
sport” of standup paddling (SUP) isn’t new after all. John Zapotocky, Duke
Kahanamoku and a handful of the old Waikiki Beachboys discovered how “cool” it
was before most of us were even born.
Five seconds with John
"Zapped" Zapotocky and you know the guy hasn't wasted a second of
life despite being blessed with plenty of it. Sharing the waves with Kahanamoku
was a moment in time and an opportunity not lost on John. He recognized surfing
royalty when he saw it and immediately knew that the meaning of life was to be
found on the water.
"Well I was out there
surfing one day and I’d just come in and I’m looking out there and I see this
gentleman come on in on a wave with a paddle. I said, ‘my god, that’s something I should be doing!’ So I asked some
people and they said, well that’s Duke Kahanamoku. I said, who’s he? You know,
I’m here from Pennsylvania I’d never heard of him. They said, well he’s a world
famous swimmer and a surfer, an Olympic star. So I went and talked to Duke and
he said, well, get your shovel paddle and do it! I did that and I’ve been doing
it ever since. I’ve been surfing out here now for 65-some years and probably 55
years I’ve been using a paddle. And it changed my whole life. I’ve been
standing up ever since."
After making a quick change
into his surf gear, John is ready to paddle, dressed all in white from head to
toe like a sainted surfing apparition. I get the impression he's dressing for
the next position. But if Heaven's close, John's not quite ready to trade his
Hawaiian paradise for the clouds just yet. He's still robust in his movements
although his bandy legs lend towards an obvious faith in his walker.
He makes his way down towards
the shore to “talk story” with a growing group of believers.
John knows the value of time
and maintains a steady clip. He bee-lines for the shade of the tent on the
beach and whips out a plastic blue album from beneath the folding seat of his
walker.
“It took many years before
standup paddling came into play,” says John of SUP. “Right now it’s like a
snowball. It’s the finest exercise move.
“It’s revolutionizing a way of
life. You can take this paddle, you can exercise with it,” he continues, as he
transitions into a demonstration. “You can twist, you can turn… You don’t need
any barbells.
“It’s a source of exercise that
people have not recognized how valuable it is. I think it’s just wonderful. I
think it’s going to be all over the world. It’s going to be everywhere in the
world – hotels, lagoons, any place there’s water, there’s room for standup
paddling. And I suggest you boys try it.”
There's something very cool
about hanging with a 91-year-old who is still stoked on surfing. To see faded
eyes sparkle with life as they reflect upon a life spent in the ocean.
In a matter of moments he flips
us all through the highlight pages of his life: His arrival to Hawaii in 1940
with his beautiful wife; soaking up the sun beside an outrigger canoe on the
spacious shores of Waikiki; standup paddle surfing before anyone saw the future
in it. He briefly touches upon various intermittent details like manning the
guns during the Pearl Harbor attack, all the while rifling through the
clear-covered pages with stumpy fingers he lost to machinery during his days at
the Dole pineapple cannery.
The memories are a blast, but
they don't cloud his diamond-sharp vision of what he’s here to do, and no
sooner has he hit the last photo page than he's rubber-banded the album closed,
locked it in the walker, and he's ready for action.
Today he has called upon friend
Todd Bradley, of C4 Waterman, to get him back on the water. Seeing the two of
them together, their total glee over standup paddling is contagious. They're a
couple of kindred souls who are excited by its simplicity and the guarantee it
offers of keeping you close to the source through the ages and stages of life.
There's no room for SUP detractors
today. To those who have gathered to give this re-birthed sport a try, John is
as good as the second coming, generating waves of inspiration and admiration –
and not just among the “boys”, as many women and kids have turned out, too.
"I used to be 5'8"
and-a-half," I’ve had 6 major surgeries, 3 knee replacements, I fractured
my femur bone 10 years ago and they had to put a half-inch titanium rod there.
I keep saying the doctors could have made me taller, instead they made me shorter!”
More than 30,000 sunrises and
many operations now make his $2, four-foot long wooden canoe paddle a better
fit than ever. He’s been buying them for half a century from the same canoe
company in Mississippi.
“They didn’t know I used it for
surfing. They’re made to sit down but I was using them standing up, so I kept
breaking them.”
With that, he’s had enough with
the talk and it’s time to get moving. He wades out into the shallows, sits
himself down and makes a few digs with his ash-wood paddle to get him to deeper
water, pushing past a much younger crowd that is also down here today to give
SUP a try. With a few strokes he gains momentum and makes the move from prone
to standing. It’s not as easy as it used to be, but he still makes it look
frustratingly simple to the rookie on his right who splashes down.
He looks good, and you can tell
it feels good to be free again. He heads further out a ways, then makes the
turn and cruises back towards shore. He looks like he’s walking on water.
From out there he probably
can’t hear the applause that’s emanating from the shoreline. He’s lost in his
thoughts and soaking up the glide, enjoying his momentary escape from land.
As John touches back down on
the sand there’s a twinkle in his eye. He dries off, mingles a short while longer
then says he’s got an appointment to meet with his next round of vitamins and a
midday nap.
Then, like an aged rockstar who knows he's still got it, John slips
behind the tinted veil of his black chauffeur-driven vehicle, but not before
looking around the door, pointing a finger and saying: "You've been
Zapped!"
John Zapotocky: One of the first men standup paddling, one of the last men
in the Honolulu phone book. Look him up next time you’re in town. He’d be
excited to share his stoke with you.
HONOLULU - (February 18, 2010) - C4 Waterman today announced that it has appointed Bruce Raymond to its Board of Directors, effective immediately.
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