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Catching Up With Mark Cunningham
By Diane Ako
Retirement's been good to Mark Cunningham, the North Shore resident recognized globally as arguably the best bodysurfer in the world. The 52 year old retired City and County lifeguard has been busier than ever since leaving Tower 26 two years ago. His resume, crowded with awards and victories from bodysurfing contests, now includes the role “community activist.”
Cunningham is the co-chair of Defend Oahu Coalition, a group dedicated to “ protecting communities along the North Shore from the dangerous effects of large scale development,” specifically, Turtle Bay expansion. He co-founded the group in 2005, partly inspired by the relentless environmental efforts of John Kelly at Save Our Surf.
Defendoahucoalition.org says, “Owners of Turtle Bay Resort plan to build five new hotels with 3,500 more condo, timeshare and resort hotel units on and around Kawela Bay on the basis of an agreement and a land use permit that are nearly 20 years old. These are based on an environmental study that is even older. Developer Kuilima Resort Company, an affiliate of Oaktree Capital Management, is attempting to subdivide more than 700 acres of land from Kawela Bay to Kahuku Point - either to develop it or to sell off to other developers.
He chose to get involved with the group because “I just kind of said, ‘Enough's enough. Where do we draw the line on our quality of life? Will we have any empty coastline left, or will it all be paved over?' I'm not a no-growth, tree-hugging hippie. I'm for smart growth and planned growth, and I don't think our government's done a good job of that.”
He emphasizes, “Our group has no beef with the current hotel. It's a nice property, largest employer on the North Shore, and been very generous to the community over the years. But the idea of more hotels in rural Oahu is appalling to many residents of this island!”
When he's not planning events and fundraisers for Defend Oahu Coalition, Cunningham is still an active competitor in bodysurfing. Most recently, he won the 2007 Ke Kaha Nalu Hanana 'O Ehukai bodysurfing contest at Banzai Pipeline. His shelves, he humbly admits, are crammed with trophies. He rules Oahu's best bodysurfing spots: Pipeline, Point Panic, Makapuu, Sandy Beach.
What's his strategy in the water? “I can't tell! Then other guys would beat me,” he laughs, then says on a serious note, “The biggest thing that separates me from other competitors is, I do more swimming around, positioning, and chasing waves. A lot of bodysurfers will find the lineup, tread water, and hope it's a lucky spot. I feel I'm paying attention more and chasing waves, following my gut on where a wave will pop up.”
Cunningham uses his strong swimming background to his benefit. “In high school and at University of California at Santa Barbara, I played water polo. And with lifeguarding, swimming's an essential skill. Sometimes I feel I have a slight swimming advantage on the other competitors,” he analyzes.
His six foot, four inch build probably helps, too. At a trim 185 pounds, he cuts through the water with power and grace – like a barracuda? Maybe that's why friends nicknamed him “Kaku,” the Hawaiian word for the long and fearsome fish.
Despite his long record of dominance, it's not the victories Cunningham is going for. It's the rare freedom that elite contests provide. “The beauty of competitions is, they clear the water. It's just you and four or five other competitors in a heat. For that to happen at Pipeline in this day and age, I would pay and arm and a leg!”
Cunningham actually considers “bodysurfing contest” an oxymoron. “Bodysurfing should be for fun, exercise, enjoying the ocean. To be out there using strategy and trying to outposition someone, to hustle, semi-defeats the purpose of bodysurfing,” he says.
Bodysurfing may be Cunningham's sport of choice, but he chose a circuitous route there. The Niu Valley native started out as a board surfer, and a poor one at that. “I was a bad surfer, to put it bluntly. I was falling off my board, and swimming after it more than I was standing up on it. This was in the late 60's, early 70's. It was pre-leash days,” he details.
“Then-lifeguard Herbie Knutsen, who became a mentor, noticed I was swimming after my board a lot. He dragged me to Sandy Beach, gave me my first pair of fins and said, ‘Try it in the shore break.' I really took to it.”
From there, he entered contests. It all came easily. “I started competing in high school, did well, and was in the pro division a couple years. Growing up in Niu Valley I feel so fortunate; Makapu'u and Sandy Beach were just 20 minutes around the corner.”
All of this dovetailed nicely into his career as a lifeguard. “It worked hand in hand with lifeguarding. It was an essential skill of North Shore lifesaving when I got up there. I was at Ehukai Beach Park, and this was pre-jet ski days. That shore break- you'd be lucky if you could get the rescue board out.”
In 2005, Cunningham retired as the training lieutenant of the City and County of Honolulu Ocean Safety Lifeguard Services, after 29 years of service. It's a career he loves, albeit one he's slightly conflicted about. Shouldn't a middle-class kid from Punahou School be working a white collar job, he wonders?
Agonizes Cunningham, “I had all those great advantages of life. My path took me to the beach, instead of Bishop Street, where many of my contemporaries ended up. But it was my calling. A job by the ocean? Paid to go to the beach? It was the right thing for me. Still, it's been hard. In our society, it's ‘achieve, get more, get the house, the SUV.' I zigged whenever everyone else was zagging. I ran to the wild North Shore.”
Then he shakes off the self-doubt. “I love the ocean. I feel like the luckiest guy in the world for having grown up here in Hawaii. We can play in the ocean 365 days a year. There's something about being in the water, surrounded by it, embraced by it, instead of floating it or being on top of it. It's embracing, more sensual, more comfortable. I want to keep swimming as long as I can. Doesn't have to be riding waves, but just has to be getting into the ocean. ”
If the water is his escape, he's needed it more than ever in the past two years. “The last couple years I've gone through changes in my life. I'm more relaxed in my skin. I used to have a lot of nervous energy,” he explains, before dropping the bomb. “After 18 years of marriage, my wife and I separated right before I retired. That rocked my world, caught me by surprise. I did a lot of soul searching, went to therapy, read books, and stepped back and looked at who I am, and what I've gone through in life, what brought me to this stage.”
But he's OK now. “Regrets? No, I don't think so. I've led a pretty unique life. Trying to be different, an individual, is important to me. Maybe that's why I chose bodysurfing as opposed to the other water sports.”
Just hand him his size 13 fins, and he'll be fine.