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In Tony Guerrero's Makaha family home, trophies adorn the shelves above the kitchen cabinets. Surf and paddling memorabilia hang on the walls. The upstairs lanai wraps around the house and the picnic tables overlook the ocean in their backyard.
For the Guerrero's, their Makaha home is a retreat.
"That's kind of our safe haven right there," his wife Haunani said about their weekend home. "We all kind of go down there just to retreat and be close to the ocean."
"I do live a very hectic life. Monday thru Friday I work 18-hour days, but come Friday night, we're in Makaha and I'm 'Uncle Ants.' And we're up here singing songs, or we're out there surfing or in the canoes, going fishing, horse-playing with the grand children," Tony said. Even his dog, Maka, loves the beach and body surfing.
Guerrero is the Vice Chairman of First Hawaiian Bank's Retail Banking Group. He started at the bank right after graduating from the University of Portland 40 years ago.
He is also very involved with a number of community groups and local charities including the University of Hawaii's 'Ahahui Koa Ānuenue – athletic fundraising booster club, the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center, the Hawaii Community Foundation, and the Friends of Hawaii Charities.
Haunani says that going out to Makaha on the weekends is important for her to keep her family together and to keep a "heart connection" with every person. It's a time for them to escape the complexities of modern life and slowdown and be together.
"The biggest problem I have with getting down there is to get us back to town and reality. It's so comfortable and so relaxing down there, it's hard for us to pull up our roots and come back to town and go back to our regular jobs on Monday morning," said his wife of 41 years.
Guerrero grew up in Kapahulu but calls Oahu's west side his second home. His older sister Momi married Buffalo Keaualana when Guerrero was 16-years-old. He's been visiting them in Nanakuli ever since.
Guerrero grew up in and around the ocean. He started surfing at the age of 8 and canoe paddling soon after. As a teenager, he was a beach boy, giving surf lessons and canoe rides.
"When I grew up, you don't just surf," he said. "First you gotta know how to body surf. That's how it started off. Before I surfed, I was doing the paipo board and body surfing. Then I got the surf board. And no leashes – so you better be able to swim pretty good."
He first paddled with the Healani Canoe Club.
"The Paaina's that formed the canoe club were my next door neighbors in Kapahulu," he said. "I was eight years old, and I was steering. Then Nappy Napoleon, came to Healani, and I was about 15 or 16 years old. He and I became great friends and about three years later, I followed him to Waikiki Surf Club and we paddled."
Guerrero's paddling has taken him across the Ka Iwi Channel a number of times, and he's not done yet.
"I've been fortunate to cross the channel since I was 19, and in my 20's and 30's and 40's and 50's. Next year, I gotta do it in my 60's." He plans to paddle with Napoleon in the race next year.
Four years ago, Guerrero's nephew Brian Keaulana reintroduced him to stand up paddling, and now he does it on a regular basis. He first did stand up paddling in the 60's. Now, he tries to get in the water about three or four times a week either in the one-man or doing stand up paddling.
"I'm lucky because my nephew and my son, they always want to keep Uncle Ants young, so they say, come on! But I love it, and I have three boards," he said.
He said stand up is the "best core exercise around," and "of course if you're a surfer and you're a paddler, it's the best of both worlds. Because you can rip with that and still get in condition at the same time."
"For me, my routine is down. I take off by the zoo and I paddle out to Ala Moana Bowls. And I catch a wave at “Bowls”, and I catch a wave at Kaisers, I catch a wave at “Threes” and I catch a wave at “Paradise”. I land up in “Canoes” I land up in “Queens”, and I paddle to “the Wall” and I go home and it's an hour and a half. And what an exercise – I'm cabbage after that," he said. He gets in the water at about 5:30 am to get the work out in before his workday begins
Guerrero thinks that stand up paddling has the potential to become more popular than surfing around the world, because people can do it anywhere there's water.
"The only scary part about it, and we're gonna have a challenge with it out here—and I also see it as in Waikiki that it's going to be a challenge—that people get up and get out there and they paddle, but they don't know how to surf. Because you can stand up and paddle, doesn't mean you know how to surf. If you don't surf and then all of a sudden you catch a wave, auwe."
"When we grew up, you had to be a waterman, or water lady. You had to know the water and have a respect for it. That's what it comes down to," he said. "And we tried to raise our children like that…They know that you don't go out there to get your picture taken, you go out there because you enjoy it. And you tell “Akua” thank you for being able to be out in the water and enjoying surfing."
Guerrero said that he and his wife even used surfing as an incentive for their son Kaipo to do well in school.
"I told him that every time you get an A, you get a day off to go surfing. And he got plenty A's. He was an honor student and the whole round."
Haunani says, water sports also helped her son and daughter Kaui, stay healthy and out of trouble.
"Because of the water, we never had to worry about him getting involved in things that weren't appropriate for him. He was so involved in surfing. And if you spend a day at the beach, you're gonna go down early, and you're gonna get your exercise, and it's all around gonna keep you healthy. It's gonna keep you close to the family and it's gonna keep you at home and keep you connected, "she said.
She sees this continuing as her son Kaipo is teaching his two daughters to be water women.
This is one of the reasons Guerrero is now urging the state to adopt surfing as a school sport. When his children were growing up, he was involved with the Hawaii Surfing Association, now called the Hawaii Amateur Surfing Association, and the National Scholastic Surfing Association.
"It's a good venue for kids to succeed in school. Not everybody is big and not everybody is fast, but everybody can surf depending on how much time they want to put into it," he said. He believes surfing programs will give help many at risk kids who are struggling.
"It's a sport you can do your entire life. I'm 62 and I see guys out there older than me out there surfing and having fun at it," he said. "It's not the wins or the losses anymore, it's the enjoyment. Part of life is balance and family and the water is my savior."