Save Our Surf

Save Our Surf (SOS) was an American community environmental organization formed in Hawaii in late 1964 by John M. Kelly, Jr. It emerged during a period of rapid post-statehood development, when highways, resort construction, urban expansion, pollution, and shoreline engineering were changing the physical and social character of Oahu. The group initially presented itself as an organization advocating for surfers, but its concerns soon broadened into a community campaign for public beaches, coastal access, clean water, fishing areas, historic beach trails, and the preservation of local landscapes. The organization was especially concerned about the loss or alteration of surfing locations. Its stated early objectives included preserving surf sites, improving surfer safety, and developing a more positive public image for surfing. In practice, SOS connected those objectives to wider questions of land use, public participation, environmental protection, and the distribution of political power in Hawaii. Its campaigns challenged offshore and shoreline development that members believed would damage coastal ecosystems, restrict public access, or destroy culturally familiar places. John M. Kelly, Jr. served as founder and principal spokesman. In describing the organization’s method in 1971, Kelly emphasized three principles: respecting the public’s ability to understand complex issues, providing people with the relevant facts, and helping communities create an action program. SOS relied on grassroots political techniques rather than a large formal bureaucracy. These included handbills, public demonstrations, visual presentations, and forceful participation in public meetings. The group’s communication style helped it build support beyond the surfing community and mobilize residents in confrontations with government agencies, developers, and other established interests. SOS’s influence expanded sharply in 1969, when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the State of Hawaii disclosed plans to broaden Waikiki’s beaches. The proposal became a major test of whether shoreline engineering and tourism-oriented development would proceed without effective community consent. SOS organized opposition around the protection of Waikiki’s coastal character and surfing environment. The organization is credited with helping prevent offshore development around the Hawaiian Islands and with saving 140 surfing sites between Pearl Harbor and Koko Head, although the available reference material does not provide a complete list of the sites or the legal and administrative outcomes for each one. The organization’s work reflected the broader community, anti-development, environmental, and participatory politics that developed in Hawaii during the 1960s and 1970s. SOS used surfing as an accessible entry point into debates about public resources and coastal stewardship, while also framing environmental degradation as a threat to everyday community life. Its historical importance therefore extends beyond sport: it helped establish a model of locally organized resistance to large-scale coastal projects. Save Our Surf is described in the past tense in the available reference material and is not presented as an active contemporary organization. Following Kelly’s death on October 3, 2007, related coastal-preservation work continued through other organizations and campaigns. The Surfrider Foundation, for example, has carried forward some issues associated with SOS, including the Save Maalaea campaign. Archival material held or made available through the University of Hawaii at Manoa preserves documents and visual records of the group’s activities.

Save Our Surf was established in late 1964 by John M. Kelly, Jr. as a Hawaii-based protest organization concerned with the protection of surfing locations and the wider coastal environment. Its formation came during a period of accelerated change following Hawaii’s statehood. New roads, urban construction, resort expansion, and shoreline engineering were transforming communities and reducing access to places that residents had long used for surfing, fishing, recreation, and travel along the coast. Kelly described the conditions that gave rise to the movement as a broad assault on Hawaii’s shoreline. Old communities were being disrupted by freeways, Waikiki was becoming increasingly dominated by concrete development, familiar landmarks were disappearing, and coastal waters were becoming visibly polluted. Surfing sites, fish and fishing areas, public parking, beach trails, and other forms of access were also threatened. SOS therefore began with the interests of surfers but developed into a community environmental organization whose agenda included public access, clean water, local landscapes, and opposition to offshore development. The group’s early mission had three related parts: preserve surfing sites, promote surfer safety, and improve the public image of surfing. It pursued these aims through direct public organizing rather than through commercial products or a conventional corporate structure. In a 1971 account, Kelly summarized SOS’s approach as respecting the intelligence of ordinary people, giving them accurate information, and assisting them in developing a practical action program. Handbills, demonstrations, colorful visual presentations, and participation in public meetings were central tools. These methods helped SOS communicate technical and planning issues in accessible ways and broadened its support beyond dedicated surfers. The organization became particularly prominent in 1969 after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the State of Hawaii disclosed plans to broaden Waikiki’s beaches. The proposal represented the type of large-scale shoreline intervention that SOS opposed. The group helped bring community attention to the consequences of beach engineering and mobilized residents against decisions it viewed as being made without sufficient regard for public access, local identity, surfing conditions, and environmental effects. The Waikiki fight helped turn SOS into a visible expression of Hawaii’s emerging people-power politics. According to the available account, Save Our Surf was instrumental in preventing offshore development around the Hawaiian Islands and in saving 140 surfing sites between Pearl Harbor and Koko Head. The reference material does not identify every site, specify a single legal instrument responsible for each preservation outcome, or provide a complete chronology of the organization’s campaigns. Its significance lies in the cumulative effect of its organizing: it made coastal development a public political issue and demonstrated that surfers and neighborhood residents could challenge government and development interests through sustained grassroots action. SOS belonged to a wider history of community, environmental, anti-development, and anti-war activism in Hawaii during the 1960s and 1970s. Its work connected environmental protection with cultural continuity and democratic participation. By defending shorelines as shared public spaces, the organization helped challenge the assumption that tourism, engineering, and suburban growth should determine the future of Hawaii’s coasts without strong community involvement. The organization is generally described in the past tense and is not identified in the available sources as an active organization today. John M. Kelly, Jr. died on October 3, 2007. Some of the issues associated with SOS have continued through organizations such as the Surfrider Foundation, including the Save Maalaea campaign. Archival records, photographs, printed material, and recollections remain available through University of Hawaii at Manoa collections and other historical resources.

• 2007

  Death of founder John M. Kelly, Jr.

  [1]Save Our Surfen.wikipedia.org

  Kelly dies on October 3, 2007. Later coastal-preservation work related to SOS concerns continues through other environmental organizations.

• 1971

  Kelly explains the SOS organizing method

  [1]Save Our Surfen.wikipedia.org

  John M. Kelly, Jr. describes the organization’s grassroots strategy as informing the public, respecting community judgment, and helping residents develop action programs.

• 1969

  Waikiki beach expansion becomes a major campaign

  [1]Save Our Surfen.wikipedia.org

  Plans to broaden Waikiki’s beaches by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the State of Hawaii produce a major mobilization by Save Our Surf against shoreline development.

• 1964

  Save Our Surf is established

  [1]Save Our Surfen.wikipedia.org

  John M. Kelly, Jr. starts Save Our Surf in Hawaii as a protest organization focused on preserving surfing sites, improving surfer safety, and defending the coastal environment.

Grassroots environmental advocacy focused on protecting Hawaiian surfing sites, shorelines, public access, water quality, and coastal communities from damaging development.

• 1969Save Waikiki and oppose beach broadening

  Oahu · Hawaii

  Save Our Surf organized public opposition to plans by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the State of Hawaii to broaden Waikiki’s beaches. The campaign focused on the effects of shoreline engineering on surfing conditions, public access, local identity, and the coastal environment.

  Outcome. The available source identifies the campaign as a major point of organizational growth but does not provide a complete account of the final administrative or construction outcome.

  Source
• Protection of Hawaiian surfing sites and coastal access

  Hawaii · Oahu

  Across its active period, SOS opposed offshore development, the destruction of surfing locations, pollution, and the loss of public shoreline access. Its activities contributed to the preservation of 140 surfing sites between Pearl Harbor and Koko Head.

  Outcome. The organization is credited with helping save 140 surfing sites in the stated Oahu area and with preventing offshore development around the islands.

  Source

• 1969

  Escalate opposition to Waikiki shoreline engineeringStrategy

  Background

  Government plans to broaden Waikiki’s beaches created a direct threat, in SOS’s view, to the coastal environment, surfing sites, and public control of the shoreline.

  Action taken

  SOS expanded its public mobilization and confronted the development establishment through demonstrations, printed material, and public presentations.

  Aftermath

  The Waikiki issue helped the organization grow rapidly and become a prominent community environmental campaign.

  Source

• 1964

  Adopt grassroots public-action organizingStrategy

  Background

  SOS formed in response to coastal development, pollution, disappearing access routes, and threats to surfing locations.

  Action taken

  The organization chose handbills, demonstrations, visual presentations, and public-meeting participation to inform residents and build community action rather than relying on a formal commercial model.

  Aftermath

  The approach helped the group build support beyond the surfing community and participate in broader Hawaii people-power politics.

  Source

• 2007

  John M. Kelly, Jr. dies[1]Save Our Surfen.wikipedia.org

  Leadership change

  The founder and principal spokesman of Save Our Surf dies on October 3, 2007. Related coastal-protection work continues through other organizations and campaigns.

• 1969

  SOS mobilizes against proposed Waikiki beach expansion[1]Save Our Surfen.wikipedia.org

  Campaign · Regulation

  Plans by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the State of Hawaii to broaden Waikiki’s beaches trigger a major expansion of Save Our Surf’s grassroots organizing and public opposition.

• 1964

  Save Our Surf is founded in Hawaii[1]Save Our Surfen.wikipedia.org

  Other

  John M. Kelly, Jr. establishes Save Our Surf as a protest organization advocating for surfing sites, surfer safety, and the protection of Hawaii’s coastal environment.

1. 1Save Our Surfen.wikipedia.org
2. 2University of Hawaii at Manoa Save Our Surf archival collectionhawaii.edu