Professional surfer and scientist Cliff Kapono gets his best ideas when he’s in the ocean. “The thinking turns off, but the ideas start to pour in,” he says. To him, the connection makes complete sense because the native Hawaiian word for “idea” is the same as “wave” — nalu.
Kapono is a native Hawaiian; these are the Indigenous people of Hawaii. He grew up in Hilo, Hawaii, where he is based today, blending his lifelong passions for surfing and science daily. “I want to understand how waves move across our planet, so I can be better at catching these waves,” he says.
As a kid, all he wanted to do was surf every day, all day long. He practiced until he could surf at a professional level. “That’s the same thing that I did in science. It started off where I just wanted to take science classes and get A’s. With surfing, the equivalent is catching nice waves,” Kapono says.
Kapono is now a professional free surfer. These athletes chase the best swells around the world to earn sponsorships and media exposure. He also has time to do scientific research. For Arizona State University’s Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science in Hilo, he studies how humans and ocean environments interact,...
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