http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/4254966

Some Hawaiians sliding into ancient sport
/ Associated Press
Posted: 2 minutes ago

HONOLULU (AP) - As a boy growing up in a poor family on Hawaii's Big
Island, Tom "Pohaku" Stone found entertainment barreling down grassy
slopes aboard ti leaves and banana stumps.

What began as childhood fun on a natural roller coaster has evolved
into an academic and cultural journey aimed at reviving the
2,000-year-old Hawaiian tradition of he'e holua, or Hawaiian lava
sledding.

And Stone has the scars to show for it.

Wearing just a tank top and shorts and reaching speeds of up to 70 mph
on a sled standing only 4 inches above the ground, Stone once ran into
a steel post sticking up from the grass during a demonstration on a
slope on Maui, tearing an 18-inch gash in his left thigh.

In another crash, Stone broke his neck. It hasn't stopped him.

"You can't even imagine what it's like to be headfirst, 4 inches off
the ground, doing 30, 40, 50 miles an hour on rock," Stone said. "It
looks like you are riding just fluid lava. It's death-defying ... but
it's a lot of fun."

It wasn't quite as dangerous when Stone was a kid.

"You would break off a bunch of ti leaves, sit down on it and skid
down the mountain all covered in mud," said Stone, now a 54-year-old
community college professor who teaches the ancient Hawaiian sport and
gives classes on sled building and riding. "That just became my
cultural passion because of the similarities with surfing, but it also
became my academic passion."

Ti plants, or cordylines, are members of the agave family. The leaves
usually are used for fiber, cloth or livestock fodder.

Tom Stone first heard about the practice, which also took place on
other Pacific islands such as Tahiti and New Zealand, through stories
told by his grandfather. (Ronen Zilberman / Associated Press)

Traditionally, he'e holua served both as a sport and as a vehicle for
Hawaiians to honor their gods, especially Pele, the goddess of fire.
After reaching the top of a slope, Hawaiians would stand up, lie down
or kneel atop hardwood sleds - often carved from kauila or ohia trees
and measuring 12 feet long by 6 inches wide - and speed down the
man-made courses of hardened lava rocks sprinkled with grass.

But missionaries who brought Christianity to Hawaii saw the sport as
"a frivolous waste of time," Stone said, and its practice ended in
1825, when the last he'e holua racing event was documented.

"They wanted us to work, stop being happy," Stone said.

Stone first heard about the practice, which also took place on other
Pacific islands such as Tahiti and New Zealand, through stories told
by his grandfather. His interest in reviving the sport came in 1993,
when he wrote a term paper on the tradition for a college class.

A year later, he built his first sled and soon began teaching people
how to ride and craft the sleds, which are hand lashed with coconut
fiber and weigh 40 pounds to 60 pounds.

It takes Stone about two weeks, or 24 hours of nonstop work, to finish
a sled, and his prices start at $3,000. He currently is carving a sled
for an exposition, and another for a restaurant in Kona.

Stone said his solid wood sleds "last forever," unlike today's
snowboards and surfboards built on more high-tech, yet less durable,
materials such as fiberglass and foam. For example, the Bishop Museum,
the state's largest museum, has an 800-year-old sled on display, he
said.

A retired lifeguard and champion surfer, Stone has discovered 57 rock
slides of various lengths across the state, and spent three days with
a crew of seven to make a 200-foot repair on a 700-foot course. The
only remaining course on Oahu is at Kaena Point, he said, and only two
courses are in decent condition, both on the Big Island.

Stone said there are only about a couple of dozen regular riders, and
he is unaware of any deaths or serious injuries among those trying the
sport.

Clifford "Pake" Ah Mow got hooked on the sport three years ago as he
sped down a trail on the Big Island.

"It's great, unbelievable," said Ah Mow, a lifeguard who patrols
Oahu's east and south shores and has sustained "little bumps and
bruises" while sledding. "You get the chills."

He said the biggest challenge is to find a sponsor willing to back the
dangerous event, whose judging criteria will include "style, length of
ride and survival ability."

"There's people across the world that want to ride," he said. "Once
you do it, you never look back. You want to do it all the time."

© 2005 Associated Press

http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/4254966

Some Hawaiians sliding into ancient sport
/ Associated Press
Posted: 2 minutes ago

HONOLULU (AP) - As a boy growing up in a poor family on Hawaii's Big
Island, Tom "Pohaku" Stone found entertainment barreling down grassy
slopes aboard ti leaves and banana stumps.

What began as childhood fun on a natural roller coaster has evolved
into an academic and cultural journey aimed at reviving the
2,000-year-old Hawaiian tradition of he'e holua, or Hawaiian lava
sledding.

And Stone has the scars to show for it.

Wearing just a tank top and shorts and reaching speeds of up to 70 mph
on a sled standing only 4 inches above the ground, Stone once ran into
a steel post sticking up from the grass during a demonstration on a
slope on Maui, tearing an 18-inch gash in his left thigh.

In another crash, Stone broke his neck. It hasn't stopped him.

"You can't even imagine what it's like to be headfirst, 4 inches off
the ground, doing 30, 40, 50 miles an hour on rock," Stone said. "It
looks like you are riding just fluid lava. It's death-defying ... but
it's a lot of fun."

It wasn't quite as dangerous when Stone was a kid.

"You would break off a bunch of ti leaves, sit down on it and skid
down the mountain all covered in mud," said Stone, now a 54-year-old
community college professor who teaches the ancient Hawaiian sport and
gives classes on sled building and riding. "That just became my
cultural passion because of the similarities with surfing, but it also
became my academic passion."

Ti plants, or cordylines, are members of the agave family. The leaves
usually are used for fiber, cloth or livestock fodder.

Tom Stone first heard about the practice, which also took place on
other Pacific islands such as Tahiti and New Zealand, through stories
told by his grandfather. (Ronen Zilberman / Associated Press)

Traditionally, he'e holua served both as a sport and as a vehicle for
Hawaiians to honor their gods, especially Pele, the goddess of fire.
After reaching the top of a slope, Hawaiians would stand up, lie down
or kneel atop hardwood sleds - often carved from kauila or ohia trees
and measuring 12 feet long by 6 inches wide - and speed down the
man-made courses of hardened lava rocks sprinkled with grass.

But missionaries who brought Christianity to Hawaii saw the sport as
"a frivolous waste of time," Stone said, and its practice ended in
1825, when the last he'e holua racing event was documented.

"They wanted us to work, stop being happy," Stone said.

Stone first heard about the practice, which also took place on other
Pacific islands such as Tahiti and New Zealand, through stories told
by his grandfather. His interest in reviving the sport came in 1993,
when he wrote a term paper on the tradition for a college class.

A year later, he built his first sled and soon began teaching people
how to ride and craft the sleds, which are hand lashed with coconut
fiber and weigh 40 pounds to 60 pounds.

It takes Stone about two weeks, or 24 hours of nonstop work, to finish
a sled, and his prices start at $3,000. He currently is carving a sled
for an exposition, and another for a restaurant in Kona.

Stone said his solid wood sleds "last forever," unlike today's
snowboards and surfboards built on more high-tech, yet less durable,
materials such as fiberglass and foam. For example, the Bishop Museum,
the state's largest museum, has an 800-year-old sled on display, he
said.

A retired lifeguard and champion surfer, Stone has discovered 57 rock
slides of various lengths across the state, and spent three days with
a crew of seven to make a 200-foot repair on a 700-foot course. The
only remaining course on Oahu is at Kaena Point, he said, and only two
courses are in decent condition, both on the Big Island.

Stone said there are only about a couple of dozen regular riders, and
he is unaware of any deaths or serious injuries among those trying the
sport.

Clifford "Pake" Ah Mow got hooked on the sport three years ago as he
sped down a trail on the Big Island.

"It's great, unbelievable," said Ah Mow, a lifeguard who patrols
Oahu's east and south shores and has sustained "little bumps and
bruises" while sledding. "You get the chills."

He said the biggest challenge is to find a sponsor willing to back the
dangerous event, whose judging criteria will include "style, length of
ride and survival ability."

"There's people across the world that want to ride," he said. "Once
you do it, you never look back. You want to do it all the time."

© 2005 Associated Press

http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/4254966

Some Hawaiians sliding into ancient sport
/ Associated Press
Posted: 2 minutes ago

HONOLULU (AP) - As a boy growing up in a poor family on Hawaii's Big
Island, Tom "Pohaku" Stone found entertainment barreling down grassy
slopes aboard ti leaves and banana stumps.

What began as childhood fun on a natural roller coaster has evolved
into an academic and cultural journey aimed at reviving the
2,000-year-old Hawaiian tradition of he'e holua, or Hawaiian lava
sledding.

And Stone has the scars to show for it.