IN TANDEM
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OR OUTRIGGER CANOE CLUB member Tai Sunnland, surfing with his children started early. At just 18 months, each was lifted onto a surfboard, and together they caught their first wobbly waves as soon as they could stand. “I would put a floatie on them—try to go two to three times a week,” Sunnland recalls. “That’s the easiest because they don’t really know to be scared yet.” At just seven years old, his daughter Sena already brings a fearless attitude to the water. Last summer, the pair entered the tandem event at the Club’s Ninth An- nual Surf Jam, where they took first place. “That was kind of her MO last year: ‘Dad, catch the biggest one, and I’ll do my tricks,’” Sunnland laughs, imitating his daughter. “She was really excited. We never practiced for it, but she already had her moves ready from gymnastics.” Just behind them, Club member Amy Lawson Woodward and her daughter Relle took second place in the event. Growing up as childhood friends on O‘ahu’s Gold Coast, Sunnland and Wood- ward spent their early years surfing to- gether. Now, as parents of daughters born just weeks apart and new OCC board members, they’re giving back to the place that shaped them—while raising the next generation of surfers in the same waters. “It’s crazy that we’re both grown-ups now with careers and families,” Wood- ward says. “I think we both choose to serve because we feel a responsibility to preserve and perpetuate this Club—so that our children can experience what we were blessed to experience in our child- hood.” Thinking back on his own youth, Sun- nland recalls catching his first waves around age 10. “I was in the water as much as possible,” he says. “I pretty much grew up surfing Tongg’s, Graveyards, and Rice Bowls.”
“DAD,
CATCH THE BIGGEST ONE, AND I’LL DO MY TRICKS!”
— Sena Sunnland
And it was at Tongg’s that a friendly lifelong rivalry was born. “Growing up surfing with Tai was pretty classic grom-hood. I think we first met out in the water at age 11 or 12—eyeing each other up as competitive little groms,” Woodward says. “We would always push each other competitively, but then go in, eat ice cream, and watch out for one another.” “It’s fun surfing against my childhood friends—the crew that got me into surfing,” Sunnland reflects. “Now we’re entering our 40s, still surfing against and with each other. It’s fun to go full circle.” Sunnland has been an OCC member since age 13, thanks in
16 AMA | MAY/JUNE 2026
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