Surf greats Laird Hamilton, Dave Kalama and friends lead cause to understand autism.
By Ben Marcus / Special to The Malibu Times
Surfboards, personal watercraft, dogs, open fires and barbecues are not allowed on the beach at Paradise Cove. But this past Saturday, the surfboard and barbecue rules were set aside to allow big wave surfers Laird Hamilton and Dave Kalama to rally friends, neighbors and paddle boarders in a fundraising effort to ease the burden of autism on children and their families. Actors John C. McGinley and Rachel Griffiths, football great Bil Romanowski and tennis legend John McEnroe joined Hamilton and Kalama and about two-dozen others in the water.
The event was the premiere party for the documentary “Path of Purpose,” which follows Hamilton, Kalama and friends on pedal/paddle endurance adventures from London to Paris and across the Hawaiian islands in the summer and fall of 2006.
“The parents, the people who have to live with children who are autistic, that’s a heavy thing,” Hamilton said to the crowd on Saturday. “I have this incredible respect for Don King and his family… and we are here for ‘Beautiful Son,’ which is Don King’s film about autism-about his son and about the spectrum disorder.”
A Hawaii resident and graduate of Punahou School and Stanford University, King transitioned from high-risk, impact zone surf photography in the 1980s to working as a water cinematographer on Hollywood projects. King shot water sequences for “City of Angels” and “Castaway,” and directed the opening sequence of the James Bond movie “Die Another Day,” filming Hamilton, Darrick Doerner and Kalama surfing “Jaws” beach on Maui. He also films for ABC’s “Lost” series.
King and his wife Julianne Yamamoto’s youngest son, Beau, was born in 2000. Beau was a normal, happy child for the first two years of his life, and then “the light went out,” King said. Beau was diagnosed with autism, a neurological disorder that severely affects speech and social behavior, and has shown an alarming increase with every passing year.
The Kings started the project “Beautiful Son” with their own money, but then enlisted the help of their longtime friend Hamilton.
Hamilton loves to test the limits of extreme physicality, every which way he can. The first half of “Path of Purpose” follows him as he pedals 70 miles from London to Dover in the summer rain, and then jumps on a paddle board for a solo, 40-mile crossing of the English Channel to France. He wakes up the next morning for a 190-mile bike ride to Paris, accompanied by a champion French mountain biker.
Edited in with scenes of Hamilton peddling and paddling are segments of King with Beau. One of the therapies that has worked is the ocean. When King and Beau are swimming together, King said, “For a little while I can imagine that I have a normal boy who is like every other boy.”
The Kings have two other sons, Aukai and Dane.
Hamilton ends this adventure at the Arc de Triomphe and these words: “If you want to, and you really put your mind to it, we can go a lot farther than you think. No matter what you are doing, you can do more, a lot more.”
Hamilton chose to do more, much more. In October of 2006, he organized a pedal/paddle transit of the Hawaiian Islands from the farthest south point of the Big Island to the northernmost point of Kauai. In seven days he covered 500 miles by land and sea and was accompanied by Kalama, Don Wildman and others on a grueling mission to transit all of the major Hawaiian Islands, using only muscle power.
Beau is now seven years old, and in the middle of the autism scale: “He’s doing well,” King said. “I have had a couple of instances where we have gone back and forth two or three times, but it’s very rare. He can interact socially but it’s hard for him.”
It is hard for the King family too. At the start of “Path of Purpose,” King said, “There is no stronger drive as a parent than to get your child back.”
Within half an hour, Saturday’s party had raised $29,750, including the auction of a private surf lesson with Laird Hamilton for $10,000, for the National Autism Association.
King said “Path of Purpose” raised $40,000, which will help him finish “Beautiful Son.” He intends to tour the movie and hopes to get it on PBS.