Rell Kapolioka'ehukai Sunn (b. July 31, 1950, Makaha, Oahu, Hawaii – d. January 2, 1998, Makaha, Oahu, Hawaii) was an American world surfing champion. Known as "Queen of Makaha" and "Aunty Rell", she was a pioneer in the world of women's surfing.
Contents |
Rell Sunn was born in Makaha on Oahu in 1950, the fourth of Elbert and Roen Sunn's five children. Her father Elbert is Chinese, and her mother Roen is Hawaiian-Irish. Her Hawaiian middle name, Ka-polioka'ehukai, means Heart of the Sea.
Sunn started surfing at age 4 at Makaha, and was entering competitive surf meets by the age of 14. At the time, not all surfing competitions had women's divisions, in which case she would enter the contest and compete successfully against her male counterparts.[1]
Sunn was a pioneer in women's competitive surfing and water sports. She became Hawaii's first female lifeguard in 1977. In 1975, Sunn was one of the original members of the first women's professional surfing tour. Faced with what they saw as frustrating inequities between male and female surfers, Sunn, along with other female surfers, founded the Women's Professional Surfing Association in 1979.[2] She also founded the Women's Surfing Hui (organization) in Hawaii. In 1982, she ranked first in the international professional surfing ratings.
In 1982, during a pro surf meet in Huntington Beach, California, Sunn felt a lump in her breast which turned out to be breast cancer. When she was diagnosed in 1983, her prognosis was for one year. Sunn continued to surf every day after her diagnosis, despite the pain and chemotherapy associated with the disease.
Following her diagnosis, Sunn became a radio disc jockey and surf reporter, a physical therapist at a Waianae care home, and a counselor at a cancer research center[1]. She helped pilot a program for breast cancer awareness at the Wai'anae Cancer Research Center that involved educating local women about the causes and prevention of breast cancer.
Over the next 14 years, her cancer went into remission three times, and she underwent a mastectomy and a bone marrow transplant.
Sunn died on January 2, 1998, aged 47. More than 3,000 people attended her memorial service, where her ashes were scattered in the ocean off her native Makaha. [2]
Rell Sunn had one daughter, Jan, who is married to Tony Carreira; Sunn's two grandchildren are Kamalanikauikapolila'i and Kaumanakamokilaokaehuka'i.