Meet Les!

Hi, this is Les Saito from Honolulu. I grew up surfing town and the north shore. My family and I returned home to Honolulu about two years ago from Hong Kong, where we lived for over 15 years. It is great to be back in paradise. In January, I took a very bad fall snowboarding and severely fractured my back. That injury together with my scoliosis has made it difficult for me to lay prone especially on a surfboard.

On May 8th I was watching the KHON2 evening news when I saw a segment on the Adaptive Surfing Championships. I went down to Waikiki beach the next morning and spoke to a volunteer (Amy). She showed me around and said “you can be a participant at the next DATB and you will surf again.” I was super stoked and had a huge grin on my face.

Boundless hope, compassion and inspiration.

Catching my first wave, standing up and hearing the AccessSurf ‘ohana loudly cheering for me. I was so happy that I could pop up on a surfboard safely despite my injury. It felt great to experience that wonderful “gliding” sensation again. That DATB wave goes down as one of my top ten best.

My family and I are very thankful to the entire crew for helping me continue my lifelong love for surfing. I was amazed that everyone at DATB were so passionate about getting me back in the water safely.