Ben Apia needs help

  This is some very Sabre’s news. 

 Legendary Surfer Shaper and mentor to the Young, Ben Apia has had a number of Strokes and has Dementia. His wife and Step Mother have been caring for him. The Medical Bills are adding up fast.

there is an Auction of his Boards as well as a Go Fund Me Page.

 

 

Sorry to hear about that.      I was in the water with him quite a bit, in 1967 thru 1972.      The guy was a real power surfer.      His cutbacks, at speed, were a sight to behold.

Ben was in bad shape last year. His legs were very weak and the dimentia was getting worse. He moved to the big island, and it seems the dimentia is much worse. Here on Oahu, a care home for dimentia patients costs between $6,000 and $14,000 a month. For someone in Ben’s condition, it would be closer to $13,000 or more. I don’t know what they charge on the big island, but things usually cost more.

There are quite a few people here that he took under his wing and helped become “names” in the surfing industry, both as surfers and as craftsmen. He coached the Hawaii team for quite a few years. He could be intense, at times mean if you crossed him, but he had a good side and he was always nice to me. He was like an analog version of Swaylocks, always willing to share his thoughts about his board designs.

 

In the 70’s, I saw him do a backside cutback right under a guy dropping, you could hear the boards hitting. No words necessary, the guy learned the hard way. He was a powerful surfer.

Don’t know what he was like at home, but he used to come over to Ventura every year for a month or so to shape a run of boards for Ventura Surf Shop back in the Stan Fugi days.  Spent a little time talking to him at the Beach Fest one year.  He seemed to be a super nice guy.  It was great that the Del Mar Show gave him his dues a few years back.  There was a photo I saw once of Greg Noll watching him shape.  You could tell by the look on his face that Noll knew he was watching one of the best.

Here’s the Go Fund Me page in case you’re interested in helping

They are about halfway to their goal

Lot’s of “industry names” contributing even garage hacks like Foamdust and myself.

He deserved better

dementia sucks

Ben’s Go Fund Me Page

 

 

Like oneula said, dementia sucks. That is an understatement. I watched my own father go through it before he passed to the other side and it was aweful. Dementia is not covered by medicare, etc. It is out of pocket and the expenses listed above are not exagerated. I hope many of us here will send a few $$ Mr. Aipa’s way. He’s a legend. Mike