Cliff Kapono has a PhD. And he’s a professional surfer. Not bad. Photos: YouTube//Screenshots
Cliff Kapono is an extraordinarily interesting guy. He’s a surfer, yes, and a very good one at that. But he’s also a doctor. A PhD chemist to be exact. He uses his love for the ocean, and science, to do some extraordinarily interesting things. The New York Times, TED, National Geographic, Nature, The Explorers Club, Outside magazine, and of course we here at The Inertia have taken notice, and recently Vice did too.
Dr. Kapono is featured in Vice’s latest installment of Let It Kill You, a series that points a lens at people like Aarto Saari, Nora Vasconcellos, Max Schaaf, and other out-of-the-box thinking geniuses. Let It Kill You is an apt title for the series — a nod to a Bukowski poem called ‘Find What You Love and Let it Kill You’ which implies we’re all going to be killed by something, and it’s “much better to be killed by a lover.”
Cliff is proudly from Hawaii, and that pride directs much of his work. “Cliff is fortunate to have been accepted into a larger community that not only spans across the Hawaiian Islands but one that is also willing to marginalize racial, social, and geographic barriers for the betterment of the whole,” Vice wrote. “He finds inspiration in the work of individuals who are active in facilitating change while diligently remaining rooted in culture. When not traveling, Cliff splits his time between Hawaii and North America in efforts to uncover alternative methods of environmental stewardship.”
You might’ve heard of the MEGA Lab, an unusual research lab that works differently than most. The place was created to simply research things that need to be researched by people that want to research them.
“Unlike other labs, it’s not just one school or one institution,” Cliff explained to The Inertia. “MEGA Lab was created as a safe space for anyone to be a part of. We have artists, divers, builders, sailors, filmmakers, skaters, surfers. There’s no weird hierarchy. You don’t have to have all A’s or even (have gone to a) college to have a place there. It’s really about people’s passion for the environment and drive to contribute to society on an impactful level.”
This episode of Let it Kill You is a close look into the lives of one of surfing’s most interesting and intelligent people.
