Racing with Aloha

November 1, 2021
This memoir presents Haywood's account of his impressive swimming and windsurfing successes, and lessons learned along the way. In 1967, while in high school, Haywood won the NCAA national championship in the 100-meter backstroke. After graduating from Stanford, he returned to his native Maui, where he started a real-estate business and opened a windsurfing shop. In 1983, in Weymouth, England, he broke the world speed record in windsurfing. However, his true fame emerged in 1984, when a Life magazine photographer captured Haywood surfing a massive wave at Ho'okipa beach in Maui. The resulting photo spread inspired Haywood to become a professional windsurfer, and he earned top money for the next decade. Haywood's depictions of his surfing and swimming exploits will engage even lounge-chair adventurers, and readers will relate as he discusses overcoming academic struggles at Stanford and the heart condition that cost him a spot in the 1968 Olympics. Written chronologically and endorsed by Haywood's good friends, Olympic gold medalist Mark Spitz and surfing great Laird Hamilton, this is an engaging account of a life spent navigating often-choppy waters.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

July 1, 2021
In this debut memoir about growing up in Hawaii, a man reflects on a life spent in the water. Haywood was born on Maui in 1949, after his parents relocated from San Francisco. His father was a doctor for the sugar plantations, working at a hospital and making house calls at the plantation camps. The author's dad is a central figure in the book, a lover of the outdoors who taught his children the importance of hard work and humility. The opening chapters are full of observations of island culture and awe for the natural beauty that was the kids' childhood backyard. Competitive swimming soon takes over the memoir. "Swimming was second nature to us," Haywood recounts, "and second in priority to our schoolwork." The author, in his high school years, became a formidable backstroker. After transferring to a high school in California for his senior year to focus on his training, he won the backstroke competition at the Amateur Athletic Union Indoor Championships. He earned a spot at Stanford, where the swimming came easier than the academics. An atrial fibrillation--an irregular heartbeat--put his swimming career in jeopardy, and Haywood began to consider life after college. He returned to Maui, looking for work, and after several false starts, he settled into real estate. He also seriously took up surfing, even traveling to Indonesia in search of great waves. Soon, he found a new passion, windsurfing, a sport in its infancy. The author became a pioneer, devising innovations in technique and equipment. Haywood's swiftly paced book is a straightforward, compact account of growing up, told in steady prose that sometimes resorts to clich�d phrases. But the author draws a rich and detailed portrait of Maui, capturing an island developing quickly amid the swirls of change in the latter half of the 20th century. His writing on water sports is compelling and vivid with action. From start to finish, his affection for Maui shines through: "I will always come home to Maui because Maui will always be home." A concise, vibrant, and fast-moving tribute to sports and home.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. (Online Review)