COMPANY HISTORY

Action Sports Maui LLC is a fully Licensed and Insured training facility. Compliant with all legal requirements to operate these watersports activities in the State of Hawaii, and Maui County.
Our instructors are experienced, certified, CPR & First Aid trained to give you an easy, safe, successful and enjoyable experience.
If you have any questions please contact:  David Dorn (Owner) (808) 871-5857 or email contact@actionsportsmaui.com

In 1995 David was running a windsurfing and surfing school for a retail store in Kahului. The school had reached its capacity teaching mostly beginner lessons. Then David had the idea to buy the school and expand its original concept to include high end specialized lessons. Action Sports Maui was launched in 1996 by David Dorn. David's twenty year career in watersports training has spanned the globe and has encompassed a variety of watersports including: Sailing, Windsurfing, Surfing, Kitesurfing, Parasailing, and Waterskiing. David created Action Sports Maui from his ten year vision of bringing the very best watermen in each field together to create an Advanced Water-sports Training Center that caters to the highest levels of each sport. Maui was chosen as the ideal location for the venture because of the world class watersports beaches and reliable year-round conditions. Hawaii is at the forefront of watersport innovation and exploration, so there is access to the latest techniques and equipment technology. David assembled a team of dedicated watersportsmen and women to provide the very best instruction available, especially in the high performance ends of each sport. The first instructor brought on board was John Holzhall, long time instructor, and dedicated waterman. Action Sports was dedicated to total instruction 100% of the time. The instructors worked fulltime year round to hone their teaching and personal skills. Action Sports was able to offer a very high quality teaching program.
 Originally Action Sports comprised of two separate schools for surfing and windsurfing. The windsurfing School was based at Kanaha Beach on the North Shore, Maui's most popular windsurfing beach. Kanaha provided a variety of conditions that enabled beginners to sail comfortably in the mornings and the advanced windsurfers to sail in the afternoons. Lessons were sometimes given at Kahului Harbor when large waves made windsurfing at Kanaha too difficult. Starting as the smallest windsurfing school on Maui. David Dorn, introduced a windsurfing lesson program based on a combination of on the AYF (Australian) System and the other systems he had taught in Hawaii and overseas. Adapting the lesson programs to Maui's conditions was the key to creating a successful learning environment for the students. By expanding the lesson program and giving consistently high quality lessons, the word soon spread as students bragged about their success. Through hard work and consistency, the reputation of the school grew and Action Sports became widely known for its good beginner instruction and its High-performance lessons. ASM provided the most advanced programs available including regular Wave Jumping and looping classes. Even instructors from other schools would come and take some training with Action Sports. Windsurfing Instructor Trainer Tinno Dornellas from the U.S. Sailing Association came to Maui to run a US sailing Windsurfing Instructor's Course hosted by Action Sports Maui. Dave Dorn and several other of Maui's other experienced instructors undertook the training to become certified under the US Sailing System. Meanwhile most of the other schools on Maui persisted using old-style triangular Dacron sails with tie on booms for their school sails. (which have been out of date for over fifteen years), Action Sports Windsurfing School then introduced custom made sails by "Simmer" to their beginner fleet.  These sails were designed for performance in beginner conditions. The school grew with the regular addition of the best equipment available. Even the beginner rigs had lightweight carbon-fiber masts and booms. The quiver of sails are custom-made wave sails for easy handling and performance. The Action philosophy is to give each student the best equipment and best techniques to ensure their success. The Action Sports Windsurfing School now has the largest customer service van on the island containing the best fleet of windsurfing equipment available. Up to 25 fully rigged current lightweight wave sails rigged with carbon masts are on hand for the students so that they can have the most suitable sail choice depending on the changing conditions, body size and type, fitness level and their progress.
  The Action Surfing School was the first north shore based surfing school on the island. Breaking away from the standard practice of teaching at a single location only, the lessons would be taught at many different locations to take advantage of the best wave conditions on each day. The surfing school's lesson program was adapted from the ASP teaching system that David Dorn was certified on in Australia and on the teaching system used by John Holzhall in his Florida based surfing school. The original board quiver was expanded with an increased  range of board sizes to accommodate any size of surfer, this lead to the greater success rate amongst all beginner surfers in our programs. Regular classes beginner/intermediate are still taught seven days a week. Private "surfaris" were created for advanced surfers to get to the lesser known breaks. ASM  began to run Surf Camps for Large and small groups, camp dates were later extended year-round. The Surfing camps provided a combination of training and accommodation. Surfing for High School Sport groups became popular local school students, these camps are held during school vacations. Groups and tours were created to accommodate any number of surfers. ASM always maintains a high instructor to student ratio, to ensure that every student receives the maximum attention. Action Sports travels island wide to make the most of the available conditions. Since then, Action Surf school moved its baseyard and core of operations to Kihei on Maui's south shore, and still makes regular trips to the north shore as conditions dictate.
 
PRE-KITESURF: When kitesurfing first appeared on Maui, it was a rarity indeed. The first to try it were Laird Hamilton, Mike Waltz and a few other adventurous watermen. At first it was highly experimental, with equipment borrowed from tow-surf, windsurf, and waterskiing. The pioneers adapted their skills and equipment to the local conditions, and the sport took shape. That is when Action Sports instructor David Dorn really took an interest in the new craft. David and his brother Tony Dorn already had extensive sports kite flying experience from Australia. Since childhood, the Dorn brothers grew up surfing, sailing and kite-flying and experimenting with all types of sports kites. They used inflatable kites in the 1970's, using the kites for traction, while they rode their bicycle tandem. By the 1980's the Dorn brothers, had experimented with Kite "stacking" and other multi-kite configurations. Together they developed a kite harness system to help them control the power of their custom built Ten-tier dragon kite. The Dragon had a combined surface area of 122sq ft. The Dorn's dragon kite was a hit at the "festival of the winds", kite fair in Sydney and was flown at locations all over Sydney from Long reef and the northern beaches to the Kurnell sand dunes in the south. Kiteflying and other forms of flying and gliding continued to fascinate the Dorn boys throughout the 80's. David's career then included: training, an internship and employment with Hamilton Island Watersports, doing commercial waterskiing and parasailing operations. The safety protocols and methodology David learned from parasailing would come in handy when setting out the first kitesurfing protocols in later years.  David then focused his career on windsurfing until moving to Maui in the late 1990's
In 1997 Action Sports started researching the then obscure sport of Kitesurfing, with the help of sports earliest promoter Joe Koehl. David Dorn and John Holzhall were convinced that the sport had a great potential. Joe approached David and John with the idea of starting a kitesurfing school. Joe leant them their first Wipika kite to experiment with.  
The instructor team at Action Sports gathered all the information they could and trained on every piece of equipment that they could get their hands on, some of which they had to make for themselves. Being experienced instructors they sought the advice of the best kitesurfers of the day and gained even more knowledge through their personal experimentation and the experiences of other watermen. By then they were completely hooked on kitesurfing and would go and train every afternoon after teaching windsurfing all day. They made quite a spectacle as they carried their kitesurfing contraptions past the bemused and skeptical windsurfing crowd. They paid their dues and eventually more heads started turning as windsurfers took notice. At the time there were only a handful of guys kitesurfing on Maui. Notably, Lou Wainman and Elliot Leboe were usually kiting at uppers and about six other guys you could call regulars.
Action Sports officially launched its kitesurfing instructional program in 1998 with the help of Flash Austin (World champion) and Sierra Emory (Professional Kitesurfer). The lesson program was born out of the need for safety and simplicity. Maui's strong winds quickly demonstrated the inadequacies of the existing techniques and equipment. Kitesurfing was under close scrutiny as to its safety and it was for a time viewed as a hazard to public safety. The equipment was tested and refined to make it more controllable, new automatic safety releases were incorporated to improve safety and the emphasis of the lesson focused on maintaining control even in the most extreme conditions. Each student learns the safety drills thoroughly before flying the full power kites. There were two strong public misconceptions about kitesurfing that we had to overcome; one was that kitesurfing was dangerous, and the second was that you didn't need any training to kitesurf. We eventually convinced the majority that kitesurfing done properly is (relatively) safe, we did this by demonstrating good kitesurfing practices ourselves and promoting safe practices to other kitesurfers. We are not able to convince all the die-hards that they should take a lesson first, but the unfortunate experiences (kite-mares) of the self taught who tried to muscle the kite are testimony to the benefits of a basic lesson. The public perception of the sport improved greatly in the last few years and the accessibility to a wider range of people is enhancing its appeal. The training programs gained popularity and public approval. Action Sports Kitesurfing school continued to improve and expand on the training techniques by teaching a high volume of lessons in ideal kitesurfing conditions. The core of Maui kiteboarders and instructors created the KISS( Kitesurfing International Safety System) , the first structured training system. Action Sports was the first school to offer the KISS program and hosted students and instructors from all over the world in the training programs. Instructors would come to Maui to be trained under the KISS system. and take the techniques, methods and training back to use in their home countries. Kiss instructors trainers trained at Action Sports included, David Dorn, John Holzhall, and later Paul Franco, Ben Meyer, Jeffro Rothenberg and Motoyo Yamada.  The KISS techniques became the first standard for teaching and was the basis of all the other systems that followed. The KISS produced the first online safety information about the sport in the form of their KISS Online Kiteboard Manual, and several other informational websites. Now students of all abilities come from around the world to train at Action Sports Maui.
In November 2000 Action Sports Maui joined forces with Proflyght of Maui, the most advanced paragliding school on the Island. Many paraglider pilots were getting into kitesurfing and vice versa, so the two sports were appealing to each other. The paragliders usually fly early mornings when the winds are light and kitesurfers start when the trade-winds kick in around midday this makes them very compatible. Two of Proflyght’s Paragliding instructors, Franco and Bell, Trained in kitesurfing at Kanaha and eventually trained with Action Sports to become certified Kitesurfing Instructors. Our paragliding/kitesurfing instructors could be flying over the mountain at sunrise and blasting across the water later the same day. Action Sports offered Paragliding courses for a time. In 2001 Action Sports co-hosted the WIPIKA kiteboard instructor course with instructor trainer Paul Menta. Paul gained the KISS instructor Certification equivalency, The WIPIKA System was the second internationally recognized kitesurfing training system available.  The WIPIKA program was included in the Action Sports curriculum, and further enhanced the kiteboarding Program. Action sports Instructor Paul Franco teamed up with the IKO creator, for the first IKO instructor training on Maui. The first course was co-hosted by Action Sports and run by Paul and Eric Beaudonnet.  In 2003 Action sports hosted the IKO (International Kiteboarding Organization) Instructor Training program with instructor trainer Darren Marshall from Australia. The course was at the time the fastest growing system, and built on the previous programs of the Wipika schools. The course confirmed the fact that Hawaii was still at the forefront of teaching and with the instructors of the several systems sharing knowledge and experiences, the course became an instructional summit with a great deal of new information for all the participants. All the Instructors certified at the course came away with a great deal of insight into the latest teaching methodology. Also in 2003 KISS instructor Trainer John Holzhall, became the first Hawaiian based PASA kiteboard instructor Trainer. John went to Florida to train again with PASA Kiteboarding Instructor Trainer. Paul Menta (formerly the Wipika I.T.). John brought back the core of the PASA training to compliment the Action Sports programs. In late 2003 The KISS offered equivalency for PASA level 2 Instructors and IKO L2. Bringing the different standards closer together. 2004 John Holzhall created the KITES (Kiteboarding Instruction Training Evaluation System) which was an impartial set of standards that instructors, could be measured by, for a uniformity of teaching standards and abilities. John also produced a kiteboarding book "Kiteboarding's Simple Plan" and DVD to back up the information in the KITES system. Which is available to students and instructors in all teaching systems. Action Sports endorsed the KITES system and is the first school in Hawaii to implement the latest teaching methodology into their programs. In 2004 IKO has offered equivalency to PASA instructors. And the KITES is officially recognized by the KISS program. Furthering the unification of teaching systems. John at KITES released his updated Book and DVD titled "Secrets of Kiteboarding". Action Sports continues to research and explore every new development in Kiteboarding equipment, techniques and teaching methods to stay firmly at the forefront of kiteboarding instruction. In 2005 ASM has co-developed the "first-line" teaching techniques with the KITES creator John Holzhall. The new Naish Torch, Boxer & Raven (Five-line kites) brought into the teaching program brought more versatility and easier accessibility to kiteboarders. The kite program at Action Sports is unique and way ahead of any other school in the state. In 2006 Action Sports introduced "Bow kite" techniques to the program. Action Sports originally pioneered the RLB bridle and pulley bar technology three years before the release of the product. Action Sports was already up and running with the appropriate teaching methods applicable to the newest bow-kite designs that are becoming increasingly popular. Naish Shockwave kites are at the center of the Action Sports SLE kite program. After teaching kiteboarding full-time for over 9-years, ASM has tried and tested every available teaching technique, and (having originally developed most of them) has now moved on to their latest format. The current methods are highly evolved and have a solid foundation from years of development. The current Action Sports Training programs offer students more hands on experience with the core technique. Now students get way more "quality" water time, reinforcing their positive experiences. Students just learn better and faster, with a greater feeling of confidence and control.

In 2006 Action Sports Maui is celebrating 10 years in business. ASM continues to research new and better teaching methods, and will continue to keep its eyes on the future trends of watersports to anticipate the demands of the future watersports students.

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