Characters

Pono Bergman, 22

Pono’s parents both died on 9/11. He was adopted by Rose and Seymour Bergman and raised along with Josh, in a Jewish family. Pono is a marine biologist and a professional surfer, who was quickly moving up the ranks in surfing competitions until a suffering a surfing mishap that nearly killed him. Pono and Donna, friends since childhood, dated briefly before Donna went off to war. With Donna’s unexpected return, Pono finds himself in love again, but that love is not reciprocated.

Donna Kominsky, 23

The youngest woman to be promoted to Lieutenant in the Marines, Donna had breast implants, dated Pono, then went off and led a covert mission to Syria that failed, badly. At six feet tall, she is the group’s alpha male and a powerful and nationally ranked longboard surfer who is trained in hand-to-hand combat and sharpshooting. Pregnant with her dead commander’s baby, and blaming herself for his death, Donna finds much more on her mind than dealing with love-struck Pono.

Freddie Komoana, 19

Freddie, a sophomore at USC, pays for this tuition with a career in adult films but is disowned when his parents discover he is doing porn. Freddie is the group’s brainiac, a computer whiz who speaks five languages and is a nationally ranked short-board surfer. He is designing and developing a new surfing ‘app’, that will allow surfers to connect, anywhere in the world, to instantly share surf conditions.

Anela Kim, 22

Donna’s closest friend since childhood, she’s a master chef but coaches high school water polo and runs Charlie’s surf school to pay the bills while she trains at a local culinary institute. She is one of the top female surfers in the US and a fierce competitor. She and Donna had a brief fling in high school but she also had an unfortunate hook-up with Freddie.

Josh Bergman, 22

Pono’s brother, Josh, is an internationally ranked surfer. He is an accomplished guitarist, playing in a fledgling boy band made up of young, surfer dudes. He is Freddie’s best friend and studying oceanography at the University of Hawaii. Josh is gay but not out and has an unrequited crush on Freddie. Josh is also a gearhead and loves working on classic cars.

Stephanie Gordon, 23

Trained as a Marine with Donna, after completing her tour of duty, she returns to Honolulu to run the surf shop with Charlie and but leaves to give birth to a baby girl who she raises as a single mom after her fiancé disappears. She returns to the shop after Charlie’s stroke to manage the shop with Pono. Stephanie is an R&B singer trying to break into the music business, and is trained as a jazz pianist.

Charlie Bergman, 60

Owner of Surfer’s Paradise surf shops and surf schools. Charlie is a former pilot with Hawaiian Airlines and flies to all of the Islands in his Cessna plane, visiting his surf shops and surf schools. He is Pono and Josh’s grandfather and an old-school pot-smoking surfer hippie, Charlie is the last of the tie-dyed liberals who surfs regularly with his instructors.