In today’s day and age, it can be difficult to get your kids to play outside, thanks to screens. Even if you live on a beautiful island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean like Laine Furukawa's family.
Furukawa has a long history with the ocean. He worked in Santa Monica for years as a surf instructor, while simultaneously attempting to kickstart a surf business. The oldest of his five sons was essentially raised under a tent on the beach while Furukawa worked.
“I have a lot of water background,” says Furukawa. “So it was always my intent to share that with my kids and have them around the beach as much as possible.”
Currently, Furukawa and his family reside on Oahu, Hawaii where they are surrounded by water. In Hawaii, Furukawa was familiar with the brand Bullyboard that makes oversized body boards and wanted to buy something similar for his kids. When he started seriously searching, he found that Bullyboards weren’t easy to come by, so he began searching for an alternative. 
When he discovered TANDM Surf, Furukawa knew he found the product he had been looking for. He loved that TANDM Surf offered an inflatable design and decided it was time to pull the trigger. And so, he purchased a TANDM Surf Air Bodyboard.
When the board arrived, Furukawa and his kids headed to White Plains, a family friendly beach with an exposed reef break. At first, Furukawa had some trouble inflating the board, but once he got it down they were good to go. 
When they paddled out, the first thing Furukawa noticed was that people noticed them. They were intrigued by the board and were excited to see how it performed. Naturally, there was a learning curve for the boys but Furukawa took turns pushing them into waves.
“My boys were pretty stoked on it because they could do it together,” says Furukawa. “It was family affair and they’re already asking if we can go back. It was definitely a success.”
TANDM Surf’s slogan, “it takes two,” really hit home with Furukawa. He wanted to make sure the experience was fun for his kids, so he loved that he could guide them into waves, and they were able to ride together. The board made the ocean and bodyboarding accessible to groms and got them psyched on being in the water. 
“Anything that promotes doing things together is big for us,” says Furukawa. "In a day and age when you have tons of tablets, it’s always hard to try to find a way to get these kids away from that stuff. It’s a great product to have for families so you can have fun outside and get them into nature.”
