history of surfing

A Surf Tale

An account of surfing’s thousand year voyage from the kings of Hawaii, to the surfers exile from society, to the multi-billion dollar industry of today.

The Sun’s radiation heats the upper atmosphere, sending the energy toward the earth’s surface and finally mixes with the planet’s counter-rotational currents, creating jetstream flows. The winds flow over the ocean’s surface creating friction that spawns chops, pushing up the seas forming perfect bands of open ocean swell. Pushed on by gravitational forces, the swells speed away from the winds that they came from, moving across the deeps until they feel the drag of the shallows near the coast. As the swells rise up out of themselves, they peak, curling into the liquid dreams that we surfers ride (Kampton 4).
Surfing is not a sport, and no true surfer would ever claim otherwise. Yes, it requires all the essential elements of a sport; strength, discipline, balance and most of all practice but unlike a sport, surfing isn’t a competition. True, even most surfers refer to it as an “extreme sport”, but the truth is, we do so because it’s impossible to create a word that completely describes surfing. It is an experience in its own class, a spiritual conquest quest, searching for the perfect wave.
Surfing has come a long way since it was first conceived (roughly 1500 years ago). From the Polynesian “watermen” and Hawaiian Kings, to the European takeover in Hawaii and surfing's American debut in the early twentieth century and all the way through present day, surfing has had a rich history. Over the decades, surfing has fit in to a number of roles in society, but whether we surfers are seen as beach-bums or heroes (as of late), we still surf only because we love it, because the ocean’s calls us, because nothing else on this planet can create the sensation felt by riding a wave.
Surfing: A Kings Sport
To most, surfing is often described as a Hawaiian art-form, and rightfully so, Hawaiians apparently have been surfing for over a thousand years, but most experts will tell you that surfing began in Ancient Polynesia somewhere between the eighth and ninth centuries. Because the historical records of these ancient civilizations were carved into stone and bone, much of their culture has weathered away and little of their history is known. Nonetheless, we have an understanding of...

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...fers (usually in their late teens and early twenties) who were attracted to the surfing boom in the late fifties and early sixties. The word has since been used to describe neophyte surfers who aren’t even good enough to get out of the way of the rest of us who are trying to surf.
*Stoked- Excited, emotion felt after riding a wave.
*Wipeout- to fall off your board, usually being engulfed by the wave afterward and thrown around the ocean floor by the swells.

Adam, Ren. Personal Interview. 10 Feb. 2004.

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Hanson, Amelia. “Small Waves Can’t Crash Party”. The Argus. 2 Feb. 2004.

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Surfline. Surf Culture. 1 March. 2004

Tracey, Terry. Personal Interview. 28 Feb. 2004.

Tweedy, Brock. Personal Interview. 10 Feb. 2004

Wardlaw, Lee. Cowabunga:The Complete Book of Surfing. New York: Avon Books, 1992.

Werner, Doug. Surfer’s Start-Up. Chula Vista, California: Tracks Publishing, 1999.