History of Surfing
History of Surfing
Surfing is an exciting recreational activity in which the participants are propelled by the force of waves. In this sport, the participant stands on GRP (fiberglass) or foam and wooden boards. Many people wish to experience the thrill in surfing on various beaches during their vacations. If you want to learn the skills and techniques of this game, it may be interesting for you to know about the history of surfing.
Although there is no recorded history of surfing, it is widely assumed that this sport has its origin in Pacific Ocean. The act of riding waves using a wooden board started in Western Polynesia before more than three thousand years. The first known surfers were fishermen who found that riding waves was a convenient method for getting to the shore with their catch. Eventually, catching waves became a part of daily work. It proved to be a revolutionary change in surfing.
There is no written record about when stand-up surfing was recognized as a sport. It is believed that the kings, queens and other people of the Sandwich Isles took part in the sport of wave-sliding or “he’enalu” in old Hawaiian during the 15th century. Early records of history of surfing are found in the late 1700s, when Polynesians and Europeans first time landed in Tahiti. It is assumed that the sport of surfing started during the colonization of the Pacific Islands including Indonesia, Tahiti, Fiji and Hawaii. The fact is that the Hawaiians mastered the skill of standing on boards about 1000 years back and Hawaii is called as surfing hub. The kings of Hawaii used huge 25 to 18 ft long ‘olo’ balsa boards while other people had to make use of simple ‘alaia’ boards.
A credit goes to the expedition of Captain James Cook to bring this game to the western world in the year 1779. Two Waikiki beach boys along with Duke Kahanamoku and George Freeth made the surfing culture very popular. Freeth visited to America and presented his surfing skills in California. He was titled as ‘the man who could walk on water’ in California. Kahanamoku was a deft swimmer who won a gold medal in the 1912 Stockholm Olympic Games for United States, he was also a well known Hawaiian ambassador. To spread the Aloha spirit, he traveled all across the globe. He also introduced surfing to the countries like Australia and New Zealand. In the year1917, Duke managed to ride a Waikiki beach wave on his 16 feet solid red wood board for over a mile. Tom Blake, Duke’s companion, in 1926 he was the first person to ride Malibu. He was the winner of first surf championships held at Pacific coast.
In the 1930s, the sport of surfing was experiencing a great new start. Tom Blake was the first man to photograph surfing from the water. Bud Browne, a skillful surfer and waterman, produced the first ‘surf movie’ with his 1953 “Hawaiian Surfing Movie”. This inspired many surfers, filmmakers and photographers to document this sport. Although this game is dominated by men, adventurous women surfers can be found in the history of surfing. Anona Napolean and Eve Fletcher were two notable surfer girls.
Early surfing boards were made of wood and they that were finless and heavy. They were difficult to control in huge waves. In 1930, Tom Blake developed the hollow, rib-supported balsa, waterproof glue, dowels and varnish board. These were light-weight and more floating but still difficult to control. The design of surfboard changed in 1937 when the native haole teenagers managed to cut the tail into a lucid V. It helped the surfers to hold the wave in a more effective manner allowing them to ride bigger waves. In modern surfing, surfboards coated in fiberglass resin having a rear stabilizing fin are used.