History of Surfing (The main source of facts is Stoked: A History of Surf Culture by Drew Kampion)

1
History of Surfing(The main source of facts is
Stoked A History of Surf Culture by Drew Kampion)

• Origin and development
• No one knows who caught first wave
• Evidence of surfing in South Pacific prior to
  contact with Europeans
• Significant part of Hawaiian life in early 1800s
• Surf riding was one of the favorite Hawaiian
  sports, wrote Thomas G. Thrum in his 1896
  Hawaiian Almanac and Annual

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Who Surfed What?

• Chiefs, men, women, and youth surfed in
  Polynesian society in Hawaii
• Chiefs rode a long, narrow, wood board called olo
  (18 feet)
• Common people rode short, wide, thin wood board
  called alaia (6-8 feet) or small belly board
  called paipo

3
Locations

• Best surf spots were reserved for chiefs only
• Violators could be put to death in unpleasant
  ways

4
Wagering

• Wagering was common in Hawaiian society and
  accompanied surfing
• Canoes, nets, lines, kapas, swine, poultry, and
  all other property were staked, wrote Thrum.
  In some instances . . . Personal liberty, or
  even life itself, sacrificed according to the
  outcome of the match, the winners carrying off
  their riches and the losers and their families
  passing to a life of poverty or servitude.

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Early Rituals (1)

• Royal surfboards
• Kahuna (priest) placed a red kumu fish at tree
  trunk
• Tree was cut down
• Prayers were offered
• Kumu was placed in a hole in roots
• Tree cut with adzes (bone tools) to rough
  dimensions
• In canoe shed final shaping with coral and rough
  stone

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Early Rituals (2)

• During long flat spells, natives would ritually
  beat the oceans surface with kelp and chant in
  order to coax up swells

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Hawaiian Surfing Diction (1)

• Aloha commonly used to mean hello, goodbye
• Haole foreigner, white man
• Hee nalu to surf, surf rider
• Kai emi, nalu miki receding wave
• Kai pii, nalu pú high wave
• Kai pol, nalu hal breaking wave

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Hawaiian Surfing Diction (2)

• Nalu surf, ocean, wave
• Nalu hi lala wave that breaks diagonally
• Nalunalu rough wave
• Pae to mount or catch wave
• Pae I ka nalu to ride wave into shore
• Papa he nalu surboard
• Wahine woman, female surfer

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Captain James Cook (1)

• 1728-1779
• British Navigator and Explorer
• In 1776, on third voyage he sought northern sea
  route between Europe and Asia for British Royal
  Navy
• In 1778, Cook became first known European to
  reach Hawaiian Islands

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Captain James Cook (2)

• Impressed with Hawaiians riding waves on boards
  and canoes
• Noticed Hawaiianss penchant for theivery due to
  curiosity and unfamiliarity with ownership
• Cook and his men occasionally shot Hawaiian
  thieves
• Hawaiians stabbed cook to death in self-defense
  at Kealakekua Bay on February 14, 1779

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The Dark Years (1)

• Cook and early European arrivals brought the
  following metal (1 nail was traded for 1 pig),
  guns, cannons, uniforms, venereal disease, other
  diseases, alcohol, and new religion
• Hawaiian cultural disintegrated
• Between Cooks arrival (1778) and 1890, estimated
  population decreased from 400,000 to 40,000 from
  European viruses and bacteria

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The Dark Years (2)

• Protestant paradigm modest attire new language
  discouraged casual sex, gambling, and playing in
  ocean
• Drew Kampion writes, Sufings association with
  nakedness, sexuality, wagering, shameless
  exuberance, informality, ignorant joy, and
  freedom were counterproductive to the designs of
  the church fathers, who, curiously, wound up
  owning most of the land in the islands.

13
The Dark Years (3)

• Mark Twain visited Sandwich Islands in the
  mid-1860s as a reporter for Sacramento Daily
  Union
• Twain claimed that the missionaries were
  ignorant of all white human nature and natural
  ways of men, and Twain introduced surf bathing
  to world audience through a book of his travels,
  Roughing It (1872)

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The Dark Years (4)

• As the Hawaiian culture disintegrated, the
  surfing culture also disintegrated
• One Maui resident noted the decline in surfing in
  1853, Lahaina is the only place were surfriding
  is practiced with any degree of enthusiasm, and
  even there it is rapidly passing out of
  existence.

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The Renaissance (1)

• By 1900, the Islands had become U.S. territory
• Growing number of haoles (white people or
  foreigners) came to Islands to visit or live
• Three men got together to surf in Hawaii and
  resurrect surfing in 1907
• Alexander Hume Ford (businessman, writer)
• Jack London (famous author of adventure
  literature)
• George David Freeth (best surfer at Waikiki and
  world)

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The Renaissance (2)

• In 1907 in A Royal Sport Surfing at Waikiki in
  A Womans Home Companion, London published a
  description of Freeth on a wave, I saw him
  tearing in on the back of it, standing upright on
  his board, carelessly poised, a young god bronzed
  with sunburn.
• Ford created the Outrigger Canoe and Surfboard
  Club (haole organization)
• Three years later predominantly native Hawaiians
  created Hui Nalu
• Two clubs competed often
• By 1911 Outrigger Club had 1200 members
• Surboard riding was the local craze

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Surfing in California

• In 1907, Henry E. Huntington hired Irish-Hawaiian
  Freeth to give surfing demonstrations at Redondo
  and Venice Beaches to promote Huntingtons Los
  Angeles-Redondo Beach rail service
• Thousands watched in awe
• The introduction of trains and cars made
  Californias coast an accessible playground
• Freeth is credited with introducing surfing to CA

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Duke Kahanamoku (1)

• Freeth enlisted beach boys to teach tourists
  how to surf in Hawaii, including Duke Kahanamoku
  (born in 1890), not royalty
• Duke was a phenomenal waterman and athlete and
  remembered as the father of modern surfing
• Duke won 100-meter freestyle at Olympic games in
  Stockholm, Sweden in 1912
• No Olympiad in 1916 due to WWI
• Duke won 100-meter freestyle in Olympic games in
  Antwerp, Belgium in 1920 (age 30) in 60.4 seconds

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Duke Kahanamoku (2)

• Revealed surfing to crowds in Atlantic City and
  Nassau (NY) and Corona Del Mar and other beaches
  in CA
• Introduced surfing to Australians in 1914 at
  Freshwater (now Harbord) near Sydney
• Demonstrated headstand and tandem surfing
• Victorian values knee-to-neck costumes
• Duke played minor roles in 7 films and 2002 stamp
  commemorates him
• Contribution Ambassador for the sport of
  Hawaiian kings through exhibitions

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Duke Kahanamoku (3)
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Tom Blake 1902-1994 (1)

• Pre-Blake surboards were heavy slabs of timber
  (usually California redwood) planks
• Hard to manuever
• Poor flotation
• No fin

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Tom Blake (2)

• 1922 - set the world swimming record in the ten
  mile open.
• 1926 - first person to surf Malibu, along with
  Sam Reid.
• 1926 - invented the hollow surfboard (adopted by
  American Red Cross Lifesaving Division)
• 1928 - won the first Pacific Coast Surfriding
  Championship.
• 1928 - invented the hollow paddleboard.
• 1929 - invented the water-proof camera housing.
• 1931 - invented the sailboard.
• 1931 - patented manufactured the first
  production surfboard.

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Tom Blake (3)

• 1932 - won the Catalina Paddleboard Race.
• 1935 - invented the surfboard fin, a.k.a. skeg,
  or keel.
• 1935 - published the first book solely devoted to
  surfing, Hawaiian Surfboard.
• 1937 - produced patented the first torpedo buoy
  and rescue ring, both made of "dua-aluminum"
• 1940s - first production sailboards.
• Leader in physical fitness, natural foods and
  healthy diet.
• Virtually began the surfing lifestyle as we know
  it.

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1920-1940

• San Onofre (Hawaiian roots, palm shack left by
  Hollywood movie studio, relaxed)
• Malibu (creative edge of the sport, territorial)
• First California surfing clubs
• Palos Verdes Surfing Club
• Carona Del Mar Surfing Club
• Hot curl boards (tapered to v-shaped tail on
  bottom, pre-fin board)
• Robert Wilson Simmons developed hydrodynamic
  planing hulls fiberglass skin, plywood deck and
  bottom, balsa rails, Styrofoam core)

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1940-1960 (1)

• Haitus during WWII
• Lifeguards and surfing
• Lifeguards are among best surfers
• Lifeguards began surfwear with trunks
• Lifeguards promote positive image of surfing
• Bill Butz designed first tower in 1933 (no top)
• Butz designed first tower with cover and ramp in
  1944

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1940-1960 (2)

• Balsa boards
• Easier for constructing boards than redwood
• Lighter (96 and 25-30 lbs)
• Looked like potato chips (Malibu chips)
• Fiberglass fins
• Rounded outline shape
• Rocker (lift in nose and tail)
• Reduced time to learn to surf (2 yrs to 4 wks)
• Maneuverability promoted hotdog surfing
• Magnified surfable terrain (beach break)

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1940-1960 (3)

• Makaha (west side of Oahu)
• Big waves
• Mix of hawiian-born and haole surfers
• 1954 first Makaha International Surfing
  Championships (George Downing champ)
• Surfing
• Bellyboarding
• Paddling
• Tandem surfing

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1940-1960 (4)

• Growth spurt of surfing in 1950s came from balsa
  boards, surf film, and photo
• Bud Browne was first surf cinematographer
• Hawiian Surfing Movie by Bud Browne in 1953
• Cat on a Hot Foam Board by Bud Browne in 1959
• One-man show filmed, edited, publicized, took
  tickets, narrated, and swept up
• Films show small-wave hotdogging, big-wave
  thrills, surfaris, gag scenes

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1940-1960 (5)

• Tom Blake created first waterproof camera housing
  and took shots of surfers at Waikiki from
  paddleboard in 1929
• Blakes shots were published in National
  Geographic in 1935
• Dr. John H. Doc Ball, Don James (Ansel Adams of
  surf photo), and many other photograhers followed

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1940-1960 (6)

• Waimea Bay
• 1943 Woddy Brown and Dickie Cross paddled out at
  Sunset, swell increased, they paddled 5 miles to
  deep water of Waimea, giant set killed cross
• Ancient Hawaiian heiau (place of worship) on
  hilltop
• Rumors of haunted house below
• Greg Knoll and friends surfed it on November 7,
  1957 (18-20 ft)
• Qualified surfing as extreme sport

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1940-1960 (7)

• Australia
• Surf-lifesaving clubs sponsored competitions and
  boards were clones of Dukes pine board
• 1956 Olympics were in Melbourne
• About that time, U.S. sponsored a team of
  California lifeguards to compete in paddling in
  Australia
• U.S. lifeguards surfed Malibu chips between
  competitions
• Introduced Malibu-style hotdogging on
  maneuverable boards
• Circulating surf movies and importing balsa wood
  cross-pollinated Hawaii, California, and Australia

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1940-1960 (8)

• The Foam Revolution
• Hobie Alter made balsa boards in yard (20 per
  board, 20 boards per summer)
• Alter set up shop in Dana Point February 1954
• Occasionally sent a board to east coast (surfing
  was just starting there)
• Balsa availability was declining
• Plastics salesman introduced foam to Alter
• Alter set up foam board shop in Laguna Canyon
• With release of film Gidget (1959) based on novel
  by Kohner, interest in surfing exploded

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1960-1970 (1)

• Surfing increases in Florida and Texas due to
  foam-and-fiberglass technology
• Jack ONeil in San Francisco pioneers first
  wetsuits of neoprene
• Vests, jackets, and pants
• Transformed surfing into a year-round sport
• Broadens range of surfers Northeastern Atlantic
  states, England, France, South Australia
• 3 Ms promote surfing movies, music, magazines

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1960-1970 (2)

• Beach movies spawn interest in surfing, but they
  were not real surfing movies
• Gidget 1959
• Gidget Goes Hawaiian 1961
• Beach Party 1963
• Muscle Beach Party 1964
• Ride the Wild Surf 1964
• Beach Ball 1965
• Beach Blanket Bingo 1965
• Dont Make Waves 1967

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1960-1970 (3)

• Surf music
• Hawaiian music (pre-1960) soft, romantic, island
  tunes
• Surf music attempted to capture the emotion of
  riding waves on a surfboard
• First music to grow out of and focus on one sport
• Surf bands emerged in southern California
• Surf music camps instrumentals (maximum reverb
  on guitar) and vocals

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1960-1970 (4)

• Surf bands
• Dick Dale and the Del-Tones
• Surfaris Wipeout
• Chantays Pipeline
• Ventures
• Beach Boys
• Jan Dean Surf City
• Surf bands promote sport of surfing

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1960-1970 (5)

• Surf media
• Promotes surfing
• Everyone wants to be in a movie or magazine
• Magazine demographics 12-15-year-olds
• surf movies
• Slippery When Wet by Bruce Brown 1958
• Surf Fever by John Severson 1960
• Sacrifice Surf by Bob Bagley 1960
• Surf Trek to Hawaii by Bob Evans 1960
• The Endless Summer by Bruce Brown 1964
• 50,000 investment has made millions
• Interest adventure travel

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1960-1970 (6)

• Evolution of Surfer (magazine)
• Book The Surfer by John Severson to accompany
  his movie
• The Surfer Quarterly
• Surfer Bi-Monthly
• Surfer
• Other surfing magazines came and went
• Plexiglas water housing for cameras made the
  magazines
• Phil Edwards is first surfer to surf Banzai
  Pipeline in 1961 (photos and recognition not
  available to Knoll for riding Waimea in 1957)

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1960-1970 (7)

• Contests between clubs had gone on for decades
• First significant contests begin
• World Surfing Championship (Australia, 1964)
• First official World Contest (Peru, 1965)
• Tom Morey (Boogie Board) Invitational (Ventura,
  1965)
• 25 noseriders
• Compete for 1500
• Style focus on how surfer looked on board
  through hotdog manuevers and noserides (David
  Nuuhiwa had been the best noserider of this
  period)

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1960-1970 (8)

• World Contest (San Diego, 1966)
• Style focus on full involvement with wave
  (aggression as seen in victory by Australian Nat
  Young)
• Short board revolution (biggest change)
• George Greenough rode a kneeboard (4 10 and 6
  lbs, inspiration for short board)
• By 1968, most surfers rode short boards (7-8 feet
  or less)
• Board design change mass production and pop-outs
  from a few designers ends
• Short, radical, creative new shapes dominate

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1970-1980 (1)

• Man-made wave machines (first one was in 1969 in
  Arizona)
• Surfing takes a dive
• Many surfers are disinterested in contests
  (Mickey Dora of Malibu loathed contests)
• Surf music almost dies with Beatles and British
  invasion of 1964
• Drug use increases
• Some prominent surfers are institutionalized
• Some prominent surfers lose their lives to drugs

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1970-1980 (2)

• Inventions
• The leash in 1971
• Initial resistance (kook cord)
• Reduced swimming for board
• Reduced collisions with crowds
• Opened doors for experimentation
• Allowed for focus on tube ride

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1970-1980 (3)

• Inventions
• The Boogie Board in 1971
• Tom Morey shaped polyethylene into rectangle
• Cut out 4 6 shape with electric carving knife
• Shaped edges with iron
• Soft, light, small, ding-proof
• Body stays in contact with water
• Almost no learning curve
• Opens wave-riding to almost everyone

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1970-1980 (3)

• Surfing grows again
• Benefits from growth in related sports
• Skateboarding (urethane wheels)
• Windsurfing (grows most in Europe)
• Snowboarding
• Successful surf films
• Big Wednesday 1978
• Five Summer Stories
• Free Ride

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1970-1980 (4)

• Surfing grows again
• Surf travel
• Baja, Mexico, Central America, Caribbean, Morocco
• South Arica, West Africa, France, Japan,
  Australia
• South Pacific, Bali, Spain, Ireland, Fiji
• The word has more surf than most expected
• Surf-related industry skyrockets
• Hang Ten (started earlier)
• Quicksilver
• Instinct (later Solitude)
• Gotcha

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1970-1980 (4)

• Gerry Lopez masters Pipeline
• No addiction
• Cuban, German, Japanese descent
• Undisputed master of the barrel
• Started Lightning Bolt surfing company
• Featured in three of best films of decade
• Five Summer Stories (1976)
• Hot Lips and Inner Tubes (1976)
• Free Ride (1978)

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1980-1990 (1)

• The 3-Fin Thruster
• Australian Simon Anderson invents in 1980
• Purpose maneuver higher and deeper through
  positive traction
• Duck dive
• Ridden like skateboard (back foot above fins)
• Surfing shifts from tube to air

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1980-1990 (2)

• Modern Surfing Contests
• Focus only on surfing (paddling is not the main
  activity as in 1930s)
• Divided into divisions by age, sex, and activity
  menehunes (small children), boys, juniors, men,
  masters, seniors, girls, women, tandem, paddle
  race, professionals.

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1980-1990 (3)

• Rise in prize money
• 1962 Bells Beach Classic (best ride) 28
• 1966 Moreys Contest (best noseride) 2000
• 1970 Makaha Smirnoff Pro-Am (first place) 2000
• 1970 Coke Surfabout (first place) 3000
• 1996 Pipeline Masters (first place) 20000

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1980-1990 (4)

• After a few unsuccessful attempts to create a
  world surfing organization (starting in 1968),
  the Association of Surfing Professionals emerged
  in 1982
• Tom Curren
• Christian, boycotted surfing events in South
  Africa during apartheid, surfed board without
  sponsor logos, preferred guitar to interviews
• World Champion 1982, 1986, and 1990.

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1990-Present (1)

• Wahines surfing women
• Surfing had been male-dominated since early
  Hawaiian culture
• Mens club mindset
• Size and weight of the equipment
• Women surfers
• Mary Ann Hawkins (pre-WWII)
• Vicky Flaxman in 1050s
• Robyn, Marge, and Candy Calhoun in 1960s
• Linda Benson (first woman to surf Wiameaage 16)
  in 1963
• Mary Godfrey (later Mary Godfrey Oberg) won World
  Championships in 1968, 77, 80, and 81

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1990-Present (2)

• Women surfers (continued)
• Lisa Anderson
• Ran away from home (Florida) to California at age
  16
• Left note saying she would become number 1 surfer
  in world
• Slept under table at Huntington Beach
• Begged for entrance into NSSA contest (lacked
  parental consent and student ID)
• Won that contest and 4 straight World Titles in
  1994, 95, 96, and 97
• Prefers man-style surf trunks
• Inspired many women and girls to pursue surfing

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1990-Present (3)

• Layne Beachley (best female surfer ever)
• Born in 1972, Australia
• Adoptee
• Competed as a girl in soccer and tennis
• Pro surfer at 16 (skipping amateur contests)
• Inconsistency plagued her until 1998
• Boyfriend Ken Bradshaw (big-wave rider)
• World Champion 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002,
  2003 (only 6-time consecutive world champion for
  men or women!)

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1990-Present (4)

• Women surfers (continued)
• Prize money has been low by comparison to men but
  has grown at a faster pace than for men since
  1980
• Surfing Girl is one of several magazines aimed at
  female surfers

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1990-Present (5)

• Kelly Slater (best male surfer ever)
• Born in Cocoa Beach, Floriday
• Torrid amateur surfing career in high school
• Costar of TV show Baywatch for two years
• Featured in People magazines 50 Most Beautiful
  People
• Won 7 word titles 92, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98,
  05

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1990-Present (6)

• Kelly Slater (best male surfer ever)
• World record for youngest world champion in 1992
  (20)
• World record for oldest world champion in 2005
  (33)
• Highest prize money winner in history of sport
  U.S. 1,303,105.
• Slater seeks last record of most competition
  victories held by Tom Curren (33). Slater (31)
• Had lengthy relationship with Baywatch star
  Pamela Anderson

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1990-Present (6)

• Surfrider Foundation first non-profit
  environmental organization (1984)
• Fights over issues like beach access, oil spills,
  proposed harbors, coastal development, water
  pollution
• Sponsors have grown to include Pearl Jam, The
  Doors, Rolling Stone magazine, MTV, Surf
  Industries Manufacturing Association, Surfdog
  Records, The Beach Boys, Dick Dale, etc.
• By 2002, more than 30,000 members and 50 chapters
  in U.S. alone

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1990-Present (7)

• Tow-in Surfing
• 25-30 ft waves were biggest without tow-in
• 40 ft waves with tow-in
• Jet-assisted take-off (JATO) Jet-ski pulls
  surfing into building swell
• Footstraps allow for balance in chop
• Laird Hamilton, Gerry Lopez and others
• Locations Mavericks, Cortes Bank, Jaws
• Deaths Mark Foo in 1994 (Mavericks), Donnie
  Solomon in 1995 (Waimea), and Todd Chesser in
  1997 (Outside Alligators near Waimea).

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1990-Present (8)

• Current world trend
• Return to longboarding
• Shift from ball sports to board sports
• Snowboarding
• Skateboarding
• Windsurfing
• Kite surfing
• Strap surfing
• Wakeboarding
• Sky surfing

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The End

• Return to KPEA 109