Quick Surfing History Facts

You love to surf, but you don’t love small talk. Hey, that’s perfectly normal. Small talk wants to alleviate awkwardness, but it only serves to enhance it. To combat this pervasive problem, the following are actually interesting facts about surfing. Use a couple of these gems next time you find yourself needing about 30 seconds of banter.

• Surfing is among the oldest sports on Earth. While the precise origin of surfing is uncertain, prehistoric stone carvings in Chan Chan in Peru that date back 5,000 years show people surfing.
• The Hawaiians referred to surfing as he’enalu, which means “wave sliding.” For Hawaiians, surfing was a central part of their religion. Surfing not only encompassed deep spiritual links with the ocean, but it was also a way for ceremonial chiefs to assert their dominance.
• Captain Cook of the HMS Endeavour is credited with bringing the surfboard to Europe and the rest of the world. He noticed them in his travels of the Pacific in 1779. He saw a surfer whom he described as someone “who had the most supreme pleasure while he was driven so fast and smoothly by the seas.” Unfortunately the Europeans that traveled to Hawaii thought poorly of surfing and it was banned in the islands for many years.
• The surfboard has developed over centuries. At first they were just planks of wood. The shape was whatever the person riding it wanted, they had no surfboard fins and could be up to 15 feet long. This made them extremely hard to control. In 1937 a teenage cut a V shape on the rear of his board and the modern surfboard was created.
• Several different milestones in surfing include the introduction of surfing to Australia in 1915 by the Hawaiian Duke Kahanamoku and 1926 when Tom Blake became the first to surf Malibu Beach.
• WWII led to the invention of chemicals and materials that helped revolutionize the construction of surfboards. Styrofoam, fiberglass, and resin all helped create boards that were more sturdy and lightweight.
• Some say surfing is not a profession but in 2009 Kelly Slater earned $3 million. Additionally, the University of Plymouth University in the UK offers a Surf Science and Technology degree.
• With surfing comes a lifestyle and its own language. The term "hang ten" is used when a surfer places all ten of his toes at the front of the surfboard while riding a wave. Due to the need for extremely good balance, most surfers can not accomplish this maneuver. A "hodad" is a beginning surfer who generally gets in the way of more experienced surfers.
• For surfers the average wave is from 1 foot to 30 feet. The largest recoded wave was generated by a tsunami back in the Lituya Bay, Alaska in 1958. It was over 1,700 feet tall. In 2011 a 78 foot wave was surfed by Andrew Cotton off the coast of Portugal.
• Two movies helped catapult surfing into popularity: Gidget (1959) and The Endless Summer (1966). These movies prompted a surf culture that influenced music, fashion, and even the English language.

Surf gear has evolved over the years to make riding waves easier while giving unique options to pick from according to wave and surf conditions. Regular surf fins and longboard fins now have a variety of set-ups to regulate and focus your ride. Additionally, accessories like surfing wetsuits and surfing leashes have become much better over time, offering more protection and reliability. Get your gear!