The history of surfing, Part 1

After asking a few surfers what they know about the history of surfing, I was shocked to find out that most don't know anything about the history of surfing prior to Shaun Tomson, and even their knowledge since then, was fairly limited. This inspired me to research and write something about the history of surfing. This is the first part of a series of posts, and will focus on surfing's origins. The following posts will focus on the development of surfing in the 20th century till the present day.

Surfing has most likely originated in Peru thousands of years ago, using reed rafts to ride waves. Pottery from as early as 1000BC was found depicting a man standing on a reed raft riding a rolling wave. So it is prudent to assume that surfing is at least 3000 years old, with bodysurfing probably dating back even farther back in time.

The Peruvians later went on to colonize the Polynesian Islands, including the most isolated land mass on earth, Hawaii, somewhere between  300-750 AD. They brought the tradition of surfing with them. As the hollow reeds that they used on their earlier boards where not available on these islands, they instead used solid wood boards.

The Ancient Hawaiian people did not consider surfing a mere recreational activity, hobby, extreme sport, or career as it is viewed today. Rather, the Hawaiian people integrated surfing into their culture and made surfing more of an art than anything else. They referred to this art as he’e nalu which translates into English as “wave sliding.” The art began before entering the mysterious ocean as the Hawaiians prayed to the gods for protection and strength to undertake the powerful mystifying ocean. If the ocean was flat, frustrated surfers would call upon the kahuna, who would aid them in a prayer asking the gods to deliver great surf. Prior to entering the ocean, the priest would also aid the surfers in undertaking the spiritual ceremony of constructing a surfboard.
Hawaiians would carefully select one of three types of trees. The trees included the koa,  ‘ulu and wiliwili trees. Once selected, the surfer would dig the tree out and place fish in the hole as an offering to the gods. Selected craftsman of the community were then hired to shape, stain, and prepare the board for the surfer. There were three primary shapes: the ‘olo, kiko’o, and the alaia.

The duke with an Olo

The ‘olo is thick in the middle and gradually gets thinner towards the edges.
They are massive and can get up to 24ft long.

Tom Blake with traditional surfboards

 The kiko’o ranges in length from 12–18 feet (3.7–5.5 m) and requires great skill to maneuver.

The boards to the left of Tom Blake in the picture are Kiko'o, the ones to his right are Olo

Rob Machado trimming on an Alaia

The alaia board is 5 to 9 feet long, and  incredibly thin, and requires great skill to ride and master.













In addition to these stand up surfboards, the hawaiians also used a wooden bodyboard, called a Paipo. They where similar in shape to the alaia, and generally 3-5ft in length. This is also the board children would learn to surf on.

Aside from the preparatory stages prior to entering the water, the most skilled surfers were often of the upper class including chiefs and warriors that surfed amongst the best waves on the island. These upper class Hawaiians gained respect through their enduring ability to master the waves. Some ancient sites still popular today include Kahalu’u Bay and Holualoa Bay.

When western civilization arrived in Hawaii, everything changed. Shortly after the arrival of Captian Cook in 1778, missionaries who followed had outlawed surfing along with all other Hawaiian traditions. This drove surf culture underground, and the ancient art all but died out.

In the early 20^th century however, surfing was reintroduced into the public eye, and the great Duke Kahanamoku brought the art of surfing to California and Australia.

This concludes the origin of surfing. the evolution of surfing in the 20th century will be dealt with in following posts.