Evolution of surfing
The history of surfing dates as far back as the origins of the Hawaiian people. What began in Hawaii, has quickly expanded throughout the world to almost every beach and to places where people never thought that could be surfed. From a long, heavy plank of wood, the surf board evolved to a shorter, lighter fiberglass and foam board. Because of the far travels of many ambassadors of Hawaiian surfers, the once small sport of surfing in Hawaii began to spread to many other countries. Today, it is not only a popular sport, but a widespread art, a growing business, and an American subculture with a broad future ahead.
The Hawaiian word for surfing is “He’e Nalu”. “He’e” meaning run as liquid and change from solid to liquid. “Nalu” meaning surging motion of a wave and foaming of the wave. The first Western Explorer to discover the Hawaiians was Captain James Cook, a British Naval Captain who came to Hawaii in the 1770s. He wrote what he witnessed in a log of Hawaiians catching swells with large narrow boards.
When surfing expanded to the United States and to Australia, many modifications of the surf board started to happen. In the 1920’s, three local surfers, Wally Froiseth, John Kelly, and Fran Heath, experimented with the shape of there tails and created the pin tail for more angular turning on the waves. With all the new styles of boards, the old Hawaiian ways of straight forward riding were falling and the new turning and riding techniques of riding on the face of the wave was rising. Many accessories were made to help save lives of the surfers and to make things easier. One very important accessory was the leash. It was made by local Californian surfers in 1970’s by tying a rope to the board and ankle of the surfer.
The Essay on Surfer Surfers Surfing One
When you think of surfing what comes to mind? Is it "yo dude," or the beauty of a majestic wave breaking on the shore with the sun setting on the horizon? Surfers today receive very little respect for the sport, sometimes referred to as an art, that they participate in. Despite what most people think, the surfers are a rare breed let alone the soul surfer. However if you believe that surfers are ...
Australia was, and is still a major surfing country that helped shape the sport of surfing. They helped with the evolution of the surf board and they produced great surfing legends.
In 1905, a teenager named Duke Kahanamoku and his friends began to gather under a hau (lowland) tree at Waikiki beach. Duke and his friends, who spent their days surfing, later created their own surfing club, Hui Nalu, or “The Club of the Waves.” By this time, the missionaries’ influence over the island had begun to decline, freeing up an avenue for the reintroduction of surfing in Hawaii. Duke and his friends later became known as the famous “Beach Boys of Waikiki” and are credited with the rebirth of surfing in Hawaii. Another individual who played an important part in the revitalization of surfing in Hawaii was also the first to bring the sport to California. In 1907, California land developer Henry Huntington asked Irish Hawaiian George Freeth to give a surfing demonstration at the opening of the Redondo-Los Angeles railroad at Redondo beach. Freeth was also the first person to create a shorter surfboard by cutting the large 16-foot design in half. His introduction of surfing to the spectators on the beaches of California ignited a revolution in both surfboard design and wave-riding techniques. The California shores soon became grounds for surfing expansion and innovation. Over the following years, the freedom to experiment in size, weight and shape, along with the introduction of fins and styrofoam, became popular topics for surfers looking to equip themselves for the larger and more challenging surf in places such as the perilous North Shore of Oahu during the winter months. The gentle waves found at Waikiki beach were perfect for the promotion of surfing, but it was the lure of giant waves that prompted the real dares for surfers looking to put it all on the line.
The expansion of surfing gave a bloom of opportunity for many business industries from movies to board shapers, the surfing business was growing with the expansion and has an important effect in our economy. The movie business in surfing had a big effect, showing and inspiring many people the different styles and waves around the world. The first filming of surfing was by the great Thomas Edison in 1898, when he traveled to the Waikiki Beach in Hawaii. Then in 1943, Bud Browne, a local Californian surfer, filmed and showed The Big Surf (LS, 217).
The Essay on The Big Wave Movie
Summary Kino lives with his family on a farm on the side of a mountain in Japan while his friend, Jiya, lives in the fishing village below. Though everyone in the area has heard of the Tsunami no one suspects that when the next one comes, it will wipe out Jiya’s entire family and fishing village below the mountain. Jiya soon must leave his family behind in order to keep the fisherman ...
In 1956, the bestseller book, “Gidget”, was produced to a movie, making it the first movie produced by a major picture, Columbia Pictures. Gidget the movie popularized the sport of surfing and made it the “in” thing to do. Many musicians used and still uses surfing as a base of one of there compositions. In summer of 1961, a band named the Chantays, full of Santa Ana High School students, made the number one world hit “Pipeline”. (YH, 85) The Beach Boys, a local bunch of Californian guys were lengends because of there surf related songs.
During the mid 1930’s, Pacific Ready Cut Homes (in California), owned by Meyer Butto, was the first company to produce commercial surfboards. The PRCH boards were made of balsa wood down the middle glued with redwood around the rails and varnished for protection. It was 10′ long, 23’’ wide, 22’’ around tail block. The boards sold at forty dollars each.
