The earliest history of surfing is entirely unknown, but it is likely that Pacific Islanders were riding atop waves on flat wooden boards for centuries before the Europeans arrived.
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Early explorers encountered surfers in Samoa, Tonga, and Fiji. When the English Captain Cook reached Tahiti, he gave the earliest written description of people surfing: "On walking one day about Matavai Point, where our tents were erected, I saw a man paddling in a small canoe so quickly and looking about him with such eagerness of each side. He then sat motionless and was carried along at the same swift rate as the wave, till it landed him upon the beach. Then he started out, emptied his canoe, and went in search of another swell. I could not help concluding that this man felt the most supreme pleasure while he was driven on so fast and so smoothly by the sea."
The sport seems to have become most highly developed in the Hawaiian Islands, who seem to have perfected the technique of surfing while standing up on their boards. There were at least four different varieties of surfboards that were used in Hawaii, ranging from short boards called paipo, (ridden while lying prone) and alaia (ridden while standing up), used mostly by children, to 20-foot boards called olo that were reserved for royalty. Some Hawaiian kings became renowned for their skill and courage on their surfboards.
In 1779, upon assuming command of the expedition after Captain Cook’s death, Lieutenant James King wrote an account of Hawaiian surfers: “But a diversion the most common is upon the Water, where there is a very great Sea, and surf breaking on the Shore. The Men sometimes 20 or 30 go without the Swell of the Surf, & lay themselves flat upon an oval piece of plan about their Size and breadth, they keep their legs close on top of it, & their Arms are us'd to guide the plank, thye wait the time of the greatest Swell that sets on Shore, & altogether push forward with their Arms to keep on its top, it sends them in with a most astonishing Velocity, & the great art is to guide the plan so as always to keep it in a proper direction on the top of the Swell, & as it alters its direct. If the Swell drives him close to the rocks before he is overtaken by its break, he is much prais'd. On first seeing this very dangerous diversion I did not conceive it possible but that some of them must be dashed to mummy against the sharp rocks, but jus before they reach the shore, if they are very near, they quit their plank, & dive under till the Surf is broke, when the piece of plank is sent many yards by the force of the Surf from the beach. The greatest number are generally overtaken by the break of the swell, the force of which they avoid, diving and swimming under the water out of its impulse. By such like excercises, these men may be said to be almost amphibious. The Women could swim off to the Ship, & continue half a day in the Water, & afterwards return. The above diversion is only intended as an amusement, not a tryal of skill, & in a gentle swell that sets on must I conceive be very pleasant, at least they seem to feel a great pleasure in the motion which this Exercise gives.”
With the arrival of Europeans and Americans and the subsequent conquest of Hawaii, surfing, like so much of native Hawaiian culture, went into decline. But a few traditionalists kept the culture alive, and even Mark Twain, who visited Hawaii in 1866, was able to write about it: "I tried surf-bathing once, subsequently, but made a failure of it. I got the board placed right and at the right moment, too; but missed the connection myself. The board struck the shore in three-quarters of a second, without any cargo, and I struck the bottom about the same time, with a couple of barrels of water in me."
After Hawaii was annexed by the US in 1898, the number of visitors from the mainland increased, and “surfing” became better-known and more popular among the tourists. In 1907, the famous writer Jack London and his wife Charmain visited Hawaii and met a surfer named George Freeth. London invited Freeth to come back to California with him, Freeth gave some surfing demonstrations, and California surfer culture was born. By 1915, Hawaiian surfers were also forming clubs in Australia.
By the 1960s, surfer culture was established around the world, and places like the Banzai Pipeline and Big Sur became famous. Surfer lingo like “hang ten” and “cool dude” entered the lexicon. Hollywood quickly cashed in with movies like “Gidget”, "Endless Summer” and “Beach Blanket Bingo”, and when the Beach Boys began singing about the California surfers, they found a ready audience. Everybody wished they could be California girls.
The surfboard had already begun to evolve. The early Hawaiian surfboards were carved from wood and sometimes weighed over 150 pounds. After World War II, adhesives were developed that allowed fins to be attached to the underside of the board, increasing maneuverability. By the 1960’s, the best surfboards were being carved from styrofoam and coated with fiberglass. Today, space-age surfboards are sometimes made from carbon-fiber composite, and new variants such as boogie boards and sailboards are found in tourist spots all over the world.