Surfing

Surfing is a surface water sport in which a surfer uses a board to ride on the front of a moving wave of water. Usually, the wave carries the surfer toward the shore. Each surfer rides alone, or two surfers can share one board in tandem surfing. Good waves for surfing are mainly found on ocean shores. They can also form as standing waves in the open ocean, in lakes, in rivers as a tidal bore, or in wave pools.

Surfing includes every kind of wave riding that uses a board, no matter how the rider stands. The Moche of Peru often surfed on reed boats, and the native peoples of the Pacific surfed waves on alaia, paipo, and other watercraft. Long ago, people often surfed lying on their bellies or kneeling. Today, most surfing is stand-up surfing, where a surfer rides a wave while standing on a surfboard.

Body surfing is very common, and some surfers think it is the purest form of surfing. In body surfing, the surfer catches and rides the wave with their body instead of a board. The closest form of body surfing with a board is a handboard, which usually has one strap that fits over one hand. Body surfers and handboard riders feel more drag in the water than stand-up surfers do. So they stay in a rougher part of the wave, often fully submerged under foamy water. Surfers who ride a hydrofoil feel much less drag and may ride unbroken waves in the open ocean.

Stand-up surfing has three main branches: stand-up paddling, long boarding, and short boarding. They differ in board design and length, riding style, and the kind of wave ridden. In tow-in surfing, which is mostly linked with big wave surfing, a motorized vehicle such as a personal watercraft pulls the surfer into the wave. This helps the surfer keep up with a large wave, which often moves faster than a surfer can reach alone. Related sports such as paddle boarding and sea kayaking do not need waves. Kite surfing and windsurfing depend mainly on wind, but all of these can also be used to ride waves. As of 2023, the Guinness Book of World Records recognized a 26.2 m (86 ft) wave ride by Sebastian Steudtner in Nazaré, Portugal, as the largest wave ever surfed.

Some of the best-known surf spots are in famous waters around the world. During the northern hemisphere's winter, the North Shore of Oahu, the third-largest island of Hawaii, is known for some of the best waves in the world. Surfers from around the world visit spots such as Backdoor, Waimea Bay, and Pipeline. Other popular spots include Teahupo'o, off the coast of Tahiti, and Mavericks in California, United States.

In 2016, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) added surfing as an Olympic sport, starting at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Japan. The first gold medalists in the Tokyo 2020 surfing competitions were Brazil's Ítalo Ferreira in the men's event and Carissa Moore, an American from Hawaii, in the women's event.

Origins and history

Long ago, people in ancient Peru rode waves back to shore on reed boats called mochica after fishing. The Moche culture used the caballito de totora (little horse of totora). Evidence shows it was used around 200 CE. In 1590, the Jesuit missionary José de Acosta wrote about Inca surfing in Callao. Polynesian culture made surfing an important activity, and modern surfing is thought to have started in Hawaii. Around AD 400, Polynesians began sailing to the Hawaiian Islands from Tahiti and the Marquesas Islands. They brought their customs with them. In Hawaii, people learned to stand and surf upright on boards. European explorers also saw surfing in Polynesia. These included Samuel Wallis, the crew of HMS Dolphin, and the botanist Joseph Banks, who was part of the first voyage of James Cook on HMS Endeavour. Lieutenant James King was the first person to write about surfing in Hawaii. Herman Melville described the sport in his 1849 novel Mardi. Mark Twain wrote about surf-bathing when he visited Hawaii in 1866. Surf riding was also recorded in Samoa and Tonga, long before Hawaiians and eastern Polynesians practiced it. People in West Africa, in places such as Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, and Senegal, also developed surfing on their own. So did people in western Central Africa, such as in Cameroon. In the 1640s, Michael Hemmersam wrote about surfing on the Gold Coast. In 1679, Barbot described children at Elmina, Ghana, learning to swim on boards. In 1834, James Alexander described surfing in Accra, Ghana.

In July 1885, three teenage Hawaiian princes left their school, St. Matthew's Hall in San Mateo, to cool off in Santa Cruz, California. There, David Kawānanakoa, Edward Keliʻiahonui, and Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole surfed the mouth of the San Lorenzo River on custom-shaped redwood boards. In 1890, John Wrightson is said to have become the first British surfer. He learned from two Hawaiian students. George Freeth is generally credited with doing more than anyone else to renew interest in surfing at Waikiki in the early twentieth century. In 1907, Abbot Kinney helped bring Freeth to California to give surfing shows at Venice of America. Later that year, Henry E. Huntington brought surfing to Redondo Beach. He hired Freeth to give shows in front of the Hotel Redondo. Another Hawaiian, Duke Kahanamoku, spread surfing to the U.S. and Australia. He won Olympic gold medals in swimming in 1912 and 1920. Mary Ann Hawkins was inspired by Kahanamoku in the late 1920s. She moved to Santa Monica in 1935 and won California's first women's paddleboard race in 1936. In 1938, she also won the Venice Breakwater event. In 1939, she showed paddleboarding and tandem surfing along Southern California beaches. In 1975, a professional tour began. Margo Oberg became the first female professional surfer that year.

Surf waves

See also: Ocean surface wave

Swell forms when wind blows steadily over a large area of open water. This area is called the wind's fetch. Stronger winds that blow over a longer fetch, and for a longer time, make bigger swells. Surf is usually larger on coasts that face big stretches of ocean crossed by strong low pressure systems. Local wind also matters. A light to moderate "offshore" wind blows into the front of a wave and makes a "barrel" or "tube" wave. Waves are called left-handed or right-handed depending on how they break. The most important influence on wave shape is the topography of the seabed right behind and under the wave, so every break is different. At beach breaks, sandbanks can change shape from week to week. Surf forecasting has improved with information technology. Mathematical models show the size and direction of swells around the world. Free model data from NOAA has helped create several surf forecasting websites.

Swells change with the seasons. In winter, big swells form in the middle latitudes when the North and South polar fronts move toward the Equator. Because of this, waves are often largest on West coasts. In summer, big swells come from tropical cyclones, whose movements are hard to predict. Tradewinds bring offshore conditions to some remote tropical places that surfers travel to. Tube speed is how fast a break moves along the wave, and a surfer must keep up with it. A peel angle below 25° is usually too fast to surf.

Artificial reefs can bring surfing visitors to an area. The Kovalam reef in South West India gave the local community a good wave and helped stop coastal erosion. However, Chevron Reef in El Segundo, California did not produce good waves and was removed in 2008. Most wave pools make waves that are too small to surf. The Seagaia Ocean Dome in Miyazaki, Japan, could make waves up to 3 m (10 ft) high. It cost about $2 billion and was closed in 2007.

Maneuvers

Surfers start by paddling toward the shore to match the speed of a wave. When the wave begins to carry them forward, they stand up and ride it. The goal is to place the board just ahead of the white foam of the wave, in the so-called "pocket". Beginners find it hard to catch a wave at all. Skilled surfers control their board in tricky conditions and make turns such as cutbacks and carving. More advanced moves include the floater and "off the lip". A newer move is the air, where a surfer jumps off the wave into the air and lands the board back on the wave. The tube ride is considered the ultimate maneuver. An experienced surfer rides inside a breaking wave, and the longer they stay inside, the better the ride. Some well-known tube waves include Pipeline on the North Shore of Oahu. Hanging ten is a move usually done on a longboard, with both feet on the front end of the board and all of the surfer's toes hanging off the edge.

Airs are becoming more common in both competitions and free surfing. A surfer gains enough speed, jumps above the lip of the wave, and lands either in the wave's transition or in the whitewash. Airs can be straight or rotational, and rotations include 180, 360, and 540 degrees. Surfers also use grabs, which hold the board to help them land. The Glossary of surfing lists much of the vocabulary used to describe the sport. Some of these terms have spread into everyday use, and people who took part in surfing first created them.

Learning

Learning to surf

Many popular surfing spots have surf schools and surf camps with lessons. Surf camps for beginners and intermediate surfers are multi-day lessons that focus on the basics. Lessons usually start on land with instruction and a safety talk. Then instructors help students onto longboards or "softboards." Softboards are considered the best boards for learning because they are safer. They also paddle faster and are more stable than shorter boards. Many beginners also use funboards, which mix the stability of a longboard with the smaller size of a short board. Learning surfers often start on softboards about 210 to 240 cm (7 to 8 ft) long. Because softboards are soft, the chance of getting hurt is much lower. Surfing can be learned without an instructor, but it is usually safer and quicker with one.

Surfing takes several skills: paddling strength, positioning to catch a wave, timing, and balance. Surfers must paddle hard and use techniques like duck diving and the eskimo roll (also called the turtle roll) to get past oncoming waves. Practicing on a balance board, longboard (skateboard), surfskate, or swing board can help beginners build balance. Some coaches worry that flat surfaces do not copy the movement of real waves. Training in a skate bowl may be a better match, since its curved shapes are closer to waves. Surfing also takes stamina, and a proper warm-up routine can help prevent injuries.

Equipment

Surfers use many kinds of equipment. These include surfboards, longboards, stand up paddle boards (SUPs), bodyboards, wave skis, skimboards, kneeboards, surf mats and macca's trays. The first surfboards were made of solid wood. They were large and heavy. Lighter balsa wood boards came in the late 1940s and early 1950s. They were easier to carry and steer. Most modern boards are made of fiberglass foam (PU), polyester resin, and wooden strips. Newer boards use epoxy resin, Expanded Polystyrene foam (EPS), and carbon fiber. Surfers also use a leash, surf wax, traction pads, and fins (/w/25). Sportswear made for surfing is sometimes called boardwear. The same word is also used in snowboarding. Surfers in warm water wear swimsuits, boardshorts, or sometimes rash guards. In cold water, surfers wear wetsuits. A newer rash vest has a thin layer of titanium to keep the surfer warm.

There are many different surfboard sizes, shapes, and designs. Modern longboards are about 270 to 300 cm (9 to 10 ft) long. They look like the earliest surfboards, but they use newer shapes and fin designs. The modern shortboard began in the late 1960s. Today's common shortboard is called the thruster. It has three fins and is usually 180 to 210 cm (6 to 7 ft) long. Australian shaper Simon Anderson invented the thruster. Funboards are medium-sized boards. They turn more easily than longboards and float better than shortboards. Some special styles include the Egg, the Fish for smaller waves, and the Gun for big waves.

The physics of surfing

Tow-in surfing in Nazaré, Portugal shows surfers riding giant breaking waves. The Praia do Norte, Nazaré (North Beach) was listed in the Guinness World Records for the biggest waves ever surfed.

The physics of surfing looks at how waves form near the shore, how a surfboard works, and how a surfer moves with the water and the board. Ocean waves are groups of water that are pushed out of their normal position and then pulled back. Wind makes small ripples and eddies that grow into waves. The waves gain speed and size as they travel. When waves reach shallow water, the bottom slows them down through drag. Their water paths are flattened into ellipses. The waves grow taller and steeper until their tops fall over.

The wind also changes the kind of wave that forms. Light winds blowing off the land make smoother waves. Strong winds blowing off the land make hollow "barrel" waves that curl over. Surfing waves can be between 1 and 20 metres (3.3 to 66 ft) high. Surfers often guess that waves are higher than scientists measure them. Waves with smaller peel angles move faster and are harder to catch.

A surf break is a place where something causes a wave to break. This could be a headland, a sandy beach, a river mouth, a reef, or a ledge. Beach breaks are the most common, but they can be hard to predict. Reef breaks produce some of the best waves in the world. Reefs are made of coral, so they can be dangerous. Waves can also create rip currents. These are fast, narrow currents that carry water back out to sea.

Main article: Rip current

Rip currents can move faster than any person can swim. Surfers use the "take-off point" of a rip current to reach the waves. A longer surfboard of 300 cm (10 ft) moves more slowly through the water than a smaller board of 180 cm (6 ft). Longer boards help beginners balance. Smaller boards give experienced surfers more control. To catch a wave, a surfer paddles fast to match its speed. Then they stand up quickly and stay low at the front. Leaning forward helps a surfer go faster. Leaning on the back foot helps them slow down.

Dangers

Surfing, like all water sports, can be dangerous. A surfer can drown. A surfboard helps a surfer stay afloat, but it can drift away. A leash tied to the ankle or knee keeps the board close, but it does not keep the rider on the board or above water. In some cases, including the drowning of professional surfer Mark Foo, the leash has caught on a reef or other object and held the surfer under the water. Surfers should stay in small waves until they have the skills and experience for bigger ones. Even very skilled surfers have drowned in extremely hard conditions. In bad conditions, many things can cause harm, including sand bars, rocks, small ice, reefs, surfboards, and other surfers. A fall from a surfboard or a crash with another person is often called a wipeout. Many injuries come from the nose or fins of a surfboard. These can cause cuts, deep wounds, and bruises. Groups like Surfers Against Sewage work for cleaner water to lower the risk of infection.

Some sea animals, such as sharks, stingrays, Weever fish, seals, and jellyfish, can sometimes be dangerous. Sea life has caused injuries, such as to Bethany Hamilton, and in rare cases fatalities. Rip currents are channels of water that flow away from the shore. They can look like calm water, so tired or inexperienced surfers may be carried out past the waves. A surfer can get out of a rip by paddling parallel to the shore. Some surfers ride rips to get out beyond the waves quickly. The seabed can also be a risk. A fall can send a surfer down into shallow water. At Western Australia's Cyclops reef, the reef is only about 2 m (7 ft) below the surface. A January 2018 "Beach Bum Survey" by the University of Exeter found that surfers and bodyboarders were more likely than non-surfers to carry antibiotic-resistant E. coli bacteria. Surfers may use ear plugs to protect against surfer's ear. This condition happens when bone near the ear canal grows after repeated time in cold water and narrows the canal. It can cause pain, infection, and sometimes ringing of the ear. Surf rash is a painful red, bumpy patch, often on the chest or inner legs. A rash guard can help protect the skin from abrasion and sunburn. Irritated skin can be treated with petroleum jelly. Surfer's myelopathy is a rare spinal cord injury that can cause paralysis in the legs when the back is arched too far. Similar risks can happen in activities like yoga and pilates. According to DPT Sergio Florian, warming up well, keeping sessions short, and sitting on the board while waiting for waves can help prevent it.

Surfers and surf culture

Main article: Surf culture

Surfers are a community built around riding waves. Some people surf for recreational fun, and others make it the center of their lives. Surfing culture in the US is strongest in Hawaii and California, where the waves are best. Surfers have also spread along coastlines across America. Classic symbols of the culture include the woodie, a station wagon used to carry boards, and boardshorts, long swim shorts worn while surfing. In colder places, surfers wear wetsuits. In the 1960s, surfing became popular in American pop culture. Teen movies, starting with the Gidget series in 1959, made surfing seem like a dream life. Later films, including Beach Party (1963), Ride the Wild Surf (1964), and Beach Blanket Bingo (1965), showed that dream of sun and surf. Surf culture also inspired early songs by the Beach Boys. Surfing is also an important part of life on the east coast of Australia, especially in New South Wales.

Surfing is now a very large industry worth billions of dollars, especially in clothing and fashion markets. The International Surfing Association (ISA) was founded in 1964 to help surfing grow. The International Olympic Committee recognizes it as the leading authority on surfing. National and international surf competitions also began in 1964. The World Surf League (WSL) was started in 1976 and runs championship tours at some of the best surf spots in the world. Some surfers earn a living through sponsorships and by performing for photographers and videographers in faraway places. Sixty-six surfers set a record in Huntington Beach, California for the most people on one surfboard at the same time. Dale Webster surfed for 14,641 days in a row, making it the main focus of his life. As of 2023, the Guinness Book of World Records recognized a 26.2 m (86 ft) wave ride by Sebastian Steudtner at Nazaré, Portugal, as the largest wave ever surfed. When the waves were flat, surfers practiced sidewalk surfing, which is now called skateboarding. Surfing later reached the snow with the Snurfer, which is credited as the first snowboard. Many other board sports trace their roots back to surfing. Many surfers also describe surfing as a spiritual experience. Recent studies and personal stories show that surfing can benefit mental health and well-being, which has led to the growth of para surfing and surf therapy.

Competitions

In 2016, the International Olympic Committee approved surfing for the Olympic Games. It was added along with skateboarding, sport climbing, karate, and baseball/softball, ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. Surfing made its Olympic debut in 2021 at the Tokyo Games, which had been delayed by the pandemic. The competition was held at Tsurigasaki Beach. Ítalo Ferreira of Brazil and Carissa Moore of the United States won the first gold medals.

Surfing returned at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The competition took place at Teahupoʻo, in Tahiti. Kauli Vaast of France and Caroline Marks of the United States won gold. Surfing is planned to return at Lower Trestles, California, for the 2028 Los Angeles Games.