History of Surfing: Look Back to Move Forward...Way Back

Unknown Surfer jumps into the Boynton Inlet Jetty 1987 -Palm Beach Post File Photography. 

Looking back is a good idea before moving forward. All sports and disciplines have an origin an original start, an essence a beginning.

On February 6 Matt Warshaw -the man who knows a thing or two on looking on the History of Surf blasted from his blog. On Wheels on Fire: Dewey Weber´s Drive to the Top Warshaw looks back on an icon.

“Dewey Weber is remembered and loved, and rightly so, as surfing’s original high-performance boy wonder, the hotdogging messiah. But what really fascinates me about Weber is the crazy drive and ambition. The white-hot coals, so to speak, beneath the hotdog. The will to achieve, to focus, to defeat, build, create, raise. Determination is magic and toxic. I stoke it, beat it down, lose it, get eaten by it. I turn to those who have the same struggle,” Weber writes and it becomes pretty obvious why some dig looking back.

As Sports and disciplines become massive they are tempted by competition, corruption, sale outs, controversy, money and shine with constant evolution. Nothing could be more true to this than the Sport of Surfing which in the past decades and years has exploded. Professional Surfing and its industry fed by hungry millions of global teenagers that take to the water inspired by digital posters and live WSL feeds are on a rocket-all-time.

Just in 2016 alone viewers of World Surf League WSL went from thousands online to millions during the peak events. In 2016 the Sport also made its way officially and became an Olympic Sport.

But where is it all going? Going back to roots seems to make the most sense at this time for Surfing. Why? Because it has been a long, long, long and crazy road. Just dig into the History of Surfing and expect the unexpected.

Since 1950 Surf has been modern social culture, a cool break down but when looking further back into the past it becomes material of which legends are written. But if we look even further back and stare into the remote past there is still -incredibly a History of Surf and it is mystical a thing of Ancient Cultures. As ancient as our relationship with the ocean. It seems that ever since Humans have been Humans there have been breaks and our specie has not resisted the temptation of surfing them out.

Is the History of Surf still relevant to the discipline of Surfing...today for some Neon-lightened Youngsters out to make a name for themselves speeding local beaches perhaps not -and that is all good but for the Legends of Surf still believe that yes History of Surf is something of of profound relevance.

Atlas Obscura reported from February 6 on the opening of another Surfing Museum. The Santa Cruz Surfing Museum housed in a memorial lighthouse proudly reveals the history of surfing Royal Hawaiian Teenagers to Santa Cruz own´s contribution to soil.

“Surfing, of course, did not originate in California. It’s an ancient Polynesian sport, but Santa Cruz was its point of entry in the United States. It was introduced during the hot summer of 1885, when three teenage Hawaiian princes, David Kawananakoa, Edward Keliiahonui and Jonah Kuhio Kalaniana’ole, escaped from their boarding school classes at St. Matthew’s in San Mateo, California, hopped on a train, and headed to the ocean,” the organizers of Santa Cruz go strange deep into bizarre historical local events. Santa Cruz today a birth stone of modern surfing has over 130 years of it.

Books and word by word on beach go a long way for the History of Surfing but nothing contributed and still contribues so strongly to the evolution of Surfing as Movies and broadcasting.

Surfer Today reported this year on February 4 on that hot long relationship which seems to never go cold...the History of Surf and Movies.

“Surf movies are a sub-genre of sports and travel films. More than 1,000 surf flicks have been released since the 1950s, the decade when surfing and cinema met on the sunny shores of California,” the Surfer Today reports. They call the muse of this relationship the “essence of surfing”.

“Living the dream, searching for new surf spots, riding endless waves, meeting new cultures, and embracing the surfing lifestyle: surf movies are windows to our imagination. The best surf movies of all time have a few things in common: the sense of freedom, blue and dreamy waves, surf trips, and endless moments of fun. In other words, surfers enjoy watching what pleases them aesthetically,” what could be more true than the words of Surf Today?

The media reveals incredible historical moments such as the first ever Surf Movie to shot...it was cooked and served hot by non other than Thomas Edison.

“Thomas Edison was one of the first to get surfing into a film. In 1906, the American inventor captured a dozen surfers riding small offshore rollers at Waikiki Beach, in Honolulu, Hawaii,” Surf Today reported on the energy wizard actions.  

Although Surf has a much longer history than the 1900s it was only then that the today´s blooming relationship between surf and moving images began to take breathes in this our World. From 1900 to 1950s Surf movies rose feeding the love for outdoors activity.

“For obvious reasons, the surf movie movement has its roots in California. In the early 1950s, a 16mm camera cost around $50, and many young surfers-artists wanted to try something new and different. When the sport of gliding across the waves gained traction in Mainland US, independent filmmakers thought of documenting it by exploring the connection between an outdoor lifestyle, nature, and the sense of freedom that surfing provided,” Surfer Today explained. Thousands of people got insight views on the World of Surf back then...a World which they had never seen and so the Sport grew and evolved.

Today when WSL Surf broadcasts go live millions of fans and viewers from around the World switch into it online. Free live Surf events go International with top level Athletes going head to head for points. But this online broadcasting is all very new, so new that just 2 or 3 years ago Surf events where not even broadcasted live on the web.   

So how did Surf become a Global sensation? The 60s and 70s only brought more films which helped spread the sport to a non-surfing audience. But it was after the 70s when things got interesting. Top movies listed as Must See by Surf Today include; The Endless Summer -1966, Morning of the Earth 1971 -iconic surf movie shot in Australia, Bali, and Hawaii, which deals with the spiritual connection between surfers and Nature, Beyond Blazing Boards 1985 -a Kelly Slater's favorite shot in Bali, Australia, Mexico, and California and the beautiful visual experience of The Green Iguana of 1992.

Some assure that the History of Surf is linked to Legends and Top Athletes. They too have had their hands on this Movie-Surf relationship. Seems that just like the curious Thomas Edison they felt the need to document their incredible experiences. The list of documentaries and surf movies that have risen in the 2000s and 2010s is just mind-boggling and explosive.

Surfer Today lists several movies of these detonating years which are led by Professional Surf Athletes. The List includes Thicker Than Water 2000 where “Rob Machado, Kelly Slater, Brad Gerlach, Shane Dorian, and others spend 18 months chasing the best waves on the planet”.  Another inclusion is that of Momentum: Under The Influence  -2001 which the featured new generation surfers which today are among the toughest CT World Tour athletes or have been already established themselves as legends of the sport. Who was in Momentum? Non other than CJ Hobgood, Dan Malloy, Mick Fanning, Bruce Irons, Taj Burrow, Damien Hobgood, Joel Parkinson, Ben Bourgeois, Andy Irons, David Rastovich and Dean Morrison.

Even the 2017 WSL World Champion John John Florence had a go into this hot Movie-Surf relationship and produced what was described as the “Best Surf Movie Made”. JJ released the movie a View From a Blue Moon in 2015. The movie had three years in the making.

Then there are others which believe that the History of Surfing is not about the riders but about what riders are riding. The Inertia explored recently this relationship in an article explaining the evolution of fins and the Bonzer.

“When Malcolm and Duncan Campbell pioneered their three-fin (and later five-fin) design in the early ’70s, they likely had no idea it’d slip through the cracks. Simon Anderson developed his own tri-fin design years later, called it the thruster, and, well, you know the rest. But, in recent years the ride-anything trend has spawned new interest in the design,” Dylan Heyden of the Inertia reported.

But it seems that Heyden -also Inertia´s Associate Editor is on to something more than just the History of Fins. Heyden admits to be influenced recently by the work of Matt Warshaw and his book the History of Surfing.

Early this year when Warshaw launched the History of Surfing in its Digital Version free for everyone online the Inertia said that it as “Oh So Good”! And it sure is that and much more.

“I received Matt Warshaw’s History of Surfing as a Christmas gift from my folks probably four years ago. Having no knowledge of Warshaw’s previous work, it was my introduction. I opened the thing balancing it on my lap –at more than five pounds the hardcover tome is too large to hold like a paperback. When I turned the first page I was disappointed. It looked like a coffee table book but wasn’t. There weren’t many pictures. Lots of words.It took a few months for me to go back. One night I opened back to page one and read. And read. And read. Feelings of uncertainty faded into thrill. “Holy shit,” I thought. “This is incredible.” Dylan Heyden writes in the Inertia.

Warshaw is not only giving away the 8 chapters free for anyone online but is actively writing posts on the History of Surf. But why does Warshaw words fascinate top Surf editors after all isn't it just a book with “little pictures and lots of words”? Actually it is not it is truly mind blowing -for those who still read.

It is officially believed that Surf was born in ancient Polynesia and evolved in Hawaii to its origin way back into the centuries but Warshaw´s History of Surf puts that to the test and presents not only evidence that Surf could have started at 1000 years BC -that´s right before Christ but also gives the sense that humans have been surfing pretty much since they began swimming in the Ocean. Warshaw not only deals with the origins of Surf in the Ancient World but goes into historical details from the 1800s to the 1900s to the Great Depression, War and Peace Times, the Dark Years, the 50s, 60s and 70s and the years of Bang.

Chapter 1 “Out of the Blue” History of Surfing Matt Warshaw: “Surfing in 1000 BC...On a sunny fall morning in 1987, Felipe Pomar of Lima walked into the California offices of Surfer magazine, right on time for his scheduled meeting, ready to talk about a subject guaranteed to put a blank expression on just about any wave rider's face -surfing in ancient Peru. Hawaii, of course, has always been regarded as surfing’s birthplace, but Pomar wanted to propose an alternate theory of the sport’s origins. He was too smart to think he was going to waltz into Surfer and change surfing’s foundation story before lunch break. Still, the topic meant enough to him that he wanted to try. Smiling confidently, he shook hands with the editorial staff.”

Pomar was not just any surfer but had already charged his way to a surprise win in the 1965 World Surfing Championships, held in the powerful waves just south of his hometown. The Surfer labeled the “Wild Bull of Punta Rocas”...“kept an appointment book, and dined at his beachfront club with bankers, industrialists, and Latin American presidents”.

“The Hawaiians, Pomar asked with a little rhetorical tilt of the head, have been surfing for how long? One thousand years? Fifteen hundred? He nodded toward the Caballito. Three thousand years, Pomar said. That’s how long they’ve been riding waves in Huanchaco. Three thousand years—maybe longer”.

“Pomar’s visit to Surfer coincided with a new period of archaeological discovery in Peru that moved the country into the first rank of ancient civilizations. An irrigation canal in the north was estimated to be over six thousand years old. An unearthed 150-acre desert metropolis named Caral, with artifacts dating back to 2,600 bc, was filled with plazas and canals, amphitheaters, fitted-stone multifloor buildings, musical instruments, and pyramids older than those of Egypt -a few outré anthropologists had begun referring to Caral as “The Mother of All Civilizations.” Many of these finds underscore ancient Peru’s close relationship with the ocean: wave motifs decorate bowls and fabrics and are stamped into the gold crowns of warrior-priest headgear. Towering bas-relief courtyard walls feature the unmistakable horizontal lines of an incoming swell. Wave-riding, or the suggestion of wave-riding, appears as well. A two-thousand-year-old frieze shows a deity charging across the night sky on a crescent moon in the shape of a caballito. In a matched ceramic set, two Peruvians straddle their reed boats, heads low, hands and eyes forward, in a pose suggesting a fast ride toward shore. Both figures grin broadly,” and that is just Chapter 1 first page of the digital book.

“...it’s easy to imagine that wave-riding in one form or another likely took root on antediluvian beaches from Brazil to Senegal, Lebanon to Borneo. For any society living on a temperate coastline, riding waves would likely be a natural, if not intuitive act. Dolphins and pelicans and other animals seem to do it purely out of enjoyment, after all. When did the very first human wade into the shorebreak and try to imitate a dolphin? Or put another way—when did bodysurfing start? That probably goes back millions of years, not thousands,” sure thing Warshaw.

Warshaw also goes deep into Southeast Asia, Tonga, Samoa and Eastern Fiji and Polynesia society in his History of Surf. Tahiti, tattooed explorer-warriors, mythical girls, canoes, fishing legacy, historical island culture, first contact with European society, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii the book misses no details.

“Only on the main islands of what is called East Polynesia -Hawaii, the Marquesas, Tahiti, the Cook Islands, and New Zealand was surfing practiced by adults as well as children. Of this group, just the Tahitians and Hawaiians used full-length boards and rode while standing. And of these two, only the Hawaiians, probably beginning around 1200 AD, developed the sport into a communal obsession. This original surf-lust, as much as the islands’ accrued developments in board design and riding technique, is what marks Hawaii as surfing’s birthplace,” Warshaw explains.

“Surfing in ancient Hawaii was both recreational and universal,” he assures. Farmers, warriors, weavers, healers, fishermen, children, grandparents, chiefs, and regents all practiced it.

“Relationships between sport, religion, myth, work, war, family, and courtship were fluid -in this way, surfing came to be entwined with almost all aspects of life. Priests whipped the nearshore waters with long vines in order to bring the surf up. Artists carved petroglyph stick-figure images of surfers onto flat lava surfaces. Laborers built terraced oceanfront shrines where surfers could rinse off after leaving the water or pray for waves if the surf was flat,” that was Surf back then -a matter of real legend inspiration. Back then Competition in the water reached another level and women surfed side by side against men.

Warshaw goes on; “At the royal level, however, board making was a serious matter, filled with rites and rituals. A craftsman would search the highland forest for a suitable tree. Small and mid length boards were usually made of koa, a fine-grained hardwood, or the softer breadfruit. Longer boards were generally made from wiliwili, the same lightweight wood used for canoes. Once an appropriate tree was found, a red kumu fish was ceremoniously placed at the trunk, the tree was cut down, and prayers were made as the fish was then placed in a hole dug in the root system, as compensation to the spirits. Canoe-building was a more serious undertaking; for a voyaging canoe”.

“When surfing was exported from Hawaii to the rest of the world, centuries later, it never failed to present itself beautifully. Introduced as the exciting and romantic Sport of Kings, it won converts at every stop,” Warshaw says.

Early 1800s even after the first Western made contact with Hawaii and its surf culture it was still blooming and intact but things would not be that way forever.

Later 1800s and early 1900 the Dark Years of Surf drew blood. “Syphilis and cholera, new laws and prohibitions, endless work hours, overthrow and annexation—all these things conspired to remove waveriders from Hawaiian lineups throughout the nineteenth century; the era came to be known as surfing’s own Dark Ages,” Matt Warshaw explained.

Warshaw links the re-birth Surf not only until the Surf to the Era of President Theodore Roosevelt -known for creating the National Park System and preserving land and water for new generations for the first time in history.

“...Then there was Theodore Roosevelt, America’s burly new president. A sportsman who hunted and trekked and occasionally swam nude in the Potomac River, Roosevelt was evangelical in his praise of robust outdoor activity, and this also helped fuel a growing interest in the beach. Surfing’s revival in the early twentieth century made perfect sense. Seascape painters and poets had already done their part by rehabilitating the public’s regard for the ocean -what had been seen as a roiling vastness filled with sea monsters and splintered boats was now viewed as a place of beauty, self-discovery, sensuality, godliness, even comfort. “Where rolled the ocean,” dashing Romantic poet and enthusiastic ocean swimmer Lord Byron wrote in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, “thereon was his home.” Coastal architecture did an about-face, too, literally, with buildings now designed to face the sea, rather than inland,” Warshaw goes into it.

The following chapters of the History of Surfing of Warshaw deal with California seeds and evolution, the North Shore, Surfing in the Great Depression, Surfing in War and Peace times, International Surfing, Chasing the dream breaks around the World, Australia, Asia, and the evolution of the Sport of Kings.

Here have only but scratched the surface of the History of Surf, the issue is truly Universal.

What Surf has been is bizarre when compared to what Surf is today, is the past stranger than the present, we dont know.

Today billions know what Surf is today. But perhaps only a luck thousands know where it truly comes from, and what is has been through. As Surf grows we can only look with curiosity… People made Surf in the past and it is people that make Surf what it is today.

Keeping it true to its origin or evolving and just doing what you want to do? What's it all about? For you? Do you still hear the call of the ocean break? Can you step on it and ride it out?