History of Surfing Essay Example
A Surf Tale
An account of surfing's thousand year voyage from the kings of Hawaii, to the surfers exile from society, to the multi-billion dollar industry of today.
The Sun's radiation heats the upper atmosphere, sending the energy toward the earth's surface and finally mixes with the planet's counter-rotational currents, creating jetstream flows. The winds flow over the ocean's surface creating friction that spawns chops, pushing up the seas forming perfect bands of open ocean swell. Pushed on by gravitational forces, the swells speed away from the winds that they came from, moving across the deeps until they feel the drag of the shallows near the coast. As the swells rise up out of themselves, they peak, curling into the liquid dreams that we surfers ride (Kampton 4).
Surfing is not a sport, and no true surfer would ever claim otherwise. Yes, it requires all the essential elements of a sport; strength, discipline, balance and most of all practice but unlike a sport, surfing isn't a competition. True, even most surfers refer to it as an "extreme sport", but the truth is, we do so because it's impossible to create a word that completely describes surfing. It is an experience in its own class, a spiritual conquest quest, searching for the perfect wave.
Surfing has come a long way since it was first conceived (roughly 1500 years ago). From the Polynesian "watermen" and Hawaiian Kings, to the European takeover in Hawaii and surfing's American debut in the early twentieth century and all the way through present day, surfing has had a rich history. Over the decades, surfing has fit in to a number of roles in society, but whether we surfers are seen as beach-bums or heroes (as of late), we still surf only because we love it, because the ocean's calls us, because nothing else on this planet can create the sensation felt by riding a wave.
Surfing: A Kings Sport To most, surfing is often described as a Hawaiian art-form, and rightfully so, Hawaiians apparently
An account of surfing's thousand year voyage from the kings of Hawaii, to the surfers exile from society, to the multi-billion dollar industry of today.
The Sun's radiation heats the upper atmosphere, sending the energy toward the earth's surface and finally mixes with the planet's counter-rotational currents, creating jetstream flows. The winds flow over the ocean's surface creating friction that spawns chops, pushing up the seas forming perfect bands of open ocean swell. Pushed on by gravitational forces, the swells speed away from the winds that they came from, moving across the deeps until they feel the drag of the shallows near the coast. As the swells rise up out of themselves, they peak, curling into the liquid dreams that we surfers ride (Kampton 4).
Surfing is not a sport, and no true surfer would ever claim otherwise. Yes, it requires all the essential elements of a sport; strength, discipline, balance and most of all practice but unlike a sport, surfing isn't a competition. True, even most surfers refer to it as an "extreme sport", but the truth is, we do so because it's impossible to create a word that completely describes surfing. It is an experience in its own class, a spiritual conquest quest, searching for the perfect wave.
Surfing has come a long way since it was first conceived (roughly 1500 years ago). From the Polynesian "watermen" and Hawaiian Kings, to the European takeover in Hawaii and surfing's American debut in the early twentieth century and all the way through present day, surfing has had a rich history. Over the decades, surfing has fit in to a number of roles in society, but whether we surfers are seen as beach-bums or heroes (as of late), we still surf only because we love it, because the ocean's calls us, because nothing else on this planet can create the sensation felt by riding a wave.
Surfing: A Kings Sport To most, surfing is often described as a Hawaiian art-form, and rightfully so, Hawaiians apparently