Surfing history.............................................................. 2.
Bethany Hamilton´s history....................................... 3.
ASP(Association of Surfing Professionals)............ 4.
Surfing records............................................................. 5.
Surfers & Surfing culture.......................................... 6.
Parts of the surf board............................................... 7.
Surfing is a sport that involves sliding over
the waves standing on a table, directing it
through one or more fins located on the back
of the table.
This sport can be risky due to physical
exertion and possible injuries caused by not
taking the necessary precautions.It is good to
note that this sport requires qualities such as
balance, skill, agility and coordination.
The art of surfing, called he'enalu in the Hawaiian language, was first
observed by Europeans in 1767, by the crewmembers of the Dolphin at
Tahiti; however, surfing was a central part of ancient Polynesian culture
and predates European contact. The chief was the most skilled wave
rider in the community with the best board made from the best tree.
The ruling class had the best beaches and the best boards, and the
commoners were not allowed on the same beaches, but they could gain
prestige by their ability to ride the surf on their extremely heavy
The sport was also recorded in print by Augustin Kramer and other
European residents and visitors who wrote about and photographed
Samoans surfing on planks and single canoe hulls; Samoans referred to
surf riding as fa'ase'e or se'egalu. Edward Treager also confirmed
Samoan terminology for surfing and surfboards in Samoa. Oral tradition
also confirms that surfing was also practiced in Tonga, where the late
king, Taufa'ahau Tupou IV was the foremost Tongan surfer of his time.
When the missionaries from Scotland and Germany arrived in 1821, they
forbade or discouraged many Polynesian traditions and cultural practices,
including, on Hawaii, leisure sports such as surfing and holua sledding. By
the 20th century, surfing, along with other traditional practices, had all
but disappeared. Only a small number of Hawaiians continued to practice
the sport and the art of crafting boards.
Bethany Hamilton´s history
The surf can also cause many accidents, such as Bethany Hamilton:
O n October 31, 2003,
Hamilton went for a
morning surf along Tunnels
she was lying sideways on
her surfboard with her left
arm dangling in the water,
fashioned a tourniquet out
of a surfboard leash around
what was left of her arm
Beach, Kauai with friend when a 14 ft tiger shark before rushing her to
Alana Blanchard, and attacked her, ripping her Wilcox Memorial Hospital.
left arm off just below the Her dad was supposed to
shoulder. If the shark had have a knee surgery that
bitten two inches further morning but she took his
in, the attack would have place in the operating room.
been fatal. Hamilton had She then spent six more
lost almost 60% of her days in recovery at the
blood that morning. Her hospital.
Blanchard's father and friends helped paddle her
brother. Around 7:30 a.m., back to shore, and Despite the trauma of the
incident, Hamilton was surfing. Just three weeks returned to her board and
determined to return to after the incident, she went surfing again.
Association of Surfing Professionals
The Association of Surfing Professionals or ASP was formed in 1982 to
protect the interests of professional Surfers. The association organises
the six professional surfing circuits including the World Championship
Tour or WCT, which was renamed to the ASP World Tour in 2007. The
ASP's Head Offices are located in Coolangatta, Australia.
Year Name Points
2005 Kelly Slater (USA) 7962
2006 Kelly Slater (USA) 8124
2007 Mick Fanning (AUS) 8136
2008 Kelly Slater (USA) 8832
2009 Mick Fanning (AUS) 8136
As with almost every any sport there's an element of fortune needed in
surfing competitions. The competition format, types of waves and human
judging all have an effect, which leaves plenty of room for speculation
about excellent surfers who never won a title, or could have won more.
Mark Richards' record of 4 titles above and below 1979 to 1983 stood
until 1997 when Kelly Slater took his 5th. It was joked that it'd taken so
long Richards was scarcely remembered by young fans and was known to
them only as "that guy whose record Kelly beat". Slater's 7th win in 2005
made him both the youngest and oldest champion.
Frieda Zamba, Wendy Botha and Lisa Anderson all took 4 women's titles.
Layne Beachley has won seven titles in her career, making her the most
dominant female professional surfer in the sport's history.
Surfers & Surfing culture
Surfers represent a diverse culture based on riding the waves. Some
people practice surfing as a recreational activity while others make it the
central focus of their lives. Within the
United States, surfing culture is most
dominant in California, Florida and Hawaii.
Some historical markers of the culture
included the woodie, the station wagon used
to carry surfers' boards, as well as
boardshorts, the long swim suits typically
worn while surfing.The sport of surfing now
represents a multi-billion dollar industry specially in clothing and fashion
markets. Some people make a career out of surfing by receiving
corporate sponsorships.When the waves were flat, surfers persevered
with sidewalk surfing, which is now called skateboarding. Sidewalk surfing
has a similar feel to surfing and requires only a paved road or sidewalk.
To create the feel of the wave, surfers even sneak into empty backyard
swimming pools to ride in, known as pool skating.
Parts of the surfing board
The surface of the board that rests on the water.
The purpose of concave is to direct water through the fins of the surfboard.
Surfboard shapers can experiment with concaves to create different drive and
response characteristics on each individual surfboard.
Some older and more traditional surfboards along with many modern boards that
take inspiration from these older boards utilize a convex rather than concave design
on the bottom of the surfboard. These boards displace water and sit lower in the
wave than a surfboard with a concave bottom.
The surface of the board that the surfer stands on. Surfwax is applied to this
The surfboard fin is a stabilizing strut fixed to
the rear of the surfboard to prevent it from sliding
sideways. In the early days, surfers would stabilize
the board by hanging the toes of their back foot
over the edge of the board and would steer by putting their foot in the water. The
innovation of a skeg in 1936 by either or both of Woody "Spider" Brown or Tom Blake
— revolutionized surfing, allowing surfers to direct the board's momentum and
providing more balance whilst turning.
The template of the modern surfboard fin was developed by George Greenough in
the 1960s. The single fin changed little until the late 70's, when a second was
added and popularised by Australian Mark Richards. The new twin fin set up
allowed much more flowing carves to be performed. Mark Richards dominated the
world competitive scene from 1979 to 1983. In 1981 another Australian was
developing another set up which would again change the face of surfing. His name was
Simon Anderson and by attaching a third fin, positioned centrally behind the twin
fins, he created the thruster set up. Today, most surfboards still use the same
arrangement with its popularity arising from the combined ability for carving turns
and providing control and drive.
In the early 90's removable fin systems were developed and embraced. One of the
most popular such fin systems is the FCS, or Fin Control System. FCS is a more
standardized system that allows fins to be easily removed or replaced, utilising set
screws to hold the fins in place. These systems provided surfers with the ability to
alter the riding characteristics of a surfboard, by changing the size and shape of fins
used. This innovation opened the market to a range of fin designs, including single
foiled fins, concave inside surfaces, and curved fins. Another variation of fin was
later designed in the time frame known as the soul fin, a sleek bendable attachment.
Tunnel fins were invented in the 60's by Richard Deese, and were found on
longboards by multiple manufacturers of that era, including Dewey Weber. Bob Bolen
aka 'the Greek' patented the Turbo Tunnel in the late 1990s. Since the mid 90's half
tunnel fins have been used, mainly on very long hollow wooden surfboards such as
those made in New Zealand by Roy Stewart.
Bullet Fins were invented in the 2005 by Ron Pettibone to increase surfboard hull
planing and rail-to-rail transition speed. The patent-pending fins are based on 50
years of hydrodynamic research on the bulbous bow hull design. Just as with the bow
of a ship, the traditional surfboard fin creates a wave as it displaces the water in its
path. The resulting turbulence places drag on the surfboard. The bulb of the
Bullet Fin reduces this drag by creating a new (primary) fin wave in front of the
original (secondary) wave. This new bulb wave is designed to be nearly 180 degrees
out of phase with the original fin wave to subtract its turbulence thus reducing fin
Winged fins are another type of surfboard fin, the genesis of which was America's
Cup sailboat design. The Starfin was designed in the 1980s by the America's Cup
yacht designer, Ben Lexcen, who had designed the winged keel for the America's Cup
boat, Australia II. The small thruster-sized fin, the RedTip 3D is manufactured by
Fins with winglets -- tiny wings -- are part of the Wavegrinder fin invented in
2005. See Wavegrinder patent. The purpose of winglets, as in airplane design, is to
increase lift (horizontal turning force in the case of surfboard fins) while reducing
drag, by reducing the fin-tip vortex.
Fins with a camber have an asymmetrical profile. In windsurfing camber is used to
increase the lift to drag ratio of the fin and to minimise cavitation and the risk of
In particular windsurfers trying to improve speed records use camber fins, as the
maximum performance is required on one down-wind course direction.
As the camber is fixed to one side, performance when sailing in one direction is
improved but performance in the other way is deteriorated.
Fins with self adjusting camber smartfins patent can change the camber and can
therefore offer the improved qualities in both port side and starboard side sailing
A surfboard leash or leg rope is the cord that attaches a surfboard to the surfer.
It prevents the surfboard from being swept away by waves and stops runaway
surfboards from hitting other surfers and swimmers. Modern leashes comprise a
urethane cord where one end has a band with a velcro strap attached to the surfer's
trailing foot, and the opposite has a velcro strap attached to the tail end of the
Prior to leashes introduction in 1971, surfers who fell off their boards had to swim
to retrieve them with runaway boards being an inconvenience to the surfer and a
danger to other surfers. Santa Cruz resident Pat O'Neill, son of surfer Jack O'Neill
(inventor of the O'Neill Wetsuit), is credited with inventing the surf leash. His initial
designs consisted of surgical cord attached to a board with a suction cup. At the 1971
Malibu international surfing competition, Pat offered leashes to his competitors in
the event. Consequently he was disqualified from the event for wearing his leash,
dubbed a kook cord by those at the event however over the next year, the leash
became a ubiquitous tool in the surfing world.
Pat's father, Jack O'Neill, lost his left eye in a surf leash accident as the surgical
tubing used in the early designs allowed the leash to overstretch, causing the
surfboard to fly back towards the surfer. Subsequent cords were made with less
elastic materials such as bungee cords.
Leashes are still the source of some contention in surfing today as, although they
are now accepted as mandatory equipment for shortboarders, many longboarders
refuse to wear them, claiming it interferes with their ability to walk up and down the
board. At crowded surf spots with large waves, it is argued that the
freedom not wearing a leash is secondary to the safety of others.
An indentation in the deck of the board close to the tail that contains a small bar
that a short cord can be girth hitched to for attaching a leash.
The front tip of the board. This can be pointed or rounded.
The edges of the board. A rounded rail is called "soft", while a more squared off
rail is called "hard", and rails that are in between are considered 50/50.
This refers to how much curve the bottom of the board has from nose to tail.
Increasing the rocker helps improve a boards performance when it is used in and
around tighter curves on the wave face while flattening the curves of the board help
it to handle better on flatter sections of water.
A thin piece of wood running from nose to tail that increases the strength of the
board. Boards have different amount of stringers and some have no stringers.
The shape of the tail affects how a board responds. Tail shapes vary from square,
pin, squash, swallow, diamond, and so on—each one in turn having its own family of
By:Amaia V. & Maialen