Wave sliding in Hawaii
Surfing grew up in Polynesia, and above all in Hawaii, where it is called heʻe nalu, wave sliding. It was part of everyday life and of the social order. Chiefs rode enormous boards, some more than five metres long, carved from light wiliwili wood, while ordinary people rode shorter ones. Sailors with Captain Cook described surfers in 1778 and 1779, amazed at how far they could ride.
In the 1800s missionaries discouraged surfing, and it almost died out. It was revived in the early 1900s, helped by Duke Kahanamoku, a Hawaiian swimmer who won Olympic gold in 1912. In the summer of 1914 to 1915 he gave a surfing display at a beach near Sydney that helped start the sport in Australia.
Where waves come from
Most surfing waves begin as a SWELL made by storms far out at sea, which can travel thousands of kilometres before they reach land. As a WAVE meets shallower water, it slows at the bottom, grows taller and finally tips over at the CREST. Where and how it tips is the BREAK: over sand, rocks or a coral REEF. An OFFSHORE wind, blowing from the land out to sea, holds up the face of the wave and makes it smoother.
The famous PIPELINE, on the North Shore of the Hawaiian island of Oahu, breaks over a shallow reef and forms a hollow BARREL, also called a TUBE, that surfers ride inside. At Nazaré in Portugal, an undersea canyon focuses the swell into giants; in 2020 the German surfer Sebastian Steudtner rode one measured at 26.21 metres. Our oceans page covers the seas themselves.
Boards, fins and wetsuits
Early boards were solid wood and very heavy. In 1935 the American surfer Tom Blake added a fixed fin to the bottom, which stopped the tail sliding about, and FINS have been standard ever since. From the 1950s, boards were made of foam covered with fibreglass, making them light enough to CARVE sharp turns. Surfers rub WAX on the top so their feet grip the BOARD.
The WETSUIT, developed in California in the 1950s, lets a thin layer of water in and the body warms it, so surfers can stay out in cold seas. The BODYBOARD, ridden lying down, was invented by Tom Morey in 1971.
Talking the talk
To HANG TEN, a surfer walks to the front of a longboard and curls all ten toes over the edge. The LINEUP is the spot beyond the breaking waves where surfers wait their turn, and the unwritten rule is that the surfer closest to the peak has the wave. Paddling in front of them is called dropping in, and it is very rude.
GNARLY, meaning scary or rough, and STOKED, meaning thrilled, spread from 1960s California surf slang into everyday speech. Surfing made its Olympic debut at the Tokyo Games, held in 2021, and for the Paris Games of 2024 the surfing was held at Teahupoʻo in Tahiti, about 15,000 kilometres from Paris. Every session involves plenty of hard work to PADDLE out, the odd CURL ridden well and at least one WIPEOUT.