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Surf culture

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Pontiac woodie

Surf culture is the people, language, fashion and sporting life surrounding the sport of modern surfing.

The culture began early in the 20th century, spread quickly during the 1950s and 1960s, and continues to evolve. Touching fashion, music, literature, films, jargon, and more, its basis is the love of surfing, the hunt for great waves, the desire for the ultimate ride, and life in and around the ocean. Localism or territorialism is often a large part of surf culture in which individuals or groups of surfers designate certain key surfing spots as their own. Surfers, who come from many walks of life, are generally bound by an intense love of the sport.

The fickle nature of weather and the ocean, plus the great desire for the best possible types of waves for surfing, make surfers slaves to rapidly changing conditions. Surfing Magazine, founded in the 1960s when surfing had gained popularity with teenagers, used to say that if they were hard at work and someone yelled "Surf's up!" the office would suddenly be empty. Also, since surfing has a restricted geographical necessity (i.e. the coast), the culture of beach life often influenced surfers and vice versa. Aspects of 1960s surf culture in Southern California, where it was first popularized, include the woodie, bikinis and other beach wear, such as boardshorts or baggies, and surf music. Surfers developed the skateboard to be able to "surf" on land; and the number of boardsports and spin-offs has grown ever since. Also, surfing (particularly in Southern California) has its own slang, which has coincided with Valspeak. Words like "tubular" and "gnarly" are associated with both.

Surfers have often been associated with being slackers or beach bums. Though this is hardly a proper generalization today, since surfers come from all walks of life, the basis of the stereotype comes from that same over-whelming enthusiasm, sometimes bordering on addiction, that surfers can have for their sport. Along with the rarity of truly perfect surf conditions (plus the bliss that is associated with them) and the inevitable hunt for great waves, surfers often become dedicated to their sport in a way that precludes a more traditional life in a capitalistic society. Surfing instead, becomes their lifestyle.

This has left a long history of surfers veering off the beaten path, and foregoing the traditional goals of first world culture in the hunt for a continual stoke, in harmony with life, their surfing, and the ocean. This is part of the definition of a "Soul Surfer" whose goals are certainly not that of every person who indulges in the sport, but a vibrant and long-standing sub-group.

Competitive surf culture (centered around surf contests and endorsement deals) is often seen in opposition to this, since it embraces more traditional capitalistic ideals. Since its inception there has always been debate about whether or not surfing for money and prizes is truly compatible with the surfing lifestyle. Though this debate has lessened in recent decades, since many of today's pro-surfers, seem to be able to straddle both worlds: the competitive surfer and "free surfer".

The historic surf village of Ocean Beach, San Diego, California, is a good example of a place devoted to the surfing lifestyle having been introduced originally by OB Lifeguard George Freeth, probably by what is now the north jetty, by the soon-to-be-washed-away Wonderland Amusement Park.

The Northern California Surf Village of Pleasure Point, Santa Cruz, California, still retains many of the cottages that the surf pioneers, such as Van Dyke, once knew.

A surfer in Santa Cruz, California

Swell is generated when wind blows consistently over a large area of open water, called the wind's fetch. Surfers refer to a good series of waves when saying such things as "There was an awesome swell the other day." or "Dude, the swell at crooks cove was the best!" although The size of a swell is determined by the strength of the wind, the length of its fetch and its duration. So, surf tends to be larger and more prevalent on coastlines exposed to large expanses of ocean traversed by intense low pressure systems.

Local wind conditions affect wave quality, since the ridable surface of a wave can become choppy in blustery conditions. Ideal surf conditions include a light to moderate strength "offshore" wind, since this blows into the front of the wave.

A surfer waits as a wave crashes

The factor which most determines wave shape is the topography of the seabed directly behind and immediately beneath the breaking wave. The contours of the reef or sand bank influence wave shape in two respects. Firstly, the steepness of the incline is proportional to the resulting upthrust. When a swell passes over a sudden steep slope, the force of the upthrust causes the top of the wave to be thrown forward, forming a curtain of water which plunges to the wave trough below. Secondly, the alignment of the contours relative to the swell direction determines the duration of the breaking process. When a swell runs along a slope, it continues to peel for as long as that configuration lasts. When swell wraps into a bay or around an island, the breaking wave gradually diminishes in size, as the wave front becomes stretched by diffraction. For specific surf spots, the state of the ocean tide can play a significant role in the quality of waves or hazards of surfing there. Tidal variations vary greatly among the various global surfing regions, and the effect the tide has on specific spots can vary greatly among the spots within each area. Locations such as Bali, Panama, and Ireland experience 2-3 meter tide fluctuations, whereas in Hawaii the difference between high and low tide is typically less than one meter.

In order to know a surf break one must be sensitive to each of these factors. Each break is different, since the underwater topography of one place is unlike any other. At beach breaks, even the sandbanks change shape from week to week, so it takes commitment to get good waves (a skill dubbed "broceanography" by a few California surfers). That's why surfers have traditionally regarded surfing to be more of a lifestyle than a sport. Of course, you can sometimes be lucky and just turn up when the surf is pumping. But, it is more likely that you will be greeted with the dreaded: "You should have been here yesterday." Nowadays, however, surf forecasting is aided by advances in information technology, whereby mathematical modelling graphically depicts the size and direction of swells moving around the globe.

The regularity of swell varies across the globe and throughout the year. During winter, heavy swells are generated in the mid-latitudes, when the north and south polar fronts shift toward the Equator. The predominantly westerly winds generate swells that advance eastward. So, waves tend to be largest on west coasts during the winter months. However, an endless train of mid-latitude cyclones causes the isobars to become undulated, redirecting swells at regular intervals toward the tropics.

East coasts also receive heavy winter swells when low pressure cells form in the sub-tropics, where their movement is inhibited by slow moving highs. These lows produce a shorter fetch than polar fronts, however they can still generate heavy swells, since their slower movement increases the duration of a particular wind direction. After all, the variables of fetch and duration both influence how long the wind acts over a wave as it travels, since a wave reaching the end of a fetch is effectively the same as the wind dying off.

During summer, heavy swells are generated when cyclones form in the tropics. Tropical cyclones form over warm seas, so their occurrence is influenced by El Niño & La Niña cycles. Their movements are unpredictable. They can even move westward, which is unique for a large scale weather system. In 1979, Tropical Cyclone Kerry wandered for 3 weeks across the Coral Sea and into Queensland, before dissipating.

The quest for perfect surf has given rise to a field of tourism based on the surfing adventure. Yacht charters and surf camps offer surfers access to the high quality surf found in remote, tropical locations, where tradewinds ensure offshore conditions. Since winter swells are generated by mid-latitude cyclones, their regularity coincides with the passage of these lows. So, the swells arrive in pulses, each lasting for a couple of days, with a couple of days between each swell. Since bigger waves break in a different configuration, a rising swell is yet another variable to consider when assessing how to approach a break.

Localism

Even though waves break everywhere along a coast, truly great surf spots are rare. A surf break that forms great surfable waves may easily become a coveted commodity, especially if the wave only breaks there rarely. If this break is near a large population center with many surfers, territorialism often arises. Regular surfers who live around a desirable surf break may often guard it jealously, hence the expression "locals only." The "locals only" expression is common among many beach towns. For instance, many locals from the Jersey shore use the expression "shoobie" to refer to non-locals. These sayings are consistent with the territorialism that drives the beach culture and those that live on the coastal territories year round. Localism is expressed when surfers are involved in verbal or physical threats or abuse to deter people from surfing at certain surf spots. This is backed by the belief that fewer people equals more waves per surfer. Other surfers, however, sometimes known as "Soul Surfers", hold less aggressive views towards others. These surfers see surfing as more than a sport; it is an opportunity to harness the waves and to relax and forget about their daily routines.

However, local surfers have been known to be violent when it comes to protecting their surf break from tourists or outside surfers. Some locals have been known to form loose gangs that surf in a certain break or beach and fiercely protect their "territory" from outsiders. These surfers are often referred to as "surf punks" or "surf nazis." The local surfer gangs in Malibu and on Hawaii, known as Da hui, have been known to threaten tourists with physical violence for invading their territory. The expression "Surf Nazi" arose in the 1960s to describe territorial and authoritarian surfers, often involved in surf gangs or surf clubs. The term "Nazi" was originally used simply to denote the strict territorialism, violence and hostility to outsiders, and absolute obsession with surfing that was characteristic in the so-called "surf nazis." However, some surfers reclaimed and accepted the term, and a few actually embraced Nazism and Nazi symbolism. Some surf clubs in the 60's, particularly at Wind'n'Sea in La Jolla, used the swastika symbol on their boards and identified with Nazism as a counter culture (though this may have just been an effort to keep out or scare non-locals.)

Big Wave culture

A non-competitive adventure activity involving riding the biggest waves possible (known as "rhino hunting") is also popular with some surfers. A practice popularized in the 1990s has seen big wave surfing revolutionized, as surfers use personal watercraft to tow them out to a position where they can catch previously unrideable waves (see tow-in surfing). These waves were previously unrideable due to the speed at which they travel. Some waves reach speeds of over 60 km/h; personal watercraft enable surfers to reach the speed of the wave thereby making them rideable. Personal watercraft not only allow surfers to ride these waves but allow them to survive wipeouts. In many instances surfers would not survive the battering of the "sets" (groups of waves together). This spectacular activity is extremely popular with television crews, but because such waves rarely occur in heavily populated regions, and usually only a very long way out to sea on outer reefs, few spectators see such events directly.

Surf Terminology

Air: getting airborne
Aerial: airborne maneuver
Amped: charged up; stoked; fired
Backdoor: to pull into a tube from behind the peak
Bail: to abandon a board; jump off; usually without regard to the board's future
Bake: a closeout
Barreled: this is when the tube catches up to you and you bail
Bashing: body surfing
Bitchen: top notch stoke
Boost: getting airborne off the lip
Brah: from bruddah, Hawaiian pidgin for brother
Bro: a buddy or friend
Bro-in-a push from a friend into a wave
Bucked: helmet
Bump: a swell
Bumps: the build-up of wax on a surfboard deck
Carve: symmetrical, fluid turns
Cheater five: five toes on the nose — keep your weight back on the board to maintain trim and speed, squat down and extend one foot forward
Clucked: afraid, intimidated by the wave
Crew: a group of surfers defined by break or area
Cutback: a maneuver where the surfer turns sharply back towards the breaking portion of the wave. See also 'S-turn'
Deck: the top surface of the board
Ding: damage to a surfboard
Dogging: going backside in the pit
Drop: as in dropping from the crest of the wave to the pit
Dropping in: catching a wave that is already occupied ... taking off on the shoulder while someone is taking off deeper
Drop in late: catching the steepest part of a wave
Dune: a big peaky wave
Epoxy: alternative board construction to foam
Falls: the pitching lip of the wave — don't get sucked into this
Fan: a fan of spray off a turn such as a water skier throws
Fluff: spray off the lip
Falls: top of the wave pitches out and throws a waterfall shoreward
Fish: a type of short surfboard that is wide, fairly thick for added buoyancy and has two fins; popular in the 1970s
Frigged: snaked
Full on: with commitment and intensity
Funky: A slang term for cool, used by surfers regularly
Fuzz: the police a term use in earlier days
Gash: very sharp turn
Gnarly: awesome and intimidating
Going off: a break under optimum conditions
Goofy Foot: Someone who has his right foot forward instead of his left
Gouge: sharp, fast turn
Gremmies: grem or gremmie is short for gremlin — Sixties US term for young, possibly or probably mischievous surfer, pre-adolescent surfer
Green room: inside a full cover-up tube
Grommet: adolescent surfer
Gun: a variant of board shape made for big waves
Gunned: under-gunned or over-gunned; refers to the size of your board in relation to wave conditions
Hawaiian scale: a system of wave measurement used by surfers
Hiddie: from hideous,intense
Hooting: howling and yelping approval and encouragement to buddies
Jag: retreat after getting worked
Kook: someone posing very hard as a surfer. An unskilled surfer
Lineup: the location in the ocean where the outer waves are breaking
Lip: the portion of the wave that is breaking and falling from top to bottom, especially in hollow waves
Local: a person who lives near a surfspot and surfs there almost daily
Log: a long surfboard
Meatball flag: black with a yellow dot in the middle, means no surfing today
Mondo: Another synonym for cool.
Nipped: nipples rubbed raw by board or suit
Noodle: exhausted, overall condition or specific as in noodle armed
Noseride: to walk up to the front of the deck
Outrageous: An adjective used to describe a particularly difficult wave or surf session
Over the falls: inadvertently riding the lip of a wave as it breaks rather than the face of the wave
Pit: the hollow-est portion of a breaking wave
Pitch: throw — angle of any run to rise
Pitted: being in the pit of the wave
Pearl: to go pearl diving, the nose of you board submerges and usually the wave pushes the rest of the board over the nose, you too
Pintail: the shape of the tailend of a surfboard, tapering to a point
Pop: kick out
Pop-out: a surfboard that comes from a mold for mass production, in contrast to being shaped.
Poser: a non-surfer playing the role of a surfer
Pucker factor: the effect an intimidating wave has on ones ability to remain relaxed
Puff: a spitting wave
Pumping: above average large swell
Quiver: a surfer's collection of boards, a board bag that holds several boards
Rails: the side edges of the board that interact with the wave's energy
Rip: to surf to the height of one's abilities
Rocker: the bend in the board, as in a rocking chair
Room: inside a large barrel
S-turn: an advanced maneuver where a sharp turn is made on the shoulder of the wave in the shape of an 'S'; a type of cutback
Schlong: thick, long, old style single-fin surfboard
Squid: unlikeable individual
Scab: a reef or rock
Scabbed: getting damaged by a reef or rock
Shred: ability to execute rapid repeated turns — shortboard term
Sick: excellent, top notch — describing a surfer, stunt, maneuver or conditions
Sideslip: when your board stops tracking forward and moves sideways
Slam: bounce off the lip as it begins to pitch
Slash: cutback
Staff (staph): Infections from polluted water and open wounds
Snake: paddling around behind someone who is in position and stealing their wave. Effectively the snake is taking ownership of the wave by being the closest rider to the breaking portion of the wave
Spray: the water coming off a wave
Stink-eye: hard, cold, menacing stare
Stoked: geared up, wound up, full of enthusiasm
Stylie: with good form — with grace
SUP: stand up paddle surfing
Sup: asking another surfer what they have been doing
Surfer's knots: large bumps on the tops of feet and on knees caused by callusing where one continuously contacts a board
Stuffed: getting driven under the water by a wave coming down on you
Swish: a meek or fearful surfer
Thrashed: when a wave lays a beating on you
Throwing tail: sliding the tail in a turn, breaking the grip of the fins
Thruster: a surboard with 3 fins with the center fin more towards the tail
Tow-in surfing/Tow-ins: getting towed into waves that are too large to paddle into
Trim: adjusting your position on a board so that it planes, and achieves its maximum speed
Tube: the cylindrical or cone shaped hole created when the lip pitches out far and clean enough to create a space between the wave and the falls
Vertical: turn straight up the wave
Waffling: rapidly working the board back and forth
Wahine: A young female surfer
Wannabe: wan-na-be, someone who wants to be a skater
Wax: paraffin + color + scent + additives to make it apply at specific temperatures. Used on deck of boards for traction
Wipe out: a fall, particularly a spectacular fall
Worked, getting: the action a wave plays on you. It feels like being in a large washing machine
Zoo: excessively crowded in the water

Issues affecting surfers

Global warming, environmental damage, and increasing riparian development may continue to increase pressure on the sport. Oil spills and toxic algae growth can threaten surfing regions. And, many wealthy homeowners have tried to prevent free access to beaches in violation of English and American common law traditions, in which "the strand" is not private property.

Some of these stresses may be overcome by building of artificial reefs for surfing. Several have been built in recent years (one is at Cables in Western Australia), and there is widespread enthusiasm in the global surfing community for additional projects. However, environmental opposition and rigorous coastal permitting regulations is dampening prospects for building such reefs in some countries, such as the United States. A major big wave cultural group in northern Australia is called "clarkey", and are known for their aggression and passion.

Spirituality

A surfer memorial service, Huntington Beach Pier, Orange County, California.

Australian surfer Nat Young tried to register surfing as a religion, but to no avail. Many surfers combine their love of the sport with their own religious or spiritual beliefs. In Huntington Beach, California for example, a local Christian, non-denominational church occasionally meets on the beach for Sunday early-morning services. After the closing prayer, the minister and his congregation paddle out for a morning session. In addition, many surfing communities organize and take part in memorial services for fallen surfers, sometimes on the anniversary of passing such as the Eddie Aikau memorial service held annually at Waimea Bay, Hawaii. Participants in the memorial service paddle out to a suitable location with flower leis around their necks or with loose flowers (sometimes held between their teeth)., The participants then get into a circular formation, hold hands, and silently pray. Sometimes they will raise their clasped hands skyward before tossing their flowers or leis into the center of the ring. Afterward, they paddle back toward the beach to begin their surf session. Often these services take place at sunrise or sunset. In locations with a pier, such as Huntington Beach, Orange County, California, the service can take place near the end of the pier so that any non-surfers, such as elderly relatives, can watch and participate. Often the participants on the pier will throw down bouquets of flowers into the center of the ring.

Quotes about surfing

*"It's just the best way to start your day. Surfers eat pizza. People who surf, they know the object is to have fun. You work hard, but you work hard to have fun." - Cynthia Derosier

  • "Surf, Eat, Sleep..." - Dean Miller, CEO of Dean Miller Surf Bedding
  • "When you're surfing, you're living. Everything else is just waiting." - Josh Mitchell
  • "In one place we came upon a large company of naked natives, of both sexes and all ages, amusing themselves with the national pastime of surf-bathing. Each heathen would paddle three or four hundred yards out to sea (taking a short board with him), then face the shore and wait for a particularly prodigious billow to come along; at the right moment he would fling his board upon its foamy crest and himself upon the board, and here he would come whizzing by like a bombshell!" - Mark Twain
  • "Surfing wasn't about money back then. Surfers always lived cheaply and scraped by." - Mark Cunningham
  • "It's a culmination of your life of surfing when you turn and paddle in at Mavericks." - Jeff Clark
  • "Your done, once you're a surfer you're done. You're in. It's like the mob or something. You're not getting out." - Kelly Slater (from Step Into Liquid)
  • "None but natives ever master the art of surf-bathing thoroughly." - Mark Twain
  • "The idea that an individual can find God is terribly self-centered. It is like a wave thinking it can find the sea." - John Templeton
  • "It was so big [the wave], it didn't even know we were there."[1] - Daniel Webber
  • "Surfing soothes me, it's always been a kind of Zen experience for me. The ocean is so magnificent, peaceful, and awesome. The rest of the world disappears for me when I'm on a wave." - Paul Walker
  • "How would you like to stand like a God before the crest of a monster billow, always rushing to the bottom of a hill and never reaching its base, and to come rushing in for a half mile at express speed, in graceful attitude, until you reach the beach and step easily from the wave?" - Duke Kahanamoku
  • "Out of the water, I am nothing." - Duke Kahanamoku
  • "Wipe Out" Surfaris
  • "Sometimes in the morning, when it's a good surf, I go out there, and I don't feel like it's a bad world." - Kary Mullis
  • "If you direct your attention to the position of a bird with regard to the wave surface, it will speedily be noticed to be nearly always on the rising side or face of the wave and moving apparently at right angles to the wave's course, but really diagonal to it." - Lawrence Hargrave
  • "I tried body surfing once, but how often do you find a corpse?" - Emo Philips
  • "Then, after I've gotten rid of Batman and Robin for good, I will rule the waves. Me, the Joker, king of the surf and all the surfers. Then, Gotham City! Later, the world!" - The Joker from Batman
  • "There is that desire to go surf the waves by yourself, just you and nature and I will never do it again, never." - Davis Bunn

Films about surfing

Main article: Surf film
File:Liquid-time-1.jpg
A screenshot from Liquid Time.
Big Wednesday poster.
Sean Penn as the surfer Jeff Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

The surf culture is reflected in film. Bruce Brown's classic movie The Endless Summer glorified surfing in a round-the-world search for the perfect wave. John Milius's homage to the Malibu of his youth in Big Wednesday remains a poignant metaphor for the similarities between the changing surf and life. Beach movies such as the Gidget series and Beach Party films like Beach Blanket Bingo are less reverential depictions of the culture.

Fictional surfers in film

  • Sean Penn as stoned surfer Jeff Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Jeff Spicoli is the stereotypical teenage surfer of the eighties, complete with surf talk and imaginary tubes, ridden beneath overhanging ivy. The ambitious, conscientious, hard-working Brad Hamilton provides a foil for Jeff Spicoli, who believes in “operating from the heart” and “what you need will come to you,”. By contrasting Jeff Spicoli's carefree approach to life with Brad Hamilton's disciplined work ethic, the film exposes the dialectic in western culture.[2]

Television shows

TV commercials

TV documentary series

TV episodes featuring surfing

  • The Flintstones - "Surfin' Fred" (1965). Fred, Wilma, Barney, and Betty are holidaying on Rock Island, where a surfing contest is to be held. Fred hopes to relive his carefree teenage years, dancing to "hip" music with swarms of holidaying teenagers and revelling in their adulation of his sporting prowess. However, in the surf, Fred is repeatedly blasted by monsterous waves, as he tries desperately to impress the young crowd. Rock star and teenage heartthrob, Jimmy Darrock, who has been recruited to present the winner's trophy, avoids recognition by wearing sunglasses and assuming the role of a lifeguard. But, he had not counted on Fred's ineptitude on a board. Darrock has to retrieve Fred from the surf and perform resuscitation on him. When Wilma paddles over, a huge wave throws Fred onto her shoulders. Wilma manages to navigate through the pillars of a boardwalk, bringing her surfboard to rest inside the revolving door of the hotel. Fred and Wilma win the trophy for most adept use of a surfboard, and Darrock performs in the hotel restaurant, singing about the surfing craze.
  • Gilligan's Island - "Big Man on Little Stick" (1965). A surfer by the name of Duke Williams washes up on the shore and collapses, having spent five days at sea on his surfboard. The girls fall for Duke, played by Denny Miller, so Gilligan tries to learn how to surf by tying his feet to Duke's surfboard. Despite their interest in the newcomer, Ginger and Mary Ann panic when he makes a pass at each of them. To resolve the conflict, the castaways pretend the girls are not available. Ginger is with the Professor and Mary Ann is with Gilligan. So, Duke decides to leave the island and manages to depart by catching a huge wave. The men sit around the radio, anxiously listening to news of Duke's arrival in Hawaii. To their dismay, Duke doesn't remember where he's been for the last two weeks, having hit a rock and suffered amnesia.
  • The Brady Bunch - "Hawaii Bound" (1972)
  • Even Stevens - "Surf's Up" (2003)
  • The Surreal Life - "Surf School" (2004)
  • Charlie's Angels - Angels in Paradise (1977)

Fictional surfers in TV

Duke: Man, five days on that board and I'm nothing but skin and bones.

Ginger: What skin.

Mary Ann: And what bones.

Surfing music

Main article: Surf music
Surfin' USA by the Beach Boys.

Surf culture is reflected in surf music, with sub-genres such as surf rock and surf pop. This includes works from such artists as Jan and Dean, The Beach Boys, The Surfaris ("Wipe Out!"), Dick Dale, The Shadows, and The Ventures. The music inspired dance crazes such as The Stomp, The Frug, and The Watusi. While the category surf music helped popularize surfing, most surfers at the time, such as Miki Dora, preferred R&B and blues. A newer wave of surf music has started in the acoustic riffs of artists such as Jack Johnson and Donavon Frankenreiter, who are both former professional surfers. The rise of surfers creating their own music and new style of surf rock has started.

Surf rock

Surf pop

Instrumental

Video games about surfing

Fashion

Bethany Hamilton wearing surfwear.

Surfwear is a popular style of casual clothing, inspired by surf culture. Many surf related brand-names originated as cottage industry, supplying local surfers with boardshorts, Ugg boots, wetsuits, surfboards or leg-ropes/leashes. Today, its popularity extends so far beyond the surfing community, that some of its most high profile brands are listed on the Stock Exchange. These companies gain exposure through sponsoring professional surfers and the contests in which they compete.

  • Rip Curl is a major Australian manufacturer and retailer of surfwear and surfgear. The company started from the humble beginnings of two surfers in Torquay producing wetsuits from their garden shed. Rip Curl remains a private company. Rip Curl is the sponsor of one of the largest surf competitions called the Rip Curl Pro, where the top 40 surfers on the world circuit compete for the title.
  • Quiksilver is the world's largest manufacturer of surfwear. It was founded in Australia in 1969, when Torquay surfers Alan Green and John Law came up with the idea of selling wetsuits for a living. They redesigned the wetsuit, creating one that was specifically designed for surfing, and over time, introduced a range of surfwear products, at a time when there was little competition.
  • Dean Miller Surf & Tropical Bedding|Dean Miller Surf & Tropical Bedding| (aka Dean Miller) is a US based bedding manufacturer that is the first and only company to specialize in surf and beach themed home furnishings, grossing over $50 million in retail sales since 1999.

Other surfwear labels

File:RileyLogo.jpg
Riley Classic

Events

Festivals

Some events include the Surf Film Festibal[1], Saint Jean de Luz Surf Film Festival[2], and Wavescapes Surf Film Festival[3], or the Nude Night Surfing Sydney Fringe Festival, Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia.

There are some trade shows of note, including ASR[4], Surf Expo[5], and Italia Surf Expo[6].

Surfing contests

Competitive surfing is a comparison sport. Riders, competing in pairs or small groups, are allocated a certain amount of time to ride waves and display their prowess and mastery of the craft. Competitors are then judged according to how competently the wave is ridden, including the level of difficulty, as well as frequency of maneuvers. There is a professional surfing world surfing championship series held annually at surf breaks around the world.

Although competitive surfing has become an extremely popular and lucrative activity, both for its participants and its sponsors, the sport does not have its origins as a competitive pursuit. It is common to hear debate rage between purists of the sport, who still maintain the ideal of "soul surfing", and surfers who engage in the competitive and, consequently, commercial side of the activity.[3] An organisation called the Spirit of Surfing has chosen not to accept surf label sponsorship, since an association of that sort could detract from the sentiment they wish to promote.

Surfing organizations

Spin-offs & influences

Boardsports

Surfers developed the skateboard to be able to "surf" on land. Later came windsurfing (also known as sailboarding), bodyboarding, wakeboarding, skimboarding, snowboarding, riverboarding, kiteboarding, sandboarding, mountainboarding, carveboarding all now competitive sports. Another fast growing boardsport is skurfing a mix of surfing and more conventional water sports in which the participant is towed behind the boat. Pineboarding and sandboarding are recreational boardsports.

Conceptual metaphor

The word "surf" is polysemous; having multiple, related meanings. "Surfing" the World Wide Web is the act of following hyperlinks. The phrase "surfing the Internet" was first popularized in print by Jean Armour Polly, a librarian, in an article called "Surfing the INTERNET", published in the Wilson Library Bulletin in June, 1992.

Branding

Surfing in multimedia

Internet

Surfing Forums

Surfing portals

Live surf cams

Surf forecasting

Main article: Surf forecasting

Thousands of sites offer surf forecasting and reporting, from single beaches to the entire world. Some of the larger, more popular and reliable ones are:

CD-ROM

3D models

Surfing magazines

Surfing in non-fiction

Academic topics

Natural science

Surfing in fiction

Comics

Prose

  • Surfing in Hawaii: A Personal Memoir, by Desmond Muirhead
  • Paunalu, by Rustom Calisch
  • The Impact Zone, by Ray Maloney
  • Fear Nothing, Seize the Night, by Dean Koontz. Christopher Snow, the main character, is a surfer, as are his best friend Bobby Halloway and girlfriend Sasha Goodall. Bobby makes his living running a surf forceasting service called Surfcast. Christopher's experience of surfing is rather unusual: suffering from the genetic disorder xeroderma pigmentosum he cannot go out during the day, but only at night.
  • In Search of Captain Zero, by Allen Weisbecker.

Philosophical novels

  • West of Jesus: Surfing, Science, and the Origins of Belief, by Steven Kotler

Surfing reference materials

Sculpture

Surfing monuments

Graphic art

Main article: Surf art

Early depictions

Textiles

Surfing education

Main article: Surf school
  • Surfing instructor certificate
  • Diploma of Surfing Studies

See also

References

  1. ^ Welcome to the Weird and Wonderful World of the Webber Clan, Interview by Tim Baker, Australian Surfing World Magazine, Issue no. 271 (2004)
  2. ^ Culture Jock University of Chicago Magazine, December '05, Volume 98, Issue 2.
  3. ^ Billion Dollar Breakers: The Professional Surfing World Background Briefing, ABC Radio National, Sunday, 13 April, 1997
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