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Surfing

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See World Wide Web for "surfing" the web; see also Windsurfing
Surfing outside Kaneohe Bay, Hawai'i.

Surfing is an increasingly popular recreational activity in which individuals paddle into a wave, jump to their feet, and are propelled across the water by the force of the wave. Surfing's appeal probably derives from an unusual confluence of elements: adrenaline, skill, and high paced maneuvering are set against a naturally unpredictable backdrop—an organic environment that is, by turns, graceful and serene, violent and formidable.

Surfing maneuvres

Surfing involves eyeing a rideable wave on the horizon and matching its speed by paddling. A common problem for beginners is not being able to catch the wave in the first place. Standing up requires a lot of balance. Once the wave has started to push the surfer forward, the surfer must then jump to his or her feet and ride down the face of the wave. This involves a difficult process where everything happens simultaneously.

Surfers' skills are tested not only in their ability to control their board in challenging conditions, but by their ability to execute various maneuvers such as turning and carving. Some of the common turns have become recognizable tricks such as the "cutback" (turning back toward the breaking part of the wave), the "floater" (riding on the top of the breaking curl of the wave), and "off the lip" (banking off the top of the wave). A newer addition to surfing has been the progression of the "air" where a surfer is able to propel oneself off the wave and re-enter. "Tube riding" in a surfer maneuvers into a position where the wave curls over the top of him or her, forming a "tube" (or "barrel"), with the rider inside the cylindrical portion of the wave. This difficult and dangerous trick is the most sought after achievement in surfing.

Common Tricks:

  • Loco Mucho Grande Ventisimos
  • Bottom turn
  • Cutback
  • Fade
  • Floater
  • Hang-five/hand-ten
  • Re-entry
  • Stall
  • Switch-foot
  • Take off
  • Tube ride

Surfing equipment

Surfing can be done on various pieces of equipment, including surfboards, bodyboards, wave skis, kneeboards and surf mat. Most modern surfboards are made of polyurethane foam (with one or more wooden strips or "stringers"), fiberglass cloth, and polyester resin. An emerging surf technology is an epoxy surfboard, which are stronger and lighter than traditional fiberglass. Equipment used in surfing includes a leash (to keep a surfer's board from washing to shore after a "wipeout", and to prevent it from hitting other surfers), surf wax and/or traction pads (to keep a surfers feet from slipping off the deck of the board), and "fins" (also known as "skegs") which can either be permanently attached ("glassed-on") or interchangeable. In warmer climates swimsuits, surf trunks, or boardshorts are worn; in cold water surfers can opt to wear wetsuits, boots, hoods, and gloves to protect them against lower water temperatures.

Surf conditions

Plunging wave or dumper forming a barrel

There are a number of factors that influence the shape and quality of breaking waves. These include the bathymetry of the surf break, the direction and size of the swell, the direction and strength of the wind and the ebb and flow of the tide.

Swell is generated when wind blows consistently over a large area of open water, called the wind's fetch. The size of a swell is determined by the strength of the wind and the length of its fetch. 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 rideable 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.

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 an abrupt incline, 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. However, it is more common to see waves cross into the shallower water and finally close out.

Based on the underwater topography of the surf break, the factor that most determines when to go surfing is the tide. Wave-shape and the whole pattern of the surf changes with the tide more or less hour to hour, while wind and swell remain constant for hours, even days.

You have to be sensitive to all these factors to get to know a surf break, and 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. 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 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. The value of good surf has even prompted the construction of artificial reefs and sand bars to attract surf tourism. Of course, there is always the risk that one's holiday coincides with a "flat spell". Wave pools solve that problem, by controlling all the elements that go into creating perfect surf.

To learn more about surf meteorology, see StormSurf's Tutorials.

The availability of free model data from the NOAA has allowed the creation of several surf forecasting websites. These automatically combine the above variables into a presentation of how good the surf will be.

Notorious surf breaks

Some of the best known surf breaks:

Surfing is a global sport; one can find a surfer in almost every coastal nation in the world.

History

People were surfing in Hawaii by AD 400, but nobody knows when this practice started. Capt. James Cook, a British sea captain and explorer, was the first European to witness surfing in Hawaii in the late 1770s. When the missionaries from the United States arrived in 1821, Hawaiian traditions and cultural practices were forbidden or discourged, which included leisure sports like surfing and holua sledding. By the twentieth century, surfing, along with other traditional practices, had all but disappeared from widespread practice. Some Hawaiians continued to practice the sport and art of crafting boards from local woods. At the start of the twentieth century, Hawaiians living close to Waikiki began a revival of surfing, possibly in protest to the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, and they re-established surfing as a sport. In 1908, the sport of surfing reached California, and it then began to spread to other parts of the United States and other countries. Duke Kahanamoku, "Ambassador of Aloha," Olympic medalist, and avid waterman, rightfully introduced surfing to the world, although authors like Jack London wrote about the sport after having attempted surfing on his visit to the islands.

Notable surfers

2005 World Tour Top 10

Previous world champions

IPS tour

ASP tour

Other legends of surfing

Surfing culture

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 beaches 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 [1]. 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.

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 jetskis 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; jetskis enable surfers to reach the speed of the wave thereby making them rideable. Jetskis 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) without drowning. 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.

Many surfers are seen as territorial, hence the expression "locals only"; or as the rock group The Surf Punks put it, "my beach, my wave, my girl, so f--- you!". The expression "Surf Nazi" appeared in the 1980s to describe territorial and authoritarian surfers. Other surfers, however, 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 in and to relax and forget about their daily routines. This type of surfing has seen a rise in popularity recently.

Global warming, environmental damage, and increasing riparian development may continue to increase pressure on the sport. Global warming may produce bigger waves...or a return, through altering ocean currents, to a new ice age. 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

Depictions of Surf, Surfing and Surf Lifestyle/Culture

References

  1. ^ Billion Dollar Breakers: The Professional Surfing World Background Briefing, ABC Radio National, Sunday, 13 April, 1997

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Surfing.
  • Globalsurfers.com A surf-travel site with an atlas of surf spots around the world.
  • NSSIA.org The National Surf Schools and Instructors Association
  • SurfingCal.com Northern California surf report, forecast, blog, recent pics, video clips, and articles.
  • Surfinside.com Surf reports, surf forecasts, surfing photography, surfing links, surfing products.
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