The Surfing Culture Essay, Research Paper

Surfboarding: A Sport, Language, Lifestyle, and Religion

Since the morning of clip, powerful natural phenomena such as hurricanes and distant storms have created olympian moving ridges that grace our every shoreline. With constant turmoil their seething energy has shaped our coastlines and late, our civilizations. Those lucky plenty to see the joy of siting the fluid gesture of moving ridges, are apprehended by the drive desire to everlastingly be consumed by the pure, natural energy they extend. In this descriptive anthropology, I shall analyze how surfboarding has enhanced the lives of 1000000s of people around the universe and at the same time produced a civilization unlike no other.

I. Polynesians/Hawaiians

Surfboarding was first developed between 1500 BCE and 400 CE by Native Western Polynesians in a civilization that genuinely called the ocean its place ( Howard, 1999 ) . At first, the natural art of surfboarding was reserved peculiarly for the enjoyment of royalty. Consequently heads used surfboarding and other Hawaiian athleticss under the Kapu system of Torahs for 100s of old ages as competition to keep their strength, legerity, and bid over their people ( Olney, 1965 ) . It besides played a critical function in Hawaiian wooing rites, where adult females were asked to attach to the work forces on their elephantine surfboards. The royal households had their ain supplications, chants, board makers, wood, and private beaches where they entirely could surf with others of similar rank ( Maxwell, 1949 ) . King Kamehameha is said to hold been an adept surfboarder and a maestro of the art of lele-wa a or jumping from a wave-riding canoe with a surfboard, ( Holmes, 1999 ) . During this clip, hieroglyphics were carved into the lava-rock landscape and there were chants stating the narratives of great surfing efforts transporting a symbolic cognition throughout the coevalss. Meanwhile on the other side of the Earth, Stonehenge was a centre of spiritual worship in England and the first grave was built in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, proposing the possibility that the athletics of male monarchs merely may be the universe s oldest athletics.

Then came the Europeans to the pristine shores of Hawaii in 1778. Once the simple act of swimming was by and large discontinued in Europe through the Middle Ages, as it was thought that out-of-door bathing aid to distribute the awful epidemics of assorted diseases which swept the Continent ( Bloomfield, 1965 ) . As there was no ascertained written linguistic communication at this clip in Hawaii, Captain Cooke s journal entries serve as adult male & # 8217 ; s earliest written history of the Hawaiian athletics ( Olney, 1965 ) . Surfboarding rites and the athletics itself continued until missionaries from New England began geting 1820 ( hypertext transfer protocol: //www.hawaii-nation.org/chrono1.html ) .

The moving ridge of colonialism was unlike any wave the Hawaiians had tried to surf before, and many of their imposts and traditions were washed off. The missionaries believed surfboarding and other Hawaiian athleticss to be hedonic Acts of the Apostless and a waste of clip. They adamantly preached against the nakedness, the gender, and the athleticss & # 8217 ; entire being in Hawaii. It was merely excessively natural for their superficial esthesias. Island visitant Mark Twain described them as ignorant of all human nature and natural ways of work forces, ( Barros, 1999 ) . By 1890, surfing in Hawaii was about nonextant, with the athletics practiced in merely a few topographic points. The quickly turning agricultural imperium coming into topographic point, combined with the in-migration of aliens, besides contributed to the diminution of surfboarding, along with many other sacred facets of the Polynesian civilization. If non for the dedication of a few Hawaiian male monarchs like David Kalakau, an advocator of all Hawaiian athleticss, surfing may non hold survived to see the twentieth century ( hypertext transfer protocol: //www.besthawaii.com/cu/hist/ovw/mon.html ) .

In the early 1900 s, a immature Hawaiian named Duke Kahanamoku and his friends began surfing together at Waikiki beach. They even created their ain breaker nine, Hui Nalu, or & # 8220 ; The Club of the Waves, now normally known as the Da Hui. Subsequently a two-time title-holder Olympic swimmer, Duke s popularity enabled him to distribute the love of surfing around the universe. His debut of surfing to the witnesss on the beaches of California ignited a revolution in both surfboard design and wave-riding techniques. The California shores shortly became evidences for surfing enlargement and invention. Harmonizing to legend, Duke rode some of the longest, biggest moving ridges of all time attempted, and one such drive was said to hold been over a stat mi. Soon people everyplace were trying to copy the grace of Duke in their local line-up. By this clip, the missionaries & # 8217 ; influence over the island had begun to worsen, liberating up an avenue for the reintroduction of surfing in Hawaii. Today Duke and his friends are credited with the metempsychosis of surfing in Hawaii.

II. Surfboard Development

In order to acquire the full position of the surfing civilization, it is necessary to analyze the tool at the bosom of it, the surfboard. When the first Polynesians began standing on moving ridges, the Kapu system determined how, why, and with what stuffs surfboards were to be made. The type of wood used in doing a board depended on the hereafter rider & # 8217 ; s position in society. Class differentiation in old Hawaii was as apparent in the ownership of surfboards as it was in all other facets of the civilization. If determining the board for the Ali I or governing category, a drawn-out surfboard, called an olo, between 14 and 16 pess long was exactly crafted utilizing premium wiliwili wood. Because of their size, these boards could weigh up to 175 lbs. The other board, called an Alai, was usually intended for the common mans and was made smaller, 10 to 12 pess, with a heavier and denser wood, koa. After the craftsmen selected the wood to be used, they prayed and placed a ceremonial fish, kumu, in a hole near the tree & # 8217 ; s roots. Merely after this rite was completed could the tree be cut down. They so hauled the tree off and chipped and shaped it to size with a bone or rock tool. When the surfboard was finished, its Godheads dedicated it before its first ocean trip into the sea. After each usage, it was habitually treated with coconut oil and wrapped in tappa fabric to continue and protect the wood.

( Interview: Byzak, 2001 )

Traditionally, Hawaiian boards every bit good as being heavy, had no fives. To do a bend of any kind, a surfboarder had to drag a pes in the H2O behind the board. But shortly the boards were being adapted, foremost with fives, so in the 1940 & # 8217 ; s as hollow plyboard boards.

By the 1950 & # 8217 ; s balsa wood and fibreglass made cartage boards back and Forth from the beach a batch easier. The hot-dogging age had begun, with everyone seeking to hang five or bent 10s. Competitions and surfboard companies began to din in the 1960 & # 8217 ; s and people started changing their boards to acquire an border to win. By the terminal of the 1960 & # 8217 ; s everyone was experimenting with size, and boards ranged from the traditional 10 6 down to a mini 4 8. Today s engineering allows surfboards to be made strong as a stone, visible radiation as a book, and designed for originative aerial fast ones, although there are still those who prefer the authoritative forms of the yesteryear. Shaping has genuinely become a sophisticated art signifier, with many surfboarders taking a board shaper with more attention than they do their moving ridges. Board shapers ( makers ) dedicate themselves to acquiring a mix of art and scientific discipline, making boards every bit single as the surfboarders who ride them.

III. 50 s-70

The athletics of surfboarding was unlike anything the universe had of all time witnessed, and by the 1950 s a California looker-on might hold thought the febrility truly was caught through the H2O. Helped along by Gidget and her beach bopping adolescent films, a new civilization began to emerge under the counsel of fables such as Lance Carson, Phil Edwards, Mickey Dora, and Mike Doyle at topographic points like Malibu ( near Hollywood, Ca. ) . With rapid technological progresss, surfboarders began looking to fit themselves for the larger and more ambitious breaker, such as the unreliable North Shore of Oahu during the winter months. The soft moving ridges found at Waikiki beach were perfect for the publicity of surfboarding, but it was the enticement of elephantine moving ridges that prompted the existent darings for surfboarders looking to set their lives on the line. By the 1960 s, the attractive force of the North Shore & # 8217 ; s crestless waves had brought on a migration of surfboarders from California in hunt of the ultimate drive down some of the universe & # 8217 ; s biggest moving ridges. When the winter swells hit at Waimea it is non uncommon to see moving ridges mount to about 25 pess in tallness. & # 8220 ; When surfing large moving ridges it is indispensable to hold the proper deranged attitude that implies a certain foolhardy neglect for personal safety. If you paddle out thought you are traveling to acquire hurt, you will. If you think you can & # 8217 ; t do the bead, you won & # 8217 ; t. If you begin to inquire what in the universe you & # 8217 ; re making out among those endangering moving ridges, it & # 8217 ; s clip to be grateful you & # 8217 ; rhenium still alive and caput for the beach, ( Interview: Slingerland, 2001 ) . It was this sort of bang seeking and dependence to large moving ridge equitation, by people such as Greg Noll and Pat Curren, that revolutionized the athletics of surfing. In the late 60 s and early 70 s, surfing became a peaceable manner to get away the adversities of life on shore, as the usage of drugs and the call to war was a major turning point in the lives of immature work forces. During the 1970 s, surfing had a really soul seeking nature entreaty, and competitions became less of a focal point while manner, performed by the olympian Gerry Lopez at Pipeline, was of extreme importance.

IV. Today

Through my research it seems that modern surfboarding and commerce have evolved manus in manus as both the athletics and the tourist/travel industry have developed over the old ages. In kernel, the & # 8220 ; soul theory of surfing development & # 8221 ; is no longer existent. The relaxed, free spirited, athletic personification that surfing emitted appears to hold been the perfect selling tool. The simple act of surfing now seems to be doomed in comparing to the benefit gained from capitalist moves to derive acknowledgment in magazines. Many people feel that many of the recognized professional surfboarders of today are overrated and commercialized ( Interview: Honda, 2001 ) . While still others view people such as 6-time World Champion Kelly Slater as a God, a fable in his ain clip ( Interview: Bandov, 2001 ) . There s no uncertainty that without widespread exposure the athletics would ne’er hold been able to progress so rapidly. Despite the capitalist impetus, surfboarding is and ever will be a athletics of intense physical and intellectual exhilaration, therefore the shared joyful experience of siting moving ridges is what & # 8217 ; s most responsible for its resurgence.

V. The Language Within

Bro, I was so amped, merely delving for this one heroic poem knave extremum at blown out Lower berths on my rhino pursuer, and merely as I was acquiring pitted on this reeling, merely dredging left, this kooking haole cringle, snaking me on some flatboat merely bailed in forepart of me and went over the falls, and right as I was acquiring tongue out I merely got hooked by the back wash and took the worst wipe-out of all time. Ended up stone dancing the whole manner in with this gnarled ding on my tail. Whoa, stoked, should ve done a Barney axial rotation. Huh? Say that once more

As the athletics of surfboarding has progressed over the old ages, with board inventions leting for an array of imaginative manoeuvres, a sub-language used to depict the assorted state of affairss developed right along with it. To outsiders the address may look confounding and unrecognisable, yet this seemingly is precisely what its Godheads had intended. Because surfboarding has changed from a royalty merely sport, to something now enjoyed by 1000000s around the universe, it is apparent that those dedicated to the athletics needed to make a manner to separate themselves from those who were merely interested. Merely as a tourer can easy be recognized by their confusion among locals in a foreign state, a beginning or main road surfboarder ( one who carries a surfboard but ne’er breaker ) stands out among a crew of fans. As a one-person athletics, the linguistic communication is merely another was to retain the individuality. So possibly many may see it as ethnocentrism among the surfing civilization, but it can be understood when compared to autochthonal peoples of the universe contending to continue the alone facets of their ain civilization.

Another portion of the surfing civilization, which has developed in recent old ages as a consequence of the widespread popularity, is the unwritten Torahs out in the H2O. These Torahs guarantee proper edict between everyone out in the H2O, irrespective of their surfing ability.

The Unwritten Laws:

Don t Drop In ( the individual taking off closest to the interrupting portion of the moving ridge has precedence ) . Don T

Paddle Out Through the Break ( travel about, it’s safer and won’t spoil any drives ) .

Don T Hog Waves ( siting each and every moving ridge in a crowded interruption is bad manners ) .

Don T Endanger Others ( uncontrolled and unneeded manoeuvres are unsafe ) .

Don T Surf Beyond Your Ability ( you could set yourself in topographic points beyond your ability ) .

Don t Surf On Your Own ( breaker with a friend ) .

Share the Sea ( everyone has a right to beckon & # 8211 ; portion them ) .

Any misdemeanor of these Torahs may ensue in an statement, battle, hurt, or even decease. In most instances, these Torahs are seldom discussed until they re broken, but by so it s excessively late. Surfers by and large learn the unwritten Torahs as a consequence of clip spent out in the H2O detecting others. In recent old ages, many surfboarders have attempted to make another unwritten jurisprudence, If you don t live here, don T breaker here, ( Interview: Benedict, 2001 ) Yet non merely does it already interrupt an constituted jurisprudence, it erases any possibility of breaker pilgrim’s journeies, an indispensable portion of the surfing civilization, therefore there is no opportunity of blessing by the house.

VI. A Lifestyle

One of the greatest parts of surfboarding, besides really surfing, is the life that it instills outside of the H2O. For those unable to see the unbelievable professional life of changeless travel and surfing for a life, the simple wellness benefits seem plenty to stay content. If surfing on a consistent footing, the cardiovascular exercising is first-class for the organic structure. Yet in fact most surfboarders don t breaker to workout but instead breaker to surf ( Interview: Stiegler, 2001 ) and concentrate on how they could better their surfboarding outside the H2O. The bulk of surfboarders are in top form as they stretch, eat healthy, and exercise in order to increase their public presentation degree and breaker bigger moving ridges. Some people even train for large moving ridges by running on the underside with little bowlders which increases 1s ability to keep their breath while exercising energy ( Interview: Gaukel, 2001 ) .

An extra facet of the surfboarding life style is manner. Regardless of clime most surfboarders are known to have on loose-fitting by and large earth tone coloured vesture as a manner to stress their relaxed/nature oriented lives ( Interview: Olson, 2001 ) . Yet to each his ain, as the respect for individuality is still a really cardinal portion of the civilization. Commerce and brassy logo s have led some people to believe that surfboarders are voguish ( Interview: Rassel, 2001 ) or walking advertizements ( Interview: Bussinger, 2001 ) . Yet in general it appears that the bulk surfboarders are into anti-fashion and continue to seek and separate themselves from others, so true to manner in fact, that every bit shortly as a company becomes popular with non-surfers they stop have oning it. Surf poseurs are everyplace, we try to maintain mutton quad guesswork, ( Interview: Shatto, 2001 ) .

It seems apparent that individuality is a outstanding facet of the surfing civilization, yet one of the most significant parts to the growing of surfboarding and its attach toing life style was the creative activity of breaker nines, a household for the person. Throughout my research I found that if a surfboarder had ne’er been involved with a surfing association, although demoing involvement, they had really small cognition of what types of things occurred within. What truly stands out is that the relationships with other members of the association are much like a shared salt-water lineage, ( Interview: Brolaski, 2001 ) . Everyone is at that place to back up each other, to give tips out in the H2O, to promote during competitions with other nines, and to make surfing consciousness out in the community. This consciousness, a spreading of local cognition, contributes to the organisation of things such as beach clean-ups, H2O testing, and surf lesson yearss for those antecedently unwilling or unable to seek. Through surfing associations, the surfing civilization is genuinely able to do a group attempt towards bettering local communities. Many surfboarders are disappointed in the cleanliness of about all the beaches they visit as frequent H2O clip shows foremost manus the atrocious effects of pollution. It s non uncommon to happen pitch on the stones, rubbish in the sand, and dead fish on the shoreline from contaminated H2O ( Interview: Pidgeon, 2001 ) . In bend this H2O may give surfboarders ear or throat infections, even impetigo, as the ocean tends to be the tally off for everyone s rubbish ( Interview: Barnett, 2001 ) . The chief end of breaker nines is to distribute the love of surfboarding, yet due to the monolithic pollution now witnessed on a day-to-day footing, the focal point has now become environmental consciousness. As a consequence of the strong environmental positions, many surfboarders have joined the Surfrider Foundation in add-on to community breaker nines, to assist advance the battle to salvage our coastlines.

VII. A Religion

As a consequence of the unbelievable devotedness that most surfboarders have to the athletics, this relationship with ocean suggests a deeper significance in their lives, for many it appears may travel so far as to name it their faith. A absurd stretch? I think non, because for 1000s of old ages nature has been the halfway focal point of faiths around the universe. The methodical beat of the ocean and the repose of its presence around the organic structure make a composure and peaceable province of head. Surfboarding seems to make a euphoric degree of consciousness, leting the concerns of life to merely run off. Such a mentality provides surfboarders with an easygoing position of the universe around them. Possibly the unagitated life attack is merely due to the pure physical exhaustion. Yet while more relaxed in their ideas, in fact many surfboarders really find themselves energized after a surfboarding session, comparable to a Restoration of religion reestablished by an alive discourse from a priest.

I can & # 8217 ; t hope to adequately capture the experience of surfing in words, because merely as it is impossible to depict a spiritual experience in regular linguistic communication, the two are frequently the same for many surfboarders, a spiritual experience and surfboarding. Imagine, if you will, a typical attending at Mother Oceans Church of Surfboarding It & # 8217 ; s early, really early in the forenoon. For some ground, like fisherman, surfboarders feel that being up before the Sun increases one & # 8217 ; s opportunities of success. It is as if they are turn outing their dedication to the moving ridge Gods by originating abnormally early, and in bend shall be rewarded with moving ridges to surf. Before paddling out, there is a ritualistic stretch many times done in the rhythmic form of the lifting Sun, an rousing connexion of the organic structure to the psyche. Next the sacred surfboard, a design passed down through the coevalss, is waxed and prepared for its ocean journey. Possibly it even has a name and is gently spoken to in order to advance safe and thrilling drives. Upon first entry to the shoreline a smattering of H2O is caressed and allowed to gently function down the contours of the face, a day-to-day type of baptism to demo an undaunting grasp. Out in the batting order, waiting for the moving ridges, one has to be content with the waiting, because forbearance is doubtless the first lesson taught by Mother Ocean. During this clip many surfboarders close their eyes and take a deep breath of the rich ocean air, brief speculations in effort to farther concentrate oneself into the soothing beat of the sea ( Interview: Anshel, 2001 ) . It & # 8217 ; s perfectly brooding, therefore you might anticipate all surfboarders to be happy, religious people. This, as we know, is non the instance. Where some people, known as psyche surfboarders, find beauty, peace, and contentment in surfing, others find grounds to be covetous, grounds to detest. Even on the great yearss, there is waiting and observation, and the moving ridges will non be hurried and nor acquire bigger in response to the defeat and wanting of the surfboarders in the H2O. The moving ridges come when they want to come, and they build and break as they please. One could do themselves suffering, desiring the moving ridges to be bigger, faster, and more frequent. Yet even so, they will ne’er be merely as everyone wants them. Surfboarding Teachs that the universe works on it & # 8217 ; s ain clip, non ours.

It & # 8217 ; s easy, sometimes, to believe of ourselves as invulnerable against nature. Our engineering makes us experience superior to the universe of air current, moving ridges, rain, and snow. This is an semblance ever shown to those who dare come in the sacred ocean kingdom. There is a power in nature, and in the moving ridges, that should animate awe, fright, and regard. A moving ridge of sufficient size to sit is besides of sufficient size to trap one under the H2O, in the sand, unsure of which manner is up, until 1s breath goes. In the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tsu writes: The forgiving H2O is more powerful than the rock, for in clip in it & # 8217 ; s meandering, the H2O goes on, while the rock is made smooth. The Tao teaches the same mode of reacting to the universe that the sea does: accept what is given, do non travel rapidly the universe, and in credence comes strength.

Respect for nature, ourselves, and those around us is the 2nd lesson learned in the surfboarding church. Not merely do surfboarders hold huge regard for nature but for the animate beings, which live within it every bit good. Sharks, with the ability to take away life as they please, are viewed with such regard that many name them a divinity to the surfing civilization. You eat shark, shark eat you, it s their district out at that place, and surfboarders know, so they show them regard, ( Interview: Watson, 2001 ) Dolphins every bit good are possibly another divinity, viewed as the ultimate waveriders they can frequently be found siting moving ridges right along side surfboarders. We sometimes start to believe that we somehow ain this universe, in which we ride ever on top of the moving ridges, ruling them. The Bible sets human existences against nature, makes human existences superior to, and in control of, nature, ( Kinsley, 1995 ) . This once more is an nescient illusory position. The sea teaches surfboarders gratitude for what they have, what they receive, and the delicate universe around them.

Another component in the position of surfing as a faith is the pilgrim’s journeies. To some possibly they are little more than an escapade, yet for most non merely do they mean a spread of the civilization, but a pursuit for flawlessness. The hunt as it is called in the surfboarding community, is the changeless desire to happen enlightenment through the moving ridges. Consequently, most surfboarders, although non practising, feel they are capable of fring themselves of every stuff of adult male, about. Rolling the Earth naked with a surfboard would be adequate to do me happy, ( Interview: King, 2001 ) . Each surfboarder may run but ne’er find the ultimate drive, while others may possibly see it everyday. It all depends on where the persons look indoors themselves to happen precisely what it takes to do them happy.

The quest for flawlessness and self-awareness in the surfing civilization is rather similar to some of the subjects found in Buddhism. Buddhists feel that the battle to achieve self-mastery is far more worthwhile, and far more hard, than the battle to derive command over others as practiced by other faiths such as Christianity ( Kinsley, 1995 ) . Surfboarding is an single & # 8217 ; s athletics, therefore betterment comes entirely from inside the single. Soul-searching through speculation, doing no injury to others, and fring oneself of satisfaction cravings are the basic instructions of Buddhism in order to accomplish enlightenment ( Ibid ) . Now possibly surfboarders may ne’er accomplish the Buddhist signifier of enlightenment, but it is good to cognize that they may at least follow in their way.

VIII. Decision

Overall, surfboarding has come a long manner since the yearss when merely merely the royalty of Native Western Polynesians practiced it. Subsequently, as a consequence of unbelievable attempts by Hawaiians to retain the alone facet of their civilization, surfboarding was kept alive in a clip of rejection and spread to the remainder of the universe. As its popularity grew, so did the promotions in surfboard design, leting for unbelievable manoeuvres in moving ridges one time viewed as unsurfable by even the bravest of psyche. In bend the athletics produced a civilization with its ain alone vocabulary, unwritten Torahs, and manner. Surf associations emerged to distribute the love of surfing and to make environmental consciousness throughout the community. Many feel so consumed by surfing that they consider it their faith. With its ain alone patterns, pilgrim’s journeies, and divinities, surfing focal points on self-awareness and regard for nature. As a consequence surfing can now be compared with planetary faiths such as Christianity and Buddhism. In decision, I hope those who read this descriptive anthropology shall give surfing a attempt themselves, possibly profit from what it has to offer, and finally go more cognizant of the cherished universe in which live. After all, God must hold been a surfboarder.