Surfing first began around three to four thousand years ago. It's not really known exactly what time it started but it originated in Western Polynesia. To the Hawaiians, it was known as he'enalu. He'e means to slide, surf, slip or flee. Nalu means wave, surf, full of waves, to form waves, wavy, or as wavy as wood grain.

Wooden surfboards started between 1500 B.C and 400 A.D. About 20-28 years ago foam boards were introduced.

The first surfers were a group of Polynesians that first surfed in Polynesia then left their home to migrate. This happened around 800 A.D and 1100. They landed on a group of islands that are now called the Hawaiian Islands.

There they used koa and balsa wood to construct surf boards. The Polynesians shaped and sized the surf boards about twenty inches wide and five inches thick. They ranged from six feet to sixteen feet tall. Most boards weighed over 100 pounds. Ancient Hawaiians used four basic kinds of boards. There's paipo or kioe, which is a body or belly board that was two to four feet long and was usually used by children. Alaia or omo was another board which was mid-sized about 8 feet or longer. Kiko'o was a board longer than alaia, but is not the biggest. It's usually between 12 and 18 feet. Using this board needs a lot of skill and experience to handle it. The last board was the olo. Olo boards were made from balsa wood and were to be used only by Hawaiian royalty. The olo board was made from wili wili, a wood which is almost as light as balsa. They could be as long as 24 feet. Koa boards were used for the commoners and they were much heavier. When the royalty were going to surf, the kahuna prepared special boards.

This is a paipo board.

When selecting a tree to make a surf board, the kahuna went into the forest and found a tree. He then stayed there all night to watch the tree. If they saw a bird land on the tree, they knew that it was no good because there would be bugs in it.

Certain beaches were reserved for royalty only. Penalties would include death if you trespassed on the land for royalty. At surfing contests chiefs would bet their land and sometimes lose to other chiefs. Kings held lots of competitions for surfing between chiefs (ali'i), princes and themselves.

After a long time, Captain Cook arrived and modernized Hawaii. Since the Hawaiians did not have swimming suits, they surfed nude, and gambled. Some missionaries did not like this and banned surfing, along with hula and music. This went on until King Kalakaua allowed surfing once again.

Sometime in the early 1900s, "Surf's up", would be the cry and young men from Oahu's south shore would grab their surfboards and head for the beach to ride the bluebirds. The "bluebirds" were big swells that came in towards Waikiki Beach. Few people dared to challenge these great walls of water, but one of those men was Duke Kahanamoku.

Many Hawaiians surfed, but one of them stood out. Born on August 24, 1890, Duke became well known around the world as Hawaii's ambassador, actor, surfer, two time gold medal winner, and father of surfing. Duke Kahanamoku was a hero to many Hawaiians as well as Australians. Duke brought surfing to Australia and it spread across the world. He used his time teaching the Hawaiian kids this sport which made him popular. Through surfing, Duke became a great swimmer and won the 1912 Olympics for the 100 meter freestyle. On January 22, 1968, Duke Kahanamoku died from a heart attack in a parking lot. Many people mourned his death then, as some still do now. Some say there will never be another surfer, swimmer, and Hawaiian as great as Duke Kahanamoku.

Duke won many awards throughout his life.

 

Before jet skis were used to save surfers, a man invented a motorized surfboard. This was a surfboard with a built in motor. The lifeguards would use it to get out to injured surfers faster. It would go about 10 miles per hour and was painted bright red so it was spotted easier. The motorized surf board cost over 1 million dollars to make and was used up until the 1980s when jet skis were invented.

When the currents are too strong for surfers to catch the wave on their own, jet skis would pull surfers down the wave so it would be easier to catch.

Mark Foo was another big time surfer. Mark was always surfing big waves all over the world. He was riding a wave near Half-Moon Bay in California when he wiped out and died in 1994.

These are two of Mark Foo's boards, his colors were purple and yellow.

Today, surfing continues to grow more popular and people of all ages want to try this sport.