From Surfing To Skateboarding

Almost certainly the roots of surfing started when humans first started to swim in the ocean. It seems reasonable to assume that those very first ocean swimmers would have discovered the joy of riding the waves as they came to shore and discovered the pleasure of body surfing. At some point the development of the equipment to "ride the waves" would have taken place.

It is generally accepted that the Polynesians were one of the, if not the, first to develop what we now call a surfboard. The strands of influences that combine to form modern surfing can be attributed to the Hawaiian population that existed quite happily before the Europeans made contact.

It was Joseph Banks, in 1769 aboard the HMS Endeavour, who first wrote about surfing. This was during the very first sea journey made by Capt James Cook. At the time of his writing the culture that existed on Hawaii was already surfing, it was observed that the chief of a community was the most capable surfer and he rode a surfboard made from the best tree. It was also noted that within the community there were divisions based on a "class structure" and these divisions delineated who was allowed to surf on which beach. Although it is worth noting that it appeared that a great surfer from a lower stratum could surf on a better beach if his skills merited it.

This was not the only place in the world where surfing was recorded around this time, notably Samoa and Tonga. As with much of the history of European settlement local practices were often disallowed by the incomers. And so it was true on Hawaii that surfing was forbidden and slowly but surely by the end of the 19th century this long-standing local practice had pretty much disappeared.

The modern concept of surfing seems to have begun at or around the beginning of the 20th century. Again starting in Hawaii the activity began to be revived. The culture can be loosely associated with three parts of the world; Hawaii, California and Australia. As the decades rolled by people came across the activity one by one and by word-of-mouth but it was only in the 1960s that the mainstream world really began to see, what we would call today, modern surfing. Due to movies and TV, the notion of a surfer became a label or an identity for a young section of society.

As the 60s and 70s passed the world of surfing changed forever. Board manufacturers and their advertising meant, that unlike previous decades, access to the style and culture was achievable on the high Street. Now people that lived hundreds or even thousands of miles away from "surf-able" ocean could own and display their allegiance to the cause. And so started street-brands that spoke of a subculture separate from an older generations' understanding.

The development skateboards, surfboards for concrete, now seems inevitable but in reality started as yet another subculture. Again, this subculture remained partially hidden from the world of mainstream culture for quite a long time, during this time board development went from home-made and slightly dangerous to branded, sleek and sought-after skateboarding equipment.

It may seem a long way from the 1700s to today and an even longer distance from ancient Polynesian culture to shopping malls and car parks, but the link between surfing and skateboarding is obvious and so the skateboarding youth practising in your local high-rise car park can attribute their pastime to the spiritual practice of wave gliding that existed at the time of the first contact with the Hawaiian population.