After reading "Lessons in Surfing for Everyman" by C. P. L. Nicholls, I was surprised to learn how much has changed in the history of surfing in California. The surf scene first started to pick up in the 1930s, and there were only a few hundred surfers in the entire state. There is little record of the beginning history of surfing in California; instead the research was mostly about surfing in Waikiki until some time after World War II. After that, every aspect of surfing in California was derived from the Islands. In early surfing in Southern California, there were only two organized surfing clubs, the Santa Monica Paddle Board Club, and the Palos Verdes Surfing Club. That's very little compared to the number of organized surfing clubs today, but of course there are much more than only a few hundred surfers today.
There were also only two recognized types of surf board in Southern California in the early history. These were the paddle board, a surface speed board, and what Nicholls calls the "true surf board" which was the essential wave riding board. There were varying lengths and designs to these boards, usually made out of balsa wood. Today, there are many more types of boards such as the shortboard, big wave board, the longboard, the fish surfboard, and the funboard, to name a few I found online. The costs of these two initial boards were between eight and ten dollars, and surfers usually liked to make them on their own to ensure personal preferences. Today the cost has escalated to anywhere from $150 to $1,000 and up. There was no average price that I could find, but each value I saw was pretty expensive. It's highly unlikely that you can find a board for $8 to $10 now.
As for the actual act of surfing that Nicholls describes, it sounds as though it has the same essential core. I'm no surf pro, in fact I've never even been surfing, but from what I know of the basics, Nicholls seems to be describing a similar act that I'm sure has only been added on to and perfected since the '30s. This section was interesting to read because some aspects (like the cost of the board) seemed unbelievable and it really shows a reader just how much has changed in the history of surfing. It begs the question, where will the act of surfing be in another eighty years?
Emily Warren
Emily -
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this and am glad you were interested enough in this to do some research on the side. Surfing in CA started here in Santa Cruz in 1885 when 3 Hawaiian princes attending a nearby military academy made their own boards out of redwood planks from a local lumber mill. They surfed the San Lorenzo River mouth (right by the rollercoaster) and were featured on the front page of the newspaper the next day. Surfing didn't catch on much though until George Freeth moved to CA just after the turn of the twentieth century, and was further popularized through Duke Kahanamoku's travels, that later earned him the reputation of surfing's world ambassador.
- Trey