Surfing Revival

In the book Pacific Passages it states that Jack London is one of the men responsible for "ushering surf riding into the modern era of Westernized sports" (Moser 5). When reading through the section in the book about surfing revival a lot of questions came to mind. Is this okay that a white man helped to revive a native Hawaiian sport? Should people who are not Hawaiian still surf or should it have stayed a purely Hawaiian practice? Have Hawaiians benefited from the commercialization and globalization of their sport? How does modern surfing affect Hawaii? Does it bring in more tourism and make land rights more difficult? All of these were questions I asked myself when going through the readings and still am unsure about the answers.

In the book it credits Ford, Freeth and London with reviving surfing. I feel that surfing probably in reality never fully died. When we read through Liliuokalani's book she describes a more remote village where a lot of the traditional Hawaiian practices were still taking place despite the colonial presence. I feel in places like these or in secret many native Hawaiian were still practicing surfing. Despite the fact that they were still surfing it only became an acceptable sport until white men did it. As stated in Pacific Passages London credits his start in surfing because he believed that anything a Hawaiian could do a white man should be able to do better. I feel because of the clear racial prejudices against Hawaiians surfing was only able to be brought into the mainstream by white men. This does not justify what they did but it does somewhat answer the question.

My second question was if anyone besides a native Hawaiian should surf? I feel that in the surfing world today most surfers are very aware of the origins of surfing. Most know where it all started and how it has progressed through time. I feel that as long as people are aware of the origins of the sport and enjoy doing it they should be allowed to surf. Soccer was once an ancient Mayan game that progressed to an international sport and surfing should be viewed in the same way.

The fact that many people respect the origins of surfing I think has benefited Hawaiian in some ways.  Surfing tourism is a huge market in Hawaii with many surf competitions held there each year. These competitions can complicate lands rights but overall I feel they benefit the economy. They also showcase a sport that meant a lot to the native Hawaiians and can show how far their sport has come.

Overall there are many questions to be asked in regards to surfing and Hawaii. The book Pacific Passages addresses some of these and brings up more. The book though does offer a timeline to how surfing has changed through time that is very beneficial to any fan of surfing or Hawaiian history.