Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suitable for surfing are primarily found on ocean shores, but can also be found as standing waves in the open ocean, in lakes, in rivers in the form of a tidal bore, or in wave pools.
The term surfing refers to a person riding a wave using a board, regardless of the stance. There are several types of boards. The Moche of Peru would often surf on reed craft, while the native peoples of the Pacific surfed waves on alaia, paipo, and other such water craft. Ancient cultures often surfed on their belly and knees, while the modern-day definition of surfing most often refers to a surfer riding a wave standing on a surfboard; this is also referred to as stand-up surfing.
Another prominent form of surfing is body boarding, where a surfer rides the wave on a bodyboard, either lying on their belly, drop knee (one foot and one knee on the board), or sometimes even standing up on a body board. Other types of surfing include knee boarding, surf matting (riding inflatable mats) and using foils. Body surfing, in which the wave is caught and ridden using the surfer's own body rather than a board, is very common and is considered by some surfers to be the purest form of surfing. The closest form of body surfing using a board is a handboard which normally has one strap over it to fit on one hand. Surfers who body board, body surf, or handboard feel more drag as they move through the water than stand up surfers do. This holds body surfers into a more turbulent part of the wave (often completely submerged by whitewater). In contrast, surfers who instead ride a hydrofoil feel substantially less drag and may ride unbroken waves in the open ocean.
Three major subdivisions within stand-up surfing are stand-up paddling, long boarding and short boarding with several major differences including the board design and length, the riding style and the kind of wave that is ridden.
In tow-in surfing (most often, but not exclusively, associated with big wave surfing), a motorized water vehicle such as a personal watercraft, tows the surfer into the wave front, helping the surfer match a large wave's speed, which is generally a higher speed than a self-propelled surfer can produce. Surfing-related sports such as paddle boarding and sea kayaking that are self-propelled by hand paddles do not require waves, and other derivative sports such as kite surfing and windsurfing rely primarily on wind for power, yet all of these platforms may also be used to ride waves. Recently with the use of V-drive boats,[clarification needed] Wakesurfing, in which one surfs on the wake of a boat, has emerged.[citation needed] As of 2023, the Guinness Book of World Records recognized a 26.2 m (86 ft) wave ride by Sebastian Steudtner at Nazar, Portugal as the largest wave ever surfed.[1]
During the winter season in the northern hemisphere, the North Shore of Oahu, the third-largest island of Hawaii, is known for having some of the best waves in the world. Surfers from around the world flock to breaks like Backdoor, Waimea Bay, and Pipeline. However, there are still many popular surf spots around the world: Teahupo'o, located off the coast of Tahiti; Mavericks, California, United States; Cloudbreak, Tavarua Island, Fiji; Superbank, Gold Coast, Australia.[2]
In 2016 surfing was added by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as an Olympic sport to begin at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Japan.[3]The first gold medalists of the Tokyo 2020 surfing men and women's competitions were, respectively, the Brazilian talo Ferreira and the American from Hawaii, Carissa Moore.[4][5]
About three to five thousand years ago, cultures in ancient Peru fished in kayak-like watercraft (mochica) made of reeds that the fishermen surfed back to shore.[6][7] The Moche culture used the caballito de totora (little horse of totora), with archaeological evidence showing its use around 200 CE.[8] An early description of the Inca surfing in Callao was documented by Jesuit missionary Jos de Acosta in his 1590 publication Historia natural y moral de las Indias, writing:[9].mw-parser-output .templatequoteoverflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 32px.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequoteciteline-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0
It is true to see them go fishing in Callao de Lima, was for me a thing of great recreation, because there were many and each one in a balsilla caballero, or sitting stubbornly cutting the waves of the sea, which is rough where they fish, they looked like the Tritons, or Neptunes, who paint upon the water.
Various European explorers witnessed surfing in Polynesia. Surfing may have been observed by British explorers at Tahiti in 1767. Samuel Wallis and the crew members of HMS Dolphin were the first Britons to visit the island in June of that year. Another candidate is the botanist Joseph Banks[11] who was part of the first voyage of James Cook on HMS Endeavour, arriving on Tahiti on 10 April 1769. Lieutenant James King was the first person to write about the art of surfing on Hawaii, when he was completing the journals of Captain James Cook (upon Cook's death in 1779).
References to surf riding on planks and single canoe hulls are also verified for pre-contact Samoa, where surfing was called fa'ase'e or se'egalu (see Augustin Krmer, The Samoa Islands[14]), and Tonga, far pre-dating the practice of surfing by Hawaiians and eastern Polynesians by over a thousand years.
In July 1885, three teenage Hawaiian princes took a break from their boarding school, St. Matthew's Hall in San Mateo, and came to cool off in Santa Cruz, California. There, David Kawānanakoa, Edward Keliʻiahonui and Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole surfed the mouth of the San Lorenzo River on custom-shaped redwood boards, according to surf historians Kim Stoner and Geoff Dunn.[16] In 1890, the pioneer in agricultural education John Wrightson reputedly became the first British surfer when instructed by two Hawaiian students at his college.[17][18][19]
In 1907, the eclectic interests of land developer Abbot Kinney (founder of Venice of America, now Venice, California) helped bring Freeth to California. Freeth had sought the help of the Hawaii Promotion Committee (HPC) in Honolulu to sponsor him on a trip to California to give surfing exhibitions. The HPC arranged through their contacts in Los Angeles to secure a contract for Freeth to perform at Venice of America in July, 1907.[23] Later that year, land baron Henry E. Huntington brought surfing to Redondo Beach. Looking for a way to entice visitors to his own budding resort community south of Venice where he had heavily invested in real estate, he hired Freeth as a lifeguard and to give surfing exhibitions in front of the Hotel Redondo.[21] Another native Hawaiian, Duke Kahanamoku, spread surfing to both the U.S. and Australia, riding the waves after displaying the swimming prowess that won him Olympic gold medals in 1912 and 1920.[24]
Swell is generated when the wind blows consistently over a large space of open water, called the wind's fetch. The size of a swell is determined by the strength of the wind, and the length of its fetch and duration. Because of these factors, the surf tends to be larger and more prevalent on coastlines exposed to large expanses of ocean traversed by intense low pressure systems.
Local wind conditions affect wave quality since the surface of a wave can become choppy in blustery conditions. Ideal conditions include a light to moderate "offshore" wind, because it blows into the front of the wave, making it a "barrel" or "tube" wave. Waves are left-handed and right-handed depending upon the breaking formation of the wave.
The most important influence on wave shape is the topography of the seabed directly behind and immediately beneath the breaking wave. Each break is different since each location's underwater topography is unique. At beach breaks, sandbanks change shape from week to week. Surf forecasting is aided by advances in information technology. Mathematical modeling graphically depicts the size and direction of swells around the globe.
Swell regularity varies across the globe and throughout the year. During winter, heavy swells are generated in the mid-latitudes, when the North and South polar fronts shift toward the Equator. The predominantly Westerly winds generate swells that advance Eastward, so waves tend to be largest on West coasts during winter months. However, an endless train of mid-latitude cyclones cause the isobars to become undulated, redirecting swells at regular intervals toward the tropics.
East coasts also receive heavy winter swells when low-pressure cells form in the sub-tropics, where slow moving highs inhibit their movement. These lows produce a shorter fetch than polar fronts, however, they can still generate heavy swells since their slower movement increases the duration of a particular wind direction. The variables of fetch and duration both influence how long wind acts over a wave as it travels since a wave reaching the end of a fetch behaves as if the wind died.
During summer, heavy swells are generated when cyclones form in the tropics. Tropical cyclones form over warm seas, so their occurrence is influenced by El Nio & La Nia cycles. Their movements are unpredictable.
Surf travel and some surf camps offer surfers access to remote, tropical locations, where tradewinds ensure offshore conditions. Since winter swells are generated by mid-latitude cyclones, their regularity coincides with the passage of these lows. Swells arrive in pulses, each lasting for a couple of days, with a few days between each swell.
Peel or peeling off as a descriptive term for the quality of a break has been defined as "a fast, clean, evenly falling curl line, perfect for surfing, and usually found at pointbreaks."[27]
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