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Surfers of Change

pre 1910

Legend Pele, Hawaiian goddess of fire, learns to surf and teaches her sister Hi’iaka

  • Europeans reached the present state of Baja California and explored the peninsula’s west coast

  • During his first ‘voyage of discovery’ Captain James Cook sailed to Tahiti and saw the locals out surfing

  • In Hawaii Kamehameha the Great overturns the legendary Naha Stone

  • Captain James Cook arrived back in Tahiti in 1777 on his ship Resolution

  • Botanist Joseph Banks, documents wave riding in his diaries – it’s the earliest known written description of surfing

  • Captain James Cook’s fleet spot O’ahu, the first of several Hawaiian Islands that would be discovered

  • Captain Cook observes Hawaiians wave riding on hard wooden boards

  • Captain Cook, and four of his crew, were clubbed to death by a group of local Hawaiians

  • When the journals of Captain Cook were published in 1784 they were popular in Europe and the UK

  • King Kamehameha consolidates the Hawaiian Island’s warring, feudal-like chiefdoms into a single monarchy

  • Surfing Queen Ka’ahumanu breaks kapu system ending surfing’s ritual importance

  • Hiram Bingham leads first Calvinist missionaries to Sandwich Islands

  • One of the most prolific ‘surf’ writers in the early 1800s was the Reverend William Ellis in Hawaii

  • Captain James Alexander sees West African natives riding waves

  • Mark Twain describes his Waikiki surfing adventure for Ladies’ Home Journal

  • Three royal Hawaiian brothers introduce “surfboard swimming” to Santa Cruz, CA

  • Duke Paoa Kahanamoku, the father of modern surfing, is born in Honolulu

  • Two Hawaiian princes – and their English guardian – went surfing in Britain. The earliest record of UK surfing

  • Bodysurfing gains popularity with schoolboys at Manly Beach, Sydney

  • Surfing princess Ka’iulani rides her alaia in the ocean at Brighton, England

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Hawaii Lava Rock Petroglyph Spirits Island

Petroglyph

Captain James Cook voyage engraving by the artist John Webber

1700s Priests traveling across Kealakekua Bay for first contact rituals

”I could not help concluding this man had the most supreme pleasure while he was driven so fast and so smoothly by the sea.

~ Captain James Cook

1900

  • Tom Blake was born. Blake would become one of the most influential surfers of the twentieth- century

  • Hawaii’s George Freeth reintroduces the “angled” ride across the wave face

  • Visiting Waikiki, American writer Jack London describes his surfing experience

  • Honolulu Star labels George Freeth, “The most expert surfboard rider in the world”

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Hawaiian Surfer 1890

Jack and Charmian London at Waikiki

‘Father of Modern Surfing’ Huntington Beach George Freeth

First Lifeguard George Freeth

1910
THE YEAR IN NUMBERS

WORLD POPULATION:
1.6 Billion

US POPULATION:
76 Million

AVERAGE U.S. SALARY:
$1,000/year

U.S. PRICES:
Loaf of bread: 5 cents

”Out of water, I am nothing

~ Duke Kahanamoku

1910

  • Duke Kahanamoku introduces surfing to New York and New Jersey

  • Duke Kahanamoku breaks world swim records at the Olympic Games in Stockholm

  • Surfing is introduced to Virginia Beach by James Jordon

  • In Redondo Beach, George Freeth is photographed doing a “spinner”

  • Duke Kahanamoku popularizes surfing in New Zealand and Australia

  • Teen Isabel Letham of Sydney tandems with Duke to become Oz’s first female surfer

  • In Waikiki, Duke Kahanamoku rides a 10′ 7″ alaia on a giant wave for over a half-mile

  • George Freeth, 35, dies in San Diego, during the worldwide influenza pandemic

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Hawaiian kids

Local Beach boys at Waikiki

James M. Jordan

Isabel Letham

1920
THE YEAR IN NUMBERS

WORLD POPULATION:
1.86 billion

US POPULATION:
106 million

AVERAGE U.S. SALARY:
$1,236/year

U.S. PRICES:
Loaf of bread: 9 cents
Gasoline: 22 cents per gallon

”There are a million ways to surf, and as long as you’re smiling you're doing it right.

~ Unknown

1920

  • King Edward VIII, then the Prince of Wales, joined Duke Kahanamoku on an outrigger canoe ride at Waikiki

  • Wisconsonite Tom Blake meets Olympian Duke Kahanamoku in a Detroit movie theater

  • A Galveston hurricane forces 7-year-old Pete Peterson to move to California with his family

  • Albert “Rabbit” Kekai was born in Honolulu, Hawaii He was a master of the sport in the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s

  • Tom Blake first surfs in Santa Monica, CA

  • At 9 years old, Pete Peterson is one of the first dozen surfboard riders on the Pacific Coast

  • English mystery writer Agatha Christie is introduced to prone surfboard riding during a stop in Durban, South Africa

  • Tony Bowman, a WWI pilot, returned from England to South Africa.  He became one of SA’s first full-time surfers

  • Agatha and her husband quickly took to riding surfboards standing up at Waikiki later in the year

  • Back from his tour of Polynesia, Prince Edward (later King Edward VIII) was an enthusiastic fan of surfing

  • Tom Blake visits Hawaii for the first time and surfs Waikiki with the Kahanamokus

  • Duke Kahanamoku rescues eight people from capsized boat off Newport Beach, CA

  • Joe Quigg was born (1925) in Los Angeles, and began surfing at age four, riding on a small belly board

  • Six-year-old Wally Froiseth and his family move to Oahu.  Later, he begins surfing at Waikiki on a redwood surfboard

  • Tom Blake and Sam Reid become the first surfers to ride Malibu

  • Former British Prime Minister William Gladstone goes surfing with friends on a beach in North Devon

  • Peter Burness, The “Father of South African Surfing,” is born

  • Charles “Snow” McAlister headstands his way to the Australian surfing title

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Albert ‘Rabbit’ Kekai

Hui Nalu Club – Duke Kahanamoku – (center)

Tom Blake

The Kahanamoku Brothers

1930
THE YEAR IN NUMBERS

WORLD POPULATION:
2.1 billion

US POPULATION:
123 million

AVERAGE U.S. SALARY:
$1,368/year

U.S. PRICES:
Loaf of bread: 8 cents
Gasoline: 10 cents per gallon
Movie admission: 15 cents

”If in doubt, paddle out.

~ Nat Young

1930

  • California’s Gard Chapin invents the drop knee turn

  • Bill and Dudley Whitman bring surfing to Florida after learning to surf in Hawaii

  • “Coast haole” Pete Peterson and Whitey Harrison travel to Hawaii for the first time

  • Lifeguard LeRoy Columbo rides the small, mud-brown waves of Galveston, Texas

  • Woody Brown moves from NYC to La Jolla, then visits Hawaii in for the Hot Curl revolution

  • John “Doc” Ball, a surfing dentist, founds the Palos Verdes Surf Club

  • Parowax, used for canning food, is first used for traction on surfboards

  • Woody Brown is first to ride Windansea, San Diego, CA

  • Huntington Beach long time standout surfer Chuck Lennon born

  • John Kelly and Wally Froiseth are the first modern surfers to ride Makaha

  • Waikiki surfers begin to venture out to the North Shore of Oahu to ride bigger waves

  • Gates Foss becomes the first to surf the point at Rincon near Santa Barbara

  • Mary Ann Hawkins wins the Pacific Coast Women’s Surfboard Championships (’38-’40)

  • Despite a crippled arm, 20-year-old Bob Simmons rides a surfboard in Newport Beach

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Pete Peterson and Whitey Harrison

Woody Brown

Mary Ann Hawkins

Russ Takaki, Wally Froiseth and George Downing

1940
THE YEAR IN NUMBERS

WORLD POPULATION:
2.3 billion

US POPULATION:
132 million

AVERAGE U.S. SALARY:
$1,299/year

U.S. PRICES:
Loaf of bread: 13 cents
Gasoline: 11 cents per gallon
Movie admission: 35 cents

”The best surfer out there is the one having the most fun.

~ Phil Edwards

1940

  • Gene “Tarzan” Smith paddles 90 miles from Oahu to Kauai; a 30-hour journey

  • Cliff Tucker wins the Pacific Coast Surf Riding Championship

  • Dick Brewer buys his first custom board – a 9′ x 20″ balsa that weighed 26 pounds

  • Dickie Cross, a teenage surfer from Honolulu, dies in huge surf at Waimea Bay

  • 16-year-old Dale Velzy enlists in the Merchant Marines and sees the world – including Hawaii

  • The lead role of Fred Crocker in design of wave riding craft helped establish a community of surfers in Durban

  • Albert “Rabbit” Kekai of Honolulu is the fastest trick surfer alive

  • Teenager Matt Kivlin regarded as the hottest surfer in California

  • Nick Gabaldon of Santa Monica becomes the first African-American surfer

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Gene ‘Tarzan’ Smith

Gerry Lopez, Dick Brewer and Ren Abellira in Honolulu

Matt Kevlin and Tommy Zahn

Nick Gabaldon

1950
THE YEAR IN NUMBERS

WORLD POPULATION:
2.5 billion

US POPULATION:
152 million

AVERAGE U.S. SALARY:
$5,019/year

U.S. PRICES:
Loaf of bread: 16 cents
Gasoline: 29 cents per gallon
Movie admission: 55 cents

”Just Take your time - wave comes. Let the other guys go, catch another one.

~ Duke Kahanamoku

1950

  • Malibu newcomer Vicki Flaxman becomes the hottest female surfer on the coast

  • 21-year-old George Downing is regarded as Hawaii’s best big-wave rider

  • An AP photo of surfers at Makaha set off a Hawaii-bound migration of Mainlanders

  • George Downing wins the Makaha International contest

  • Bob Simmons drowns while surfing Windansea, La Jolla

  • Ethel Kukea is the first woman to win the Makaha International

  • Shaun Tomson was born on 8/21/1955 in South Africa.  Shaun would go on to win the world title in 1977

  • At Malibu, lightning-fast Dewey Weber becomes the first famous “hot-dogger”

  • An American lifeguard team introduces Australia to the “Malibu style” of riding

  • Conrad Canha wins the Makaha International

  • Kathy Kohner, the real Gidget, learns to surf at Malibu

  • Greg Noll, Mike Stang, Pat Curren, Mickey Munoz et. al. surf Waimea Bay for the first time

  • The charismatic Mickey Dora becomes the most-imitated surfer at Malibu

  • Hawaiian Paul Strauch is credited with the “Strauch Crouch Cheater Five”

  • Buzzy Trent and George Downing ride perfect 25-foot waves at Makaha

  • Linda Benson, 15, wins Makaha International

  • John Whitmore spots waves breaking at Jeffereys Bay, South Africa

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Vicki Flaxman

Ethel Kukea

Shaun Tomson

Conrad Canha, center Makaha

1960
THE YEAR IN NUMBERS

WORLD POPULATION:
3 billion

US POPULATION:
177 million

AVERAGE U.S. SALARY:
$8,346/year

U.S. PRICES:
Loaf of bread: 25 cents
Gasoline: 32 cents per gallon
Movie admission: 75 cents

”Waves are not measured in feet and inches, they are measured in increments of fear.

~ Buzzy Trent

1960

  • George Downing wins the Makaha International contest

  • Surfer magazine publisher John Severson wins the prestigious Peruvian International Surfing Championships

  • Hoppy Swarts named the first president of United States Surfing Association (USSA)

  • Phil Edwards rides a new North Shore spot as Bruce Brown films.  Diffenderfer calls it “Pipeline”

  • Midget Farrelly wins his first Makaha International Surfing Championships

  • California’s Phil Edwards wins Surfer magazine’s debut Surfer Poll Award

  • Butch Van Artsdalen of La Jolla becomes the original “Mister Pipeline”

  • Dewey Weber, wearing only a T-shirt and blue jeans, walks into a Porsche dealer and pays cash, for the coupe

  • At Manly Beach, Australia’s Midget Farrelly wins the first World Surfing Championships

  • Felipe Pomar of Peru beats Nat Young to win the World Championships, held in Lima

  • David Nuuhiwa named by Surfer Magazine as the world’s best nose rider

  • California’s Joyce Hoffman wins the first of her two world championships

  • Corky Carroll wins the United States Surfing Championships

  • Nat Young uses high-performance “Total Involvement” surfing to win the World Title

  • Simon Anderson gets his first surfboard, after his dad wins Lottery and moves family to the beach

  • Australian John Witzig trumpets “We’re Tops Now” in Surfer Magazine and starts a rivalry

  • Miki Dora moons the judges while riding a wave at the Malibu Invitational

  • The Australian National Titles are won by Keith Paul and Judy Trim.  Wayne Lynch wins the Junior’s Title

  • Duke Kahanamoku passes away at age 77.  He is returned to the sea in a huge Waikiki beach boy–style funeral

  • Margo Oberg and Fred Hemmings win the World Championships, held in Puerto Rico

  • Greg Noll is the last man standing on a giant day at Makaha, and wipes out on a 30-foot wave

  • Jock Sutherland announces he’s joining the US Army and leaves the Mr. Pipeline title up for grabs

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Hoppy Swarts

Marge, Candy and Robin Calhoun

Corky Carroll

Greg Noll at Pipeline

1970
THE YEAR IN NUMBERS

WORLD POPULATION:
3.7 billion

US POPULATION:
203 million

AVERAGE U.S. SALARY:
$7,564/year

U.S. PRICES:
Loaf of bread: 25 cents
Gasoline: 59 cents per gallon
Movie admission: $1.50

”Its not tragic to die doing something you love.

~ Mark Foo (On Big Wave Surfing)

1970

  • In Australia, Rolf Aurness and Sharron Weber win the World Surfing titles

  • The inaugural Pipeline Masters contest is held in Hawaii; Jeff Hakman wins

  • Mike Tabeling becomes the first East Coaster to make the cover of Surfer magazine

  • Michael Peterson wins Australian National Titles

  • Future surf star Kelly Slater is born in Cocoa Beach, FLA. He will be crowned World Champion

  • Yancy Spencer, the “godfather of Gulf Coast surfing,” wins the East Coast Pro

  • The Australian point break, Kirra, turns on for six consecutive weeks at a flawless 5′ to 8′

  • Former WC Fred Hemmings establishes the Smirnoff in Hawaii as the defacto World Surfing Championships

  • Hawaii’s Larry Bertlemann is the most radical small-wave surfer, Gerry Lopez rules Pipe

  • Florida’s Jeff Crawford wins Pipeline Masters. NY’s Ricky Rasmussen wins U.S. Title

  • La Jolla surfer Chris O’ Rourke is the top-ranked contest surfer in California at 16 years of age

  • Shaun Tomson’s “backside attack” defeats Rory Russell and Gerry Lopez at the Pipe Masters

  • Jericho Poppler and Mary Setterholm found Women’s International Surfing Association

  • Jeff Clark, 17, becomes the first to surf Mavericks near Half Moon Bay, CA

  • Herbie Fletcher jumps on a longboard and declares “The thrill is back!”

  • Surfing backside in difficult conditions, Shaun Tomson wins the Pipeline Masters – a performance breakthrough

  • Peter Townend becomes the first professional world surfing champion

  • Eddie Aikau wins the Duke Kahanamoku Classic, at Sunset Beach

  • Rell Sunn founds the Menehune surf contest at Makaha Beach

  • Margo Oberg becomes the first women’s professional world surfing champion

  • Hawaiian big-wave legend Eddie Aikau is lost at sea trying to save the crew of a Polynesian canoe

  • Mark Richards wins the first of four consecutive IPS/ASP World Tour Championships

  • Peru’s National team is defeated at Punta roca, in by NSSA National team in 12 sets coach by John Rothrock and Tom Gibbons

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Jeff Crawford at Pipeline

Jericho Poppler

Peter Townend

Margo Oberg

1980
THE YEAR IN NUMBERS

WORLD POPULATION:
4.4 billion

US POPULATION:
227 million

AVERAGE U.S. SALARY:
$15,757/year

U.S. PRICES:
Loaf of bread: 85 cents
Gasoline: $1.25 per gallon
Movie admission: $2.60

”I took off on a wave, went down the side, popped out the other end, and went, shit, i’m still alive!

~ Greg Noll

1980

  • Mark Richards buys a silver Porsche—the flashiest thing yet to hit pro surfing. (Remember Dewey Weber in 1964?)

  • At the Katin Pro-Am, 16-year-old Tom Curren finishes second to Shaun Tomson

  • Ketut Menda is the first Indonesian surfer to compete on the pro tour

  • Cheyne Horan wins the inaugural OP Pro in Huntington Beach, California

  • Debbie Beacham wins the Women’s Professional World Championship

  • Ken Bradshaw wins the Duke Kahanamoku Classic in Hawaii

  • Hawaiian Triple Crown championship series introduced by Randy Rarrick and won by Michael Ho

  • Alec “Ace Cool” Cooke announces his sponsored bid to ride the world’s largest wave at Kaena Point on Oahu

  • California’s Davey Smith fractures an ankle while perfecting “surfing’s new move” the aerial

  • Australian Tom Carroll wins two consecutive World Surfing Championships

  • Frieda Zamba wins her first of four women’s Professional World Titles

  • Shaun Tomson, 29, wins the Stubbies at Oceanside in California to take the ASP World Tour points lead

  • Lisa Andersen runs away from her home in Florida to California to become a female pro surfer

  • Clyde Aikau wins the first Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau big wave contest at Waimea Bay

  • Lisa Andersen wins the world pro tour’s Rookie-of-the-Year Award

  • Wayne Bartholomew elected to the Australian Surfing Hall of Fame

  • Wearing a helmet, Tom Carroll wins Pipe 24 hours after learning of his sister’s death in a car crash

  • Darrick Doerner rides a 30 foot wave at Waimea Bay on Super Bowl Sunday

  • Matt Archbold earns reputation as one of the best aerialists

  • Hoppy Swarts, surfing pioneer dies

  • Mike Boyum discovers “Cloud 9”, a perfect right barrel in the Philippines

  • Australian surf pioneer Snowy McAllister dies

  • Aerial surfing begins to take off led by Martin Potter and Christian Fletcher

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Tom Curren

Debbie Beacham

Cheyne Horan

Robert Nat Young

1990
THE YEAR IN NUMBERS

WORLD POPULATION:
5.3 billion

US POPULATION:
249 million

AVERAGE U.S. SALARY:
$28,970/year

U.S. PRICES:
Loaf of bread: $1.57
Gasoline: $1.34 per gallon
Movie admission: $4.59

”We’re all equal before a wave.

~ Laird Hamilton

1990

  • Keone Downing wins the Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau big-wave contest at Waimea Bay

  • Pam Burridge wins the ASP (now WSL) women’s world championship

  • Tom Curren wins 7 of 21 events to win his third ASP World Title, then retires

  • Australian Damien Hardman wins ASP World Title

  • Sunny Garcia wins his first of five prestigious Hawaiian Triple Crown Titles (1992-2004)

  • Laird Hamilton, Buzzy Kerbox, and Darrick Doerner experiment with boats to catch giant waves

  • Derek Ho, USA and ASP world champion in action in the quarterfinals

  • Surfing legend Dewey Weber dies of heart failure

  • Pauline Menczer wins the ASP Womens World Surfing Championship

  • Five weeks after giving birth, Lisa Andersen wins 3 of 11 events and her first World Title

  • Hawaiian big-wave surfer Mark Foo drowns at Mavericks in central California on December 23

  • Sunny Garcia of Hawaii wins his third Triple Crown title in three years

  • Kelly Slater comes from third in the ratings to win the Pipe Masters and the ASP World Title

  • Lisa Andersen designs a functional but fashionable women’s boardshort for Roxy

  • Todd Chesser drowns after getting caught inside at Outside Alligators on the North Shore

  • Layne Beachley wins the first of her seven World Titles (98, 99, ’00, ’01, ’02, ’03 and ’06)

  • Rochelle Ballard co-founds International Women Surfers (IWS)

  • After losing 80 pounds, Mark ‘Occy’ Occhiluppo wins ASP World Surfing Title

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Sunny Garcia

Derek Ho

Lisa Andersen

Layne Beachley

2000
THE YEAR IN NUMBERS

WORLD POPULATION:
6.7 billion

US POPULATION:
305 million

AVERAGE U.S. SALARY:
$40,343/year

U.S. PRICES:
Loaf of bread: $1.72
Gasoline: $1.52 per gallon
Movie admission: $6.50

”I think when a surfer becomes a surfer, it’s almost like an obligation to be an environmentalist at the same time.

~ Kelly Slater

2000

  • Hawaii’s Sunny Garcia wins the ASP men’s World Surfing Championship

  • Laird Hamilton tows into the “Milennium Wave” at Teahupoo, and starts a mega-wave rush

  • Ross Clarke-Jones wins Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau big-wave contest at Waimea Bay

  • Mick Fanning wins the Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach, Australia as a wild card entry

  • Former ISA world champ, Janice Aragon is inducted into the Huntington Beach Surfing Walk of Fame

  • Brad Gerlach is one of the first surfers to ride Cortes Bank, big wave surf spot 100 miles off the coast of San Diego

  • Taj Burrow becomes one of Australia’s top paid athletes known for his lightning fast style

  • Megan Abubo poses nude for Rolling Stone’s Sports Hall of Fame then stunt-doubles for Blue Crush (97)

  • C.J. Hobgood wins a World Title riding a Rusty – who sells 14,000 surfboards that year and has $40 million in sales

  • Brazilian Carlos Burle rides a gigantic, 68-foot wave at Maverick’s

  • Miki Dora dies of pancreatic cancer at 66. Obituaries appear as far as Detroit and Hartford CT

  • Wayne Deane is inducted into the Australian Surfing Hall of Fame

  • Shark attack victim Beth Hamilton successfully rides 30 foot plus Jaws on Maui

  • Garret McNamara rides waves from a calving glacier on Alaska’s Copper River

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Laird Hamilton

Mick Fanning

Janice Aragon

Bethany Hamilton

2010
THE YEAR IN NUMBERS

WORLD POPULATION:
6.9 billion

US POPULATION:
309 million

AVERAGE U.S. SALARY:
$42,523/year

U.S. PRICES:
Loaf of bread: $2.49
Gasoline: $2.73 per gallon
Movie admission: $6.50

”My Passion for surfing was more than my fear of sharks.

~ Bethany Hamilton

2010

  • Pioneer surfer and legendary surf photographer, Leroy Grannis, passes away in his home in Hermosa Beach, CA

  • Sion Milosky, an accomplished big-wave surfer, died at Mavericks after enduring a two-wave hold down

  • Garrett McNamara rides a 90-foot wave, shattering the previous record of 77′, off the coast of Nazaré, Portugal

  • Kelly Slater, 40, at The Fiji Pro at Cloudbreak, got 2 of the 5 perfect 10s in the event and 2 of the top 5 heat scores

  • Hobie Alter celebrates his 80th birthday on Halloween with a big party at the Surfing Heritage and Cultural Center

  • East Coast legend, Cecil Lear, given lifetime achievement award for his founding work with the ESA

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Sion Milosky

Garrett McNamara

Kelly Slater – Fiji Pro

Cecil Lear Lifetime Achievement Award

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