Surfing (Australia)

Surfing is a term referring to the act of riding a wave, though not always on a board. It is a surface water sport, especially popular across the Pacific Ocean and in Australasia. In fact, Australia is considered the sport's mecca. The activity of surfing dates back thousands of years to the ancient Pacific island peoples, but was popularised worldwide by George Freeth at the turn of the twentieth century. Since then surfing has become a worldwide phenomenon with great amateur and professional interest, and several important prize tournaments are held each year.

Origins and History

Western explorers first observed surfing as early as the 1760s, practiced by ancient Polynesians on the island of Tahiti. However, the first person to document surfing in any extensive way was Lieutenant James King, who wrote about surfing he witnessed under the command of Captain James Cook in Hawaii. Surfing either on boards or in canoes likely dates back thousands of years, long before European explorers encountered the activity.

Although instances of surfing were recorded throughout the nineteenth century, the sport did not fully enter the public consciousness until George Freeth, often called the "Father of Modern Surfing", began to popularise the sport at the dawn of the twentieth century. Freeth, part native Hawaiian and a skilled surfer, was hired by industrialist and land developer Henry Huntington in 1907 to bring surfing to California. Huntington hoped to entice visitors to Redondo Beach, where he had significant investments in local real estate. Finding little success with the sixteen-foot boards popular at the time, Freeth cut the board in half, inventing the modern longboard. Dubbed "the man who could walk on water", Freeth became a local sensation, and people from across California came to Redondo to watch him glide across the waves.

Although Freeth died in the 1918–19 Spanish flu pandemic, his legacy lived on. By the 1920s surfing had become wildly popular in North America and Australia, and in 1975 the first professional surf competitions began. The first governing body for professional surfers, International Professional Surfers (IPS), was founded in 1976. The organisation was renamed the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) in 1983, and then became the World Surf League (WSL) in 2015.

Rules and Regulations

In surfing, the wave is often as important as the skills of the surfer, and so those wanting to ride the waves gather in places renowned for their preferred wave conditions. These places include Padang in Bali, Pipeline in Hawaii and Shark Island in Australia, among others. As swell, or surface gravity waves, change depending on climate, season and location, professional surfers tend to travel in search of the perfect conditions and the largest, most sustained waves. Surfing can take place any time of year, in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. For this reason, surfing as a sport has taken on an informal, nomadic culture.

Although surfing in itself does not have a set of formal rules, the WSL has established rules and regulations for tournaments and competitions. Many of these rules govern priority; that is, who has the right to ride a wave when it breaks. In a three-person heat, for example, the first surfer to catch a wave then takes last priority for the next wave, while the other two surfers have equal priority. The first of those two to catch a wave then moves to the end of the line, while the one who has yet to catch a wave takes first priority. In the event that two or more surfers catch a wave at the same time, the first surfer to return to the lineup area has priority. A surfer who does not have priority is allowed to catch a wave, but only if they do not in any way interfere with the ability of the surfer with priority to do so. In head-to-head competitions, judges may declare priority.

The WSL has held surfing championships throughout the world since its founding in 1976. These include tours for both men and women and award cash prizes to winners.

Top Athletes

Australian surfers rank amongst the greatest in the world, owing, perhaps, in part to Australia's climate and abundant coastlines. Among the top of Australia's wave riders is Stephanie Gilmore, a six-time world champion on WSL's Women's World Tour. Surfing since the age of ten, Gilmore is one of the best all-around surfers in the world. Sally Fitzgibbons, who won her first junior competition at the age of fourteen, won three Women's World Tour competitions in 2011, and was world runner up in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Tyler Wright, who began surfing at the age of eight, blazed onto the surfing scene in 2008, when she became the youngest person ever to win Layne Beachley's Beachley Classic, an event on the Championship Tour. Wright then went on to win the World Champion at Roxy Pro France and the WSL's Women's World Champion in 2016.

Mick Fanning, often called "White Lightning", is perhaps one of the best-known Australian surfers ever. He began surfing at the age of five and went on to be named WSL World Champion in 2007, 2009 and 2013 and Australian Male Surfer of the Year in 2002, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011. Joel Parkinson is the youngest surfer to ever win a Billabong Contest. He went on to win the WSL World Tour in 2012, having taken second in 2002, 2004, 2009 and 2011. Matt Wilkinson, born in New South Wales, is a highly acclaimed professional surfer. He has been named 2016 Quicksilver Gold Coast Pro and the 2016 Ripcurl Bells Beach Pro on the WSL Championship Tour. Wilkinson was ranked fifth in the world as of 2017.

Bibliography

The Bluffer's Guide to Surfing. Oval Books, 2008.

Casey, Susan. The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean. Anchor, 2011.

Finnegan, William. Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life. Penguin, 2016.

Warshaw, Matt. The History of Surfing. Chronicle Books, 2010.

Yogis, Jaimal. Saltwater Buddha: A Surfer's Quest to Find Zen on the Sea. Wisdom Publications, 2009.