| The Hawaiians are credited with being the | | | | for wave sliding that if the distant storms |
| fathers of surfing, and are known to have | | | | didn't generate sufficient waves to ride, |
| practiced the sport as early as the 15th | | | | surfers with enlist the help of a "kahuna" - |
| century AD. The Hawaiian name for surfing | | | | a priest who would pray to the gods and ask |
| "He'enalu" - can be translated as wave | | | | for surf to come to Hawaiian shores. |
| sliding. During its early history, surfing | | | | |
| was taken as a sacred practice and only those | | | | However, surfing was to move into a period of |
| with a high social status could take part; in | | | | decline following the arrival of Christian |
| other words - Hawaiian kings and queens were | | | | Missionaries who believed surfing was a |
| surfers. Ironically, today, surfing is seen | | | | hedonist act and a waste of time. They |
| by the general population as a sport for | | | | adamantly preach against surfing's existence, |
| those who have dropped out of society, the | | | | and by the late 1800s, the sport had almost |
| very opposite to how it began. | | | | been completely exterminated. Had it not been |
| | | | for a few hardcore surfers who continued to |
| As a people living on a cluster of small | | | | practise the sports and Hawaiian kings such |
| islands in a very big sea, the Hawaiians were | | | | as David Kalakau, surfing may have died out |
| not surprisingly fascinated by the ocean, and | | | | all together. |
| attached great meaning to its moods and | | | | |
| forms. In a similar way to which the Inuit | | | | However, the gradual decline of the |
| are said to have many names for snow, the | | | | missionaries influence allowed surfing to |
| Hawaiians also have hundreds of words to | | | | breathe again, and by the start of the 1900s, |
| describe the various forms of the ever | | | | surfing had not only regained its former |
| changing sea. | | | | popularity in Hawaii, but was beginning to |
| | | | spread to other beaches of the world. |
| Just as modern day surf bums insist on | | | | |
| surfing as a lifestyle rather than just a | | | | By the late 1920s, tourists from all over the |
| sport and thus devote great portions of time | | | | world were booking into newly built hotels in |
| and money to the pursuit of the waves, | | | | Waikiki in their hundreds, all eager to |
| Hawaiians also found unfathomable bounds with | | | | experience the world's most famous beach and |
| the practise, as the writings of Kepelino | | | | see the exotic "surf people" for themselves. |
| Keauokalani, a 19th Century Hawaiian Scholar, | | | | Another 30 years on, and waves of American |
| shows in his observations of the local | | | | surf migrants began to arrive from California |
| Hawaiian surfers: | | | | in search of the renowned Hawaiian waves, |
| | | | that had reached legendary status is surf |
| "All thought of work is at the end, only that | | | | circles. |
| of sport is left. The wife may go hungry, the | | | | |
| children, the whole family, but the head of | | | | Now, surfing is a billion dollar industry, |
| the house does not care. He is all for sport, | | | | practiced across the world from Iceland to |
| that is his food. All day there is nothing | | | | Indonesia - but let's not forget those |
| but surfing. Many go out surfing as early as | | | | pioneering Hawaiian kings and queens without |
| four in the morning: men, women, children." | | | | which, the sport of surfing may never have |
| | | | been invented. |
| Such was the desire of the ancient Hawaiians | | | | |