Surfing is an exciting water sport in which the sportsmen ride ocean waves on a long, narrow surfboard. When Captain James Cook discovered Hawaii in 1788, he found that it was already a very popular sport among the Hawaiians.
The Hawaiians held surfing contests and the winners were given prizes. These people used 4-5m long boards which were about 67.5 kg in weight. In 1957 lightweight boards were developed which brought a radical change in this sport. These boards, which are about 3m long and 30cm wide weighing around 10kg, have made it possible for women and even children to take up surfing. The new boards are generally made of foam plastic and coated with fibre glass and resin. A surfboard is the only special equipment required for this sport.
When riding a wave, the rider first swims out beyond the breaking crests of waves to the point where the larger rollers peak up. As a wave approaches him, he paddles his board towards shore to attain sufficient speed to coast down the face of the wave. Once the rider has caught up with the wave, he may rise to a standing position and ride it until it dies out near the beach. To increase the speed and distance, experts usually ride diagonally towards the shore. Riders usually surf 500m or more. Surfboards skim the surface at speeds much faster than the speed of water.
Development of cheap plastic foam, fibre glass coated boards, the increased media publicity all have contributed to the rapid growth in the popularity of surfing.
National and International competitions are being held on both coasts of North America and in Peru, Hawaii, South Africa and Eastern Australia. Groups of 5 to 12 surfers take part in this sport. They are judged on a point system for their credit in take off, turns, length of ride and difficulty extent of waves selected.