A Brief History and Physics Lesson on Surfing

The sport of surfing has been accomplished for thousands of years. Throughout these years, surfers have been, unknowingly, calculating precise angles and perfect speeds in order to catch a wave and ride it to shore. Most surfers do not really understand how waves are created or why they are propelled to shore on a wave at high speeds. In this report, I will explain the physics of surfing as well as the history of surfing.

It is estimated that surfing began thousands of years ago. The first known depictions of surfers were found on Hawaiian lava rock that was dated to 3000 B.C. Surfing is thought to have begun long before this time in the Polynesian culture because of old chants and folklore that have told stories of great surfing legends. The first European documentation of surfing comes from a journal writing of Lieutenant James King, captain of the English ship Discovery, on a voyage to Hawaii in 1779. Lieutenant King described surfing as "a feat and an art form." When the Discovery arrived in Hawaii, surfing was as much a part of Hawaiian culture as baseball is a part of the American culture today. Hawaiian songs and chants speak of heroic deeds, risked lives, and love being found and lost in the surf.

Around 1820, the amount of surfing in Hawaii greatly declined when Calvinistic Christian missionaries began to convert Hawaiians from polytheism to Christianity. The Christians insisted that Hawaiians wear more clothes, learn to read and write, and work more and play less. The restrictions on play included surfing. Surfing remained desolate for approximately 150 years.

In 1910, four men helped to make surfing popular again; this time, it wasn't just popular in Hawaii, it was loved throughout the world. Three of the four men were Caucasian and one was Hawaiian. In 1907, famous author Jack London went to Hawaii. There he met a journalist and wanderer by the name of Alexander Hume Ford. Ford was a member of a small group of people who had formed the Waikiki Swimming Club. Ford took London surfing. While he was surfing, he met the most popular surfer of the time, George Freeth. After his trip, London wrote an article about surfing which was published in two popular magazines. In it, he gave a detailed description of Freeth's surfing style. His writing was so powerful that railroad and real estate entrepreneur Henry Huntingdon invited Freeth to California to put on a surfing demonstration that would promote the Redondo-Los Angeles Railroad. Freeth accepted the invitation and became known as the first man to surf in California-even though this was an exaggeration.

In 1885, three princes were documented surfing in southern California. While London was spreading the word about surfing in his writings and Freeth was performing demonstrations around the world, Ford was in the process of beginning a surf club in Waikiki. These three men began the revitalization of surfing.

The man that completed the process was a famous surfer and swimmer by the name of Duke Kahanamoku. He was a three-time world record holder for the 100 meter freestyle in swimming. In 1912, Duke was on his way to the Olympics for swimming. On his way to Sweden, he stopped in southern California. His surfing demonstrations there caused surfing to become very popular. As Duke won gold medals in the Olympics and became famous not only as a swimmer, but also as a Hollywood actor, he used his fame to introduce the world to surfing.

Duke single-handedly put Australia on its path to becoming a well-known surfing nation. In the summer of 1917, Duke rode a wave over 1000 yards to shore. This feat has never been matched and marked Duke down in history. Throughout the 1920s, surfing continued to grow.

In 1928, a man by the name of Tom Blake organized the Pacific Coast Surfing Championships at Corona del Mar. Top surfers throughout California met in Corona del Mar to compete for the Tom Blake trophy. This competition continued until 1941 when World War II put an end to the event.

Blake was also the first person to photograph surfing from the water with a camera encased in a waterproof shell. Later, Tom Blake passed his surfing photography skills and ideas onto LeRoy Grannis who, in the 1960s, founded the first surfing magazine. In 1953, The Associated Press published a picture of three men surfing a big wave in Hawaii. With this photo, surfing began to boom. The modern history of surfing was about to begin.

The Associated Press photo lured many Californians to Hawaii. Santa Cruz school teacher Fred Van Dyke was sitting in the teacher's lounge when he saw the famous Associated Press photo in a newspaper. He quit his job the next day, moved to Hawaii, and was instrumental in luring several other surfers to Hawaii. Van Dyke and his friend Peter Cole became famous surfers throughout the 1950s and 60s.

In the late 1950s, two adventurous women, Eve Fletcher and Anona Napoleon, challenged the surf alongside the men. Fletcher and her surfing friend, Marge Calhoun, flew to Hawaii. Calhoun won the prestigious Mahaka International Surfing Championships in 1958. Surfing was now open to both sexes.

Surfing moved quickly into the mainstream of daily life when a surfing movie about a girl named Gidget was developed. Gidget brought surfing to international attention. After the movie put surfing into the main stream, it became a sport that everybody wanted to do. The Beach Boys were singing about it; more movies were being made about it; and, surfing was growing exponentially. Surfboards were now being mass produced as opposed to hand-carved. Surfing still remains a fun and popular sport for everyone to this day.

As surfing became more popular and widespread, people began to explore the physics involved in the hope that they could become the best. Why is surfing such a challenge? What makes it happen? I will explain the Physics of surfing in the remainder of this paper.

Waves are the main force behind surfing, but what is the main force behind waves? The main force behind waves is the wind. The waves aren't actually made from the water; they're made from the energy that occurs when the wind impacts the water. The water is pushed by this energy and rolls along the ocean. Although there is wind on lakes, they don't produce waves that are anywhere near as big as the ocean.

Why do lakes not have big waves? There are three factors that determine how large a wave is. These factors are: the distance the wind blows over the water, also known as the fetch, the length of time the wind continues to blow and, the speed at which the wind is blowing. The greater these three factors, the greater the wave. The ocean is enormous, giving these three determining factors more space to build.

The waves on the west coast of the United States are larger than those on the east coast. The waves are bigger in the west for three reasons. First of all, the waves on the west coast are being pushed by the prevailing winds; these winds are pushing against the waves coming toward the east coast. Secondly, the continental shelf is more slanted on the east coast and more cliff-like on the west coast. The slant in the east coast causes the waves to slow down due to the friction of the spinning water particles rubbing against the ocean floor. The final and most obvious reason the waves on the west coast are larger than those on the east coast is because the Atlantic Ocean (East Coast) is smaller than the Pacific Ocean (West Coast); this reduces the fetch.

High and low tides can determine the amount of difficulty that lies in catching a wave. During high tide, the ocean rises and sand banks can be found several meters out into the ocean. These banks give a surfer a place to stand that is much closer to where the waves are ready to be surfed. The question here is, what causes the ocean to rise and fall? Planets and large objects in space have their own gravitational pulls. The Sun's and Moon's pulls extend out to Earth and pull the surfaces of Earth toward them. The ocean, which is liquid, is greatly affected by these gravitational pulls. Basically, the water level underneath the moon and the sun are higher and in between the high levels are low levels. Because the earth rotates around the sun and the moon rotates around the earth, the earth gets high and low tides at different times throughout the day.

Now that I have explained the physics of the ocean in regard to surfing, I will explain the physics of the board and the surfer. In order for the surfer to stay on the board, there must be two factors present: buoyancy in the board and a well maintained center of gravity. Surfboards are made out of material that is less dense than water. The molecules of the board are farther apart than the molecules of the water; therefore, it stays above the water. In order to maintain a balanced center of gravity, the surfer must keep both ends of the board at equal weight. If the surfer is too close to the front of the board, he will do what is called a nose dive. The center of gravity will be thrown off and the board will tip forward. A surfer must maintain this center of gravity while standing himself up on the surfboard. When a wave comes, the center of gravity will change because the wave will cause the surfboard to be slanted forward. The rider must lean back on the board to balance the weight again.

How do surfers stay on the wave for long periods of time? The answer to this question is simple; the water in the slant that the surfer is on is moving upward toward the surfer. This slant is pushing the surfer to the top of the wave while gravity is pushing the surfer down the wave. These two forces work against each other and cause the surfer to stay in one place on the wave, if he chooses. If the surfer leans forward a little bit, the center of gravity is thrown off and the surfer then moves down the wave. The wind is pushing the water toward shore and the surfer moves along with it.

There are also some more superficial parts of physics involved in surfing. One such issue concerns why surfers wear wetsuits. A surfer wears a wetsuit because the ocean is usually several degrees colder than his body temperature and heat will transfer out of his body until it reaches an equal temperature with the ocean. The ocean is much more vast and isn't likely to be warmed by the person's body so the heat will continue to flow. A wetsuit insulates the surfer's body so that the heat won't escape to the ocean as quickly.

When a surfer falls into the water, why does it hurt him? The surfer strikes the water and causes a reaction. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The water strikes back causing much pain and possible redness to the body part of the surfer that struck it.

How does the surfer keep his feet on the board without straps? Wax is applied to the board. This wax causes enough friction between itself and the rider's feet to keep his feet in place.

Most people don't realize how physics is so involved in everything we do. Before doing this report, I had no idea that surfing would be impossible without the laws of physics. Physics is what causes everything to happen. It creates the waves; it causes the board to float; it can cause pain; and, it makes it possible for the surfer to move. If an when you decide to go ride a wave, think about the complex forces allowing you to do it!

Works Cited

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Edge, Ronald. "Surf Physics." The Physics Teacher 39 (May 2001): 272-277.

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Margan, Frank, and Ben R Finney. A Pictorial History of Surfing. London: Paul Hamlyn, 1970.

The Physics of Surfing. 2006. YouTube. 9 May 2007 .

"Waves, Tides and Currents." Virtual New Jersey Shore. 27 June 1999. New Jersey MetroNET, Inc. 9 May 2007 .

"Why are the Waves on the US West Coast Larger than the Waves on the East Coast?" How Stuff Works. 26 Apr. 2001. How Stuff Works, Inc. 9 May 2007 .