Talk:History of surfing

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 19 January 2021 and 7 May 2021. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): BrennanJKlim.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 22:28, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 18 March 2019 and 10 May 2019. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Nmonk2k.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 23:39, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

The large Peru edit - meaning of surfing
I'm only an occasional wiki editor generally, but this wikipedia page is particularly un-filled and so I've worked on it a lot over the years. I wish more people did. This new large Peru edit changes the tone and I think there should be a discussion. Peru definitely has a claim for oldest person standing on a wave, but also that culture did not influence modern surfing in the slightest. This gets into a problem of "what is surfing" because is it just standing up? Innumerable people with small boats have ridden waves for millennia, but we don't generally call it surfing. Is this page about surfing with surf boards or anything which catches the power of a wave ever?--Gatfish (talk) 03:02, 17 September 2020 (UTC)


 * The truth is that the type of board does not matter, I say this because the boat that I have been using for years and considered as the predecessor of the board and comments from different groups including the highest governing organization of surfing worldwide, the ISA has considered the oldest practice of surfing the records that are marked in ancient Peru. 181.65.19.131 (talk) 13:21, 14 March 2022 (UTC)

Links for expansion
The following websites are worth a look: Maradja 07:37, 9 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Surfing Museums
 * Huntington Beach, California
 * Santa Cruz
 * Marton, England
 * Torquay, Victoria
 * Oceanside, California
 * Other resources
 * San Diego State University
 * Legendary Surfers
 * Surfing's Golden Years
 * Surf Research
 * Early Surf History
 * The History of Surfing From Captain Cook to the Present

US-centric part
Regarding this sentence: "John Ledyard, an American serving under explorer Captain Cook, was the first American to witness surfing in Hawaii in the late 1700s." -- Why are we focusing on the American and the fact that he was American? Isn't the interesting bit that a Captain Cook expedition saw surfing on Hawaii in the 1700s?

Expanding to Eurocentricism Regarding the passage: "The art of surfing...was first discovered by Joseph Banks on the HMS Endeavour during the first voyage of James Cook, during the ship's stay in Tahiti. Surfing was a central part of ancient Polynesian culture and predates European contact." -- Though the second sentence makes it abundantly clear that surfing (by whatever name) existed long before Europeans observed it, I'm bothered by the phrase "...discovered by Joseph Banks...". It was clearly discovered by someone of Polynesian descent. The first known observation by someone of European descent appears to have been done by Joseph banks. I'm not sure how to phrase this artfully, but to note a European has having "discovered" surfing seems incorrect (aside from being Eurocentric). Bdspring (talk) 07:28, 26 October 2017 (UTC)

History of surfing
''Surfing began in Hawaii over 1600 years ago by obviously, Hawaiians. There were 2 types of people that surfed. The noblemen and the basic cilvilian. The noblemen had boards that ranged in lengths from 5-6 metres and the average person had a board that was about 3-4 metres. A man named George Freeth was an irish-Hawaiian that travelled to California to introduce surfing. At first people werent to sure about the sport but after awhile people decided to give it a go and thus surfing was introduced and spread like rabbits breeding. George then sat back and became a life guard and became California's hero when he saved seven Japanese fishermen in a storm with nothing more than a bathing suit and a surf board. Carrying them 2 then 2 then 3. George passed out returning to the shore but was welcomed by the locals.''
 * Not a bad start, but there's some issues. How do you know surfing began in Hawaii?  Have you looked into it?  Try doing some research.  Some information about George Freeth should be added to the article, but you need to do some more reading on the subject.  The problem is that most sources credit Duke Kahanamoku as the father of modern surfing, so you have to reconcile the two stories and make it fit.  Good luck. &mdash;Viriditas | Talk 14:10, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

Ancient Hawaiians called it "surfing"?
In a passage about the ancient Hawaiians: this art the Hawaiians referred to as surfing. Sounds unlikely. 86.131.89.40 (talk) 09:31, 5 February 2009 (UTC)
 * You are reading things too literally. Obviously, the Hawaiians did not use the word "surfing", but the art they referred to is what we call surfing. Viriditas (talk)

Assessment comment
Substituted at 18:03, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

Wrong dates/voyages
The article originally stated that Joseph banks first recorded the act of surfing in 1769 while onboard the Endeavour during the Cooks 3rd voyage.

This is not possible as the Cooks first voyage was between 1768-1771 and the Endeavour was not used during Cooks third voyage, the ships he use were the resolution and the discovery. I checked the source which states it was on his first voyage.

Because of this I have edited the article to say first voyage and added that the sighting happened in Tahiti.

— Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.169.159.109 (talk) 08:15, 10 February 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20060209204134/http://www.usps.com/news/2002/philatelic/sr02_048.htm to http://www.usps.com/news/2002/philatelic/sr02_048.htm

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Hello fellow surfers, I have a few concerns about the accounts of some of the information given, and I think that the page could possibly use a few more bright images to give It that Surfing Beach Scene. We want this article to engage somebody passing by and to make someone be actually interested in the roots of surfing! Partyboysalsa1 (talk) 22:19, 23 May 2017 (UTC) This was the main quote that I feel like must have some sort of citation of where it came from "The sport was also recorded in print by other European residents and visitors who wrote about and photographed Samoans surfing on planks and single canoe hulls; Samoans referred to surf riding as fa'ase'e or se'egalu. Edward Treager also confirmed Samoan terminology for surfing and surfboards in Samoa. Oral tradition confirms that surfing was also practiced in Tonga, where the late king Taufa'ahau Tupou IV was the foremost Tongan surfer of his time." CITATION NEEDED https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:History_of_surfing&action=edit Partyboysalsa1 (talk) 22:22, 23 May 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
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I have just modified 2 external links on History of surfing. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20091217001457/http://www.freshwaterslsc.com/book/ to http://www.freshwaterslsc.com/book/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20130410121708/http://www.eastcoastsurfinghistory.com/ to http://www.eastcoastsurfinghistory.com/

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Dubious and uncited claim
It reads, “Oral tradition confirms that surfing was also practiced in Tonga, where the late king Taufa'ahau Tupou IV was the foremost Tongan surfer of his time.” There is no reference given.

Furthermore, this king was 440 pounds and specially designed chairs had to be made for him to accommodate his weight when he visited other States.. Genetikbliss (talk) 18:39, 7 July 2019 (UTC)


 * I've amended the text to read "the late king Taufa'ahau Tupou IV was an expert surfer in his youth" and cited a New York Times article about him that supports it. The king stood 6 feet 5 inches (about 198.6 centimeters), so his large frame could suppport a lot of weight, plus he didn't weigh as much when he was a youth. Carlstak (talk) 23:23, 19 March 2021 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: CALIFORNIA DREAMING, THE GOLDEN STATE'S RHETORICAL APPEALS
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