Surfboards, Surf Gear, and Surf Shops

Welcome to partsurf.com! Our Web site is dedicated to surfers and surf culture. We seek to provide the public with information on surfing, its variants, offshoots, and the history of the sport. Whether you’re looking for what it means to hang ten, or why surfers are using personal watercraft to catch waves, you’ve come to the right spot. We’re constantly looking for ways to improve our site, so if you have any feedback; please let us know via email and we’ll work to make your suggestions a reality.

Surfing started as a semi-religious experience undertaken by the ancient Hawaiians and Polynesians. It nearly died out when Christian missionaries attempted to civilize the pacific islands. They saw the practice of surfing as idolatry, and tried to stamp it out as sinful. They very nearly succeeded. For almost a century the only location that practiced surfing was Waikiki beach in Hawaii.

In the early part of the 20th century, an Olympic swimmer by the name of Duke Kahanamoku reintroduced the western world to the joys of surfing. It took off as a sport in both Australia and Southern California. Since its acceptance, it has spawned a host of spinoff sports.

Some of the spinoffs are obvious, such as kiteboarding and windsurfing, while others may surprise you. For instance skateboarding was thought up by surfers who wanted a similar experience on land. Snowboarding is the winter offshoot of the surfing ideal. Surfing has spawned an entire culture that encompasses everything from cars to clothing. It has its own music, its hot spots, and its legendary figures.

Surfing today is a sport that has a professional circuit with competitions held at world class venues. Windsurfing also has professional competition, and windsurfing boards designed for speed and maneuverability. Much like skateboarding and snowboarding, popular culture has ever so slowly embraced surfing as a legitimate sport. Anyone that’s done it can attest to the fact that it deserves that status, there’s a lot of effort and skill that goes into staying on that board.

One of the most impressive changes to the sport has come in the board itself. Surf boards were once heavy and made of solid wood. They were over 15 feet in length and could weigh up to 150 lbs. just imagine standing on 150 lbs of wood and trying to steer it with your foot for a minute. Sounds tough, doesn’t it? Now imagine attempting a hairpin turn up the face of a wave so that you catch air off the top. You have officially moved from difficult to impossible.

The boards have undergone radical changes since their beginning to allow stunts like the one just described to become possible. The most obvious of the changes is the advent of a short board, which is oftentimes the same height as the rider. Another major shift came when we switched from solid wood to hollow wooden boards; and from them to polyurethane foam coated in fiberglass. Today’s boards are so light that the only resistance to movement you must deal with is the resistance coming from the water.

So next time you find yourself at the beach and you see a surfer out riding the waves, remember what a long trip it’s been to get to that point.

 

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