Calling all Boogers! From Hodads, Shubees and Hang-Ten blokes! Surf's up!
These are terms you will commonly hear in places with sand and waves and not in snow capped locations. Boogers are not those nasty things that your pesky brother picks out of his nose. In surf lingo it means body boarder. Hodad is a surfing term for a beginner or non-surfer. Shubee is a surfing term for someone who is dressed and equipped for the activity but has never surfed in their entire life, while Hang Ten is one of the most complicated and difficult surfing tricks. Interesting as the sport and its lingo, surfing has a lot of rich history about it that makes it such a well-loved sport through generations. Here are 10 interesting historical facts on a sport that has captured the hearts of many all over the world.
1. Peruvians declared that surfing started out from their fishermen 4000 years ago but the source of the Polynesian people say that surfing started during the migration of the Pacific Islands like Indonesia, Fiji, Tahiti and Hawaii were surfing started.
2. Hawaiians perfected the art of standing on a board over 1000 years ago. Hawaiian Kings would use a big balsa board 18-25ft long while the rest of the people used a small balsa board.
3. Surfing was bought back in 1779 by Captain James Cook right after his lieutenant James King's writings were published. When the British first came to Hawaii they practised their religion and beliefs and they thought that surfing caused fornication which brought a ban to the sport.
4. Tom Blake was the first surfer to surf Malibu beach and won the first Pacific Coast Surf Championship in 1926.
5. Hawaiian Duke Kahanamoku brought surfing to Australia in 1915, at the Freshwater Harbour in Sydney. His surfboard is now kept at the Freshwater Surf Lifesaving Club in Sydney.
6. The first boards that were simple wooden boards that were heavy, fin-less and very hard to control.
7. Tom Blake was the one who made the hollow board which was lighter and floated, but was still hard to control. In 1937 the board outline changed when a teenager cut the V shape right into the tale which made it easy for a surfer to ride the bigger waves.
8. A man called George Downing studied the waves in Makaha Valley where waves can reach 20ft high, after the study he designed a new big wave board, and started surfing the big waves. Photographers took photo documentation which took the USA by storm.
9. When it comes to surfing Kelly Slater is the world champion and has won 10 world titles since 1994. He is both the youngest and oldest world champion in history.
10. The Eddie Aikau Surfing Competition was where riding the big waves started. The first event was in 1984/85 at Sunset Beach. The event was then transferred to Waimea as Quicksilver stepped in to promote the event. Swells of up to 35 feet are found on the Waimea bay, and in 1997/98 the waves were so big that the event did not push through.
Surfing is a sport that breaks language, culture and racial barriers. It has successfully done so over the years producing a lot of individuals who have in return contributed much to the sport. To some, surfing may be a passion, a fad, a craze, or an obsession, but to the founders and pillars of the sport, it was passion for surfing that created the biggest swell of surfers worldwide.
