Surf’s Up!

I love a good sports romance, but tire of the same old ballplayers, and besides, why is it only the men who are athletic? So to “be the change I want to see in the world,” New Heights features rock climbing for both the hero and heroine, which is integral to the plot, and Submerged Hopes contains scuba diving and surfing.

Surfing has ancient origins. Three to five thousand years ago, the Moche people of ancient Peru (Yes, they of sex pot fame!) used tortora sedges to make reed boats which they used to surf the waves. As early as the 4^th century, early surfing was done by people in Samoa, Tonga, Tahiti, and other Polynesian cultures. Ancient cultures rode their boats or boards like a horse, or surfed upon their bellies or knees. It was the Hawaiians who invented stand-up surfing, using koa boards that weighed up to a hundred pounds. While there are related sports that harness the wind or use paddles, “surfing” refers to activities which use the energy of the wave for the ride.

Surfing came to California in 1885, brought by three young Hawaiian princes attending boarding school near Santa Cruz. In 1907, a land baron bought up land in Redondo Beach. He hired a Hawaiian to surf there. George Freeth, the “father of modern surfing,” wanted in but had trouble with the huge, heavy solid wood boards. He cut one down, creating the modern longboard, and surfed twice a day, helping to popularize the sport. Later, the Gidget movies and the Beach Boys fueled the surfing craze, which has now grown to be a multi-million-dollar industry. Surfing is slated to become part of the 2021 Olympics. Skateboarding and snowboarding were spawned by surfers.

Like any active sport, surfing can be hazardous. Collisions with rocks, boards, or other surfers can cause injury—this is part of the reason surfers use leashes, to keep their boards close. Drowning is a risk for even experienced surfers, from rip tides, violent collisions, or prolonged submersion in huge waves—the world’s record for wave height is seventy-eight feet!  Marine life, from sharks to stingrays to jellyfish, can also injure surfers. Chronic ailments include surfer’s ear (a painful narrowing of the canal as a reaction to repetitive exposure to cold water), surfer’s eye (an overgrowth of tissue on the cornea from prolonged UV exposure), and surfer’s myelopathy (leg paralysis from hyperextension of the back).

The popularity of surfing has led to the construction of artificial reefs and even indoor surfing parks. Surfers can find wave forecasts on various online sites, which use data from NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)—the same outfit that tracks Santa’s journey.

Just as in rock climbing, there is a culture associated with surfing, and specific lingo, like “shaka,” “hang ten,” and “wipeout.” Some follow the waves, like the surfers in Point Break, just for the love of surfing and the spiritual experience. A small number of surfers are able to make their living from it, like the freesurfers whose corporate sponsors pay them to perform in competitions or appear in videos, doing tricks or risky stunts, like Nick does in Submerged Hopes in an attempt to impress women.

Cowabunga!