Surfing
He'e nalu was Hawaiian for centuries before anyone else had a word for it, and the boards were olo and alaia long before they were foam. This archive starts in Polynesia rather than in California: the kapu system fell in October 1819, six months before the first missionaries landed, and Mark Twain watched crowds surfing in 1866, so the story of a sport banned and then rescued does not survive its own sources. What follows is the revival around Duke Kahanamoku, the boards getting shorter, the tour, the big-wave decades from Waimea to Nazare, and the Olympic era. Peru is here properly, with the reed caballitos de totora that people rode before the Spanish arrived. Women surfed from the beginning and are throughout, not gathered at the end.
A chronological documentary of 2,001 moments spanning 1840–2026 on Loreline.
Curated by Olivier · last updated 2026-09-20
Eras
- Heenalu, He'e nalu: Hawaiian wave riding before contact, the olo and alaia boards, and surfing's place in Hawaiian society.
- Hawaii, The islands as the sport's home, from the kingdom period through Waikiki to the North Shore.
- Duke, Duke Kahanamoku and the beachboys who carried surfing out of Hawaii in the early twentieth century.
- Peru, Peruvian wave riding, including the reed caballitos de totora used by fishermen long before the Spanish arrived, and the modern Peruvian scene.
- Boards, The board as an object: wood to balsa to foam and fibreglass, fin design, and the shapers who made them.
- Longboard, The long board and the style built around it, from the 1950s through its revival.
- Shortboard, The late-1960s shift to shorter boards and the change in what a wave could be ridden like.
- Bigwave, Waimea, Mavericks, Jaws and the paddle and tow-in eras. Deaths in this record are stated once and plainly.
- Nazare, The Portuguese canyon that produced the largest waves ever ridden, and the community around it.
- Tour, Professional surfing: the championship tour, the ratings, sponsorship, and the sport as a career.
- Contests, The competition itself, from the first Mr. Olympia in 1965 to now. Larry Scott, Sergio Oliva, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Frank Zane, Lee Haney, Dorian Yates, Ronnie Coleman with eight consecutive titles, Jay Cutler, Phil Heath, and the recent run in which most champions were born outside the United States. Note the asterisk that matters: Arnold's 1971 win came with Sergio Oliva banned for competing at a rival NABBA event, which is a firmer objection than anything about 1980. Judging, posing, prize money, and the promoters who owned the federation and the magazines simultaneously.
- Olympics, 1932, 1984 and 2028. The Coliseum, the Olympic Village, the privately financed 1984 games that actually made money, the venues being prepared now, and what the city rebuilt each time.
- Women, A sport women built and then had taken over. The first official contest was the Ohio Regional Women's Physique Championship in Canton, Ohio, in November 1977, organised by Henry McGhee and won by Gina LaSpina, judged on bodybuilding rather than beauty criteria. Doris Barrilleaux founded the SPA in 1978, the first women's bodybuilding organisation run by and for women, and McGhee's USWPA followed. The Ms. Olympia arrived in 1980 and absorbed all of it. Then came four decades of rules aimed at size: the 1992 IFBB guidance that competitors should not be too big, and a 2004 memo asking female athletes to reduce muscularity by roughly a fifth for aesthetics and health. No male equivalent has ever existed. Rachel McLish, Bev Francis, Cory Everson, Lenda Murray, Kim Chizevsky, and the divisions invented to catch the women judged too muscular for the last one.
- Australia, The Australian scene, from Bells Beach and the Gold Coast to its role in professional surfing.
- Global, 2002–2014. First World Cup in Asia, first in Africa. Zidane's headbutt. Germany 7-1 Brazil. The Women's World Cup audience grows beyond the USA. Spain's tiki-taka peak.
- Films, Surf film, from the touring-print era onward, and the archival footage that survives.
- Photography, The still image as its own body of work: the historic photography of Steve, of which very little exists under a free licence, and Robert Irwin's own award-winning wildlife photography. A note on what is missing and why. Only twenty five freely licensed photographs of Steve exist, from eight separate occasions, almost all of them between 2000 and 2005. His television work and his public appearances are photographed almost entirely by agencies and broadcasters, so the free record shows the zoo keeper rather than the television star, and this archive does not pretend otherwise.
- Music, Surf music and the sound attached to the sport, which outlived the films that carried it.
- Wetsuits, Neoprene and what it opened up: cold water, longer sessions, and surfing in places that were previously out of reach.
- Pools, The 1976 drought and the empty backyard pools it opened. Vertical riding before there were ramps for it.
- - Sandwich Islanders Playing in the Surf, 1841. Sandwich Islanders Playing in the Surf. Lithograph of Endicott, N.
- - Hawaiian Sport of Surf Playing, engraving by W. Roberts. A surfer rides a breaking wave at Hawaii.
- - Bathing scene, Lahaina, Maui, watercolor, by James Gay Sawkins. Bathing scene, Lahaina, Maui. A very rare image that illustrates both canoe and board surf-riding, with several sailing canoes in the background.
- - Surfers riding the waves in Niihau, photograph by H. Carrington Bolton. A surfer rides a breaking wave at Hawaii. The record dates to 1890.
- - Captain Cook Surfing Illustration. A crop of Captain Cook's surfing illustration, focusing on the group of surfers in the water.
- - Surf-Swimming, Sandwich Islands. A surfer rides a breaking wave at Hawaii. The record dates to 1897.
- - Native Hawaiian surfer standing with alaia board. Native With Surf Board, Honolulu, H. The surfer was Charles Kauha.
- - Lone Alaia board surfer facing foward. The lone Hawaiian surfer wearing the malo at Waikiki Beach carries one of the last Alaia surf board. The surfer was Charles Kauha. The record dates to 1898.
- - Native Hawaiian surfer seated with alaia board. Native With Surf Board, Honolulu, H. The surfer was Charles Kauha. The record dates to 1898.
- - Hawaiian with surfboard and Diamond Head in the background. The lone Hawaiian surfer wearing the malo at Waikiki Beach carries one of the last Alaia surf board. The surfer was Charles Kauha.
- - Native Hawaiian surfer standing with alaia board. Native With Surf Board, Honolulu, H. The surfer was Charles Kauha. The location is United States.
- - Surf-Riding, Waikiki, Honolulu (1898). Native Hawaiians surf riders in double-hulled canoes, Waikiki, Honolulu.
- - Lone Alaia board surfer. The lone Hawaiian surfer wearing the malo at Waikiki Beach carries one of the last Alaia surf board. The surfer was Charles Kauha. The location is United States.
- - Native Hawaiian surfer with alaia board. The lone Hawaiian surfer wearing the malo at Waikiki Beach carries one of the last Alaia surf board. The surfer was Charles Kauha. The record dates to 1898. The location is United States.
- - Native Hawaiian Surfer (1899). A surfer rides a breaking wave at Hawaii. The record dates to 1899.
- - SLNSW 796580 Surfing Manly. A surfer rides a breaking wave at Manly.
- - SLNSW 797009 Surfing BulliWoonona Beach. A surfer rides close to shore at Australia.
- - SLNSW 796938 Surfing The Entrance Tuggerah. A surfer rides a breaking wave at Australia. The record dates to 1900.
- - SLNSW 796235 Surfing Coogee. A surfer rides a breaking wave at Australia.
- - Getty Museum Boys with Surf Boards Indulging in Their Famous Native Sport on Beach at. Boys with Surf Boards Indulging in Their Famous Native Sport on Beach at Waikiki, near Honolulu, Hawaii (verso); Keystone View Co.
- - Getty Museum Boys with Surf Boards Indulging in Their Famous Native Sport on Beach at. Boys with Surf Boards Indulging in Their Famous Native Sport on Beach at Waikiki, near Honolulu, Hawaii (verso); Keystone View Co. The record dates to 1900.
- - Panoramic View, Waikiki Beach, Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands (1906) Edison. Hawaiian surfing tradition. A short clip from Hawaiʻi covering panoramic view, waikiki beach, honolulu, hawaiian islands (1906) edison.
- - Thomas A. Edison's "Hawaiian Islands" | The Surf Scenes Shot in 1906. Surfing in the Hawaiian islands. "Hawaiian Islands" is a 1906 actuality film by Thomas A. The documentary features the oldest footage ever taken of surfing, and it was shot in Hawaii by Robert Bonine.
- - Hawaiian Islands | A Film by Thomas A. Edison Shot in 1906. Hawaiian surfing tradition. "Hawaiian Islands" is a silent, black-and-white movie shot by Thomas A. Edison's film studios in 1906.
- - Kahanamoku and the Hui Nalu Club. The Hui Nalu, Club of the Waves, founded in 1908 by Native Hawaiians in defiance to their exclusion from haole (Caucasian) The Outrigger Canoe and Surf Clubs. Duke Kahanamoku (back row, third from right).
- - Oldest surf footage outside Hawaii (1908-1910). Surf culture in the islands. A short clip from Hawaiʻi covering oldest surf footage outside hawaii (1908-1910).
- - Duke Kahanamoku c1910. Hawaii Surfers Swimmers Duke Kahanamoku Surfboard Outrigger.
- - Anonymous photograph of Duke Paoa Kahanamoku with his surfboard. This style of surfboard is known as a “Waikiki board”.
- - Duke Kahanamoku 10653u. Duke Paoa Kahinu Mokoe Hulikohola Kahanamoku. Hawaiian swimmer, actor, lawman, and businessman credited with spreading the sport of surfing.
- - Lew G. Henderson, Vincent Genoves, Duke P. Kahanamoku, E. K. Miller LCCN2014686645. Henderson, Vincent Genoves, Duke P. Miller Photograph shows Hawaiian swimmer and surfer Duke Paoa Kahinu Mokoe Hulikohola Kahanamoku (1890-1968) and swimmer Vincent "Zen" Genoves with their manager, Lew Henderson and E.K.
- - Le Passage des Brisants à Hawaï, c. 1913. Le Passage des Brisants à Hawaï (exposé au Salon des Artistes Français de 1913) Scene of surfers with long wooden surfboards at Waikiki.
- - Dorothy Becker surfing. Surfboards lined up on the sand at Hawaii.
- - Dr. Cyril Pemberton surfing Waikiki Beach in 1916. Cyril Pemberton taken circa 1916 surfing at Waikiki Beach with Diamond Head in background.
- - 1917 Hawaiian Surfers vintage archival footage. Hawaiian waters and the surfers. A filmed segment from Hawaiʻi covering 1917 hawaiian surfers vintage archival footage.
- - Hawaii - CWB. LCCN92512967. Abstract/medium: 1 print: woodcut, color.
- - [ #history AI Colorized | 60fps ] 1919 Hawaiian Islands [ HD ]. Traditional Hawaiian wave riding. A filmed segment from Hawaiʻi covering [ ai colorized.
- - Newcastle surf carnival, 1920. Australian surfing. A newsreel segment about a 1920 surf carnival in Newcastle. 300 members of leading Sydney Surf Clubs compete in an annual surf carnival.
- - 1920s TRIP FROM SAN FRANCISCO TO OAHU, HAWAII ABOARD MATSON OCEAN LINER SURFING HOME MOVIE 50154. Surf culture in the islands. A filmed segment from Hawaiʻi covering 1920s trip from san francisco to oahu, hawaii aboard matson ocean liner surfing home movie 50154.
- - Women surf lifesavers at Bondi Beach in the 1920s: newsreel "Surf Guardians". Board culture rooted in. A filmed segment from Australia covering women surf lifesavers at bondi beach in the 1920s: newsreel "surf guardians".
- - Surf riders, Honolulu - CWB. LCCN92513811. Title: Surf riders, Honolulu / CWB. Abstract/medium: 1 print: woodcut, color.
- - Waikiki - Traditional Hawaiian Surfing & native Life 1920s. Hawaiian surfing tradition. A filmed segment from Hawaiʻi covering waikiki - traditional hawaiian surfing & native life 1920s.
- - Prince In Hawaii (1920). Surf culture in the islands. Intertitle: "PRINCE OF WALES - ( in the last seat of Canoe ) - enjoys exhilarating sport of 'Surfing'". M/S of a strange banana shaped canoe, six men are paddling and Edward, the Prince of Wales, sits on the end.
- - Life in Hawaii in the 1920s. The practice of heʻe nalu. Footage of Life in Hawaii in the 1920's silent video of Life in Hawaii in the 1920s! A fisherman with net casting through surf, catches mullet, fishing at night with spears and torches, Kalapana beach, black sand, boys play in surf, climb coconut trees, couple in modern bathing suits breaking coconuts, drinking coconut milk.
- - Burston and friends at Chiton Rocks Beach late 1920s. Samuel Burston (right) and his friends at Chiton Rocks Beach. Note early boogie board technology.
- - Last of Duke Kahanamoku's Beach Boys at Waikiki. Music tied to surf culture. A filmed segment from Hawaiʻi covering last of duke kahanamoku's beach boys at waikiki.
- - Sons of the Surf - 1920s - Colorized - No Audio. Island surfing. Publication date: 1920s ca. Publisher: Educational Film Exchanges, Inc.
- - Surfing 1920's - Britain's Oldest Surf Footage?. Hawaiian waters and the surfers. Film recently found in an attic could possibly be the oldest british surf footage ever. The film shows a group of friends from London enjoying the beach and the sea in 1920's Cornwall.
- - Surfing at Main Beach, Qld - circa 1920 (In Explore) - Flickr - Aussie~mobs. A surfer rides close to shore at Australia. The record dates to 1920.
- - Hawaii, The Surf Rider , woodblock print by Charles W. Bartlett, 1921. A surfer rides a breaking wave at Hawaii. The record dates to 1921.
- - Hawaii, The Surf Rider , woodblock print by Charles W. Bartlett, 1921, Honolulu Academy of Arts. A surfer rides a breaking wave at Honolulu.
…and 1,951 more moments.
Full text archive: /loreline-text/surfing.md
