Pacific Passages: An Anthology of Surf Writing

Part III: Surfriding Revival(1907–1954)

Part III Surfriding Revival (1907–1954) [This page intentionally left blank.] su r f r i d i n g ’s r e v i va l in the early twentieth century began with the quiet athleticism of George Freeth, a celebrity endorsement by Jack London , and the enthusiasm and persistence of Alexander Hume Ford. The influence of each helped lay the groundwork for the founding of the Hawaiian Outrigger and Canoe Club in 1908, the first official organization devoted to “the purpose of preserving surfing on boards and in outrigger canoes.”1 Waikîkî, historically the recreational area for Hawaiian chiefs, was the center of the surfriding world through the first half of the twentieth century: where George Freeth revived the practice of standing on a surfboard in 1902, where Jack London paddled his first surfboard in 1907, and where Tommy Zahn ended his record-setting paddleboard race from Moloka‘i in 1953. Waikîkî was also the place where tourists like Minnie Crawford found adventure with the beachboys in the waves, where Tom Blake dedicated himself to a life based around the ocean, where every major surfboard innovation occurred up until World War II, and where every surfer or would-be surfer dreamed of making a pilgrimage to surf the long, gentle rollers off Diamond Head. Although Jack London and Alexander Hume Ford may be credited with generating the spark of interest that ignited the popularity of surfriding , the day-to-day labor of maintaining that popularity rested, sometimes literally, on the shoulders of the Waikîkî beachboys. The beachboy life—or at least a romantic version of it—served as the model for a budding surf culture in temperate Southern California: spending all day at the beach surfriding, playing music, talking story, dancing, and drinking. From Jack London’s masculine ideal of a “black Mercury” to Tom Blake’s idealization of Duke Kahanamoku as a modern incarnation of Kamehameha I to the palm frond hats and grass shack at San Onofre, the Waikîkî beachboys were the source of the popular image and appeal of surfriding. surfriding revival | 135 [This page intentionally left blank.] ...