Where Water Sports Were Born

It’s hard to imagine where would be today without our favorite water sports—wake surfing, tubing, water skiing and just about everything in between. Perhaps not surprisingly, we have Pacific island cultures—specifically those of Polynesia and Ancient Hawaii—to thank for establishing the roots of the sports we love today.

Take a look at today’s blog to see how some of your favorite on-the-water pastimes like surfing first got started.

Surfing as social currency

In 18th century Polynesia, we know that surfing played a large role in society—going so far as to impact the social status of a person, with wealthier and more elite members of society having exclusive access to the best beaches and surf spots. The chief of a group, also known as the Ali'I, would have a high quality board and the best moves on the water.

If a person gained significant skill on the water, they could gain social mobility and move up in status—an amazing feat for what now consider a recreational pastime! It’s worth noting that surfing—unlike sports like swimming or rowing—uniquely stems from a place of social recreation, not practicality.

An ancient art form

In Ancient Hawaii, surfing was an exquisite art form—not a sport or an everyday hobby, but an integral part of the island culture. It also had ties to Hawaiian spirituality, and surfers would frequently ask a priest to help in delivering a good surf before they headed out. The Hawaiian word for that priest—kahuna—is now an everyday word inextricably tied to what we know and think about surfing culture.

Introduction to the modern world

It’s said that surfing was brought to the western world by three Hawaiian princes—on a boarding school break in 1885, they took to the beaches of Santa Cruz, California, and first demonstrated the novelty of the Hawaiian tradition. The rest, as they say, is history; soon thereafter, in the early 20th century, the “father of modern surfing” George Freeth came from Hawaii to California to help spread knowledge and popularity of his own favorite sport.

While hybrid innovations like wake surfing and jet skiing of course arose later, they would not easily exist without the precedents established centuries ago. It’s always interesting to see that, even across hundreds of years, some of our favorite water activities are not so different from their ancient origins!