Surfing

Surfing is an ancient extreme sports. no one is really sure when exactly it had started. It was first observed by Euroeans in 18th century in Tahiti. The locals were, probably, surfing even earlier but this was the first documented sighting. The boards were 15ft long made out off wood.

In the beginning of the 20th century surfing was brought to the beaches of US. The next leap in popularity was in the jolly 50′s when the boards took a shorter and more agile shape.

There is not much to explain about surfing- take your board, jump in the water and hit the waves. As for equipment, for this extreme sport all you need is a board (maybe a wetsuit) and thanks to that surfing is one of the cheapest sports there is.

Without going into the physics of hydrodynamics let’s just say that there is water movement towards the shore line which can be generated by wind, seismic event or by the gravitational pull of the moon. When the water mass is moving over a shallow bottom the bottom part of the water mass slows down by the friction of the water up on the bottom while the top continues at the same speed, causing the wave to tip forward and at about a critical value of 1/7 ratio the wave brakes down.

There are many kinds of wave breaks. A breach break occurs when waves break on a sandy seabed close to the shore. A reef break takes place over a rocky seabed or a reef. A point break happens when a wave hits rocks jutting out from the coastline. Then there is a shore break where a wave breaks directly on the steep shore. In short, every break is different because of the different conditions at the different sites around the world.

The basic idea is to catch the wave on its rising stage by paddling while lying down on the board. Than, as soon as the wave starts to drive you with it, to stand up on your feet and maneuver down and away from the part of the wave which has broken down. You’ll go inside the wave, ride up, down and to the side of it while trying to perform tricks or just to survive if it is a big one.

Some breaks form a topping which closes the wave as it breaks, creating what is called ”a barrel”. Then you’ll have the opportunity to surf inside the barrel, completely surrounded by water, that is, if you are good enough.

The size of the wave is measured on the back side from the water surface to the top of the wave. You can catch waves from about 3ft (90cm). An optimum size for surfing begins at about 5ft (1.5m) and goes up to 16ft (5m). The perfect size is very personal, most of the surfers will end up preferring something in between.

Or as some big wave surfer once remarked, “waves are not measured in feet and inches, but in increments of fear”.

Now, lets speak about Big wave surfing. By definition, Big wave surfing means surfing on the wave which is at least 20ft (6.1m) high. Big wave surfing evolved as people began to try riding larger and larger waves.But the problem is that a really big wave travels too fast for a human to paddle in. The big leap forward occurred when tow-in surfing was born. A surfer is towed into a breaking wave by a partner driving a Jet Ski with an attached tow-line.

The boards also underwent some changes. They became longer and narrower, foot stripes have been added since lying on the board is no longer necessary. Today Big wave tow-in surfers ride waves up to 70ft (21m).

However, paddle-in is still being used in Big wave surfing. Paddle-in surfers can go up to 53ft (16m) without any external help but their own muscles.

Thanks for http://www.adrenalinebeast.com/surfing/ for all the info!