Surfing USA: Amazing historic images of surfing down the decades

The art of wave-riding

Surfing has fascinated humans for centuries, from its early days as a pastime practiced by Hawaiian royalty to its inaugural inclusion at the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games. The sport has become increasingly popular over the years, morphing into the multibillion-dollar industry we see today.

Read on to see a selection of iconic photos that recount the enthralling history of surfing...

1769: Captain Cook's men witness surfing in Tahiti

While humans worldwide have been riding waves for millennia, the first recorded mention of surf riding was in Joseph Banks’ journal onboard Captain Cook’s ship, HMS Endeavour, when it anchored in Tahiti in 1769. Ten years later, surfing was referenced again by Lieutenant James King on HMS Resolution (pictured), who watched Indigenous Hawaiians ride waves on “long narrow board[s], rounded at the ends” in Kealakekua Bay.

1877: Men and women surf together in Hawaii

Surfing was regarded by the Hawaiian people as the sport of kings as well as a spiritual practice. Prayers for protection were uttered before entering the water.

Men and women surfed together, as shown in this 1877 print from a book by natural history pioneer John George Wood. However, colonization brought new customs and disease to the islands, as well as missionaries who disapproved of the leisure activity. Surfing was almost forgotten.

1885: Surfing reaches the mainland US

In 1885, surfing was brought to the mainland US for the first time by three Hawaiian princes – David Kawananakoa, Edward Keli’iahonui, and Jonah Kuhio Kalaniana’ole. With wooden boards carved from redwood trees, they rode the San Lorenzo River mouth in Santa Cruz, California.

Hawaiians mostly surfed alaia boards (pictured) as their ancestors had done for thousands of years. These boards had no fins, relying on their sharp edges for steering.

1907: The 'Hawaiian Wonder'

In the early 1900s, it became more common to see Caucasians surfing in Hawaii. Hawaiian-born lifeguard and swimming instructor George Freeth (pictured left) was spotted riding waves by industrialist Henry Huntington while he was on holiday.

Huntington invited Freeth to surf at Redondo Beach in California as a public attraction, labeling him 'the man who walked on water.' Freeth performed twice a day to crowds visiting the increasingly popular resort town.

1912: Duke Kahanamoku popularizes the sport

One man who was inspired by Freeth was Duke Kahanamoku. The champion waterman was renowned in Hawaii for his swimming prowess, which earned him a gold medal at the 1912 Stockholm Olympic Games.

He became widely known as the father of modern surfing, popularizing the sport during his swimming exhibitions across the globe. He rode a 16-foot solid redwood surfboard, styled on traditional olo Hawaiian boards.

1928: The first surfing competition

1928 was an important year as it marked the world’s first surfing competition, the Pacific Coast Surf Riding Championship, held during the summer at Corona del Mar, California (pictured). While Kahanamoku was the most accomplished surfer at the time, he was unable to attend the event, leaving room for Wisconsin-born Tom Blake to secure his first win, kickstarting his career as the next surfing icon.

1930: Mass-produced surfboards

Surfboards at this time were enormous and unwieldy, weighing around 50kg, prompting Blake to design the first hollow surfboard. Despite being initially mocked by his fellow surfers, they were quickly taken by how fast the “cigar box” could slide through the water.

By 1930, Blake’s design had become the first mass-produced surfboard in the world and proved hugely successful. Here is Blake riding his board with actress Odetta Bray.

1935: The rise of surfboard waxing

Alfred Gallant Jr was arguably the first person to apply wax to his surfboard. One day, he came home to find his mother had used liquid wax on the floor; he discovered his feet could almost stick to it. The following day, he waxed the deck of his surfboard and found the surface helped prevent his feet from slipping off. Surfers across California soon also adopted this clever hack. 

1951: The birth of the wetsuit

Before 1951, wetsuits didn’t exist, so surfing in cold water was reserved for hardy types. Keen individuals experimented with ways to keep warm, including wearing wool jumpers soaked in oil.

Surfing was transformed that year when Hugh Bradner, a Californian physicist, invented neoprene wetsuit technology. He found the rubbery material trapped water next to the skin, maintaining a warm body temperature. Pictured is an example of an early wetsuit from 1954.

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1952: O'Neill opens his surf shop

After opening his first surf shop in San Francisco in 1952 (pictured), Jack O'Neill set about tweaking diving wetsuit designs to allow him to surf longer in the cold Pacific. The unprecedented success of his design led it to become the best-selling wetsuit in the world by the 1980s.

1954: Hobie Alter opens his surf store

Hobie Alter spent summers in Laguna Beach, trying every watersport he could. During a vacation in 1950, he started making balsa wood surfboards for his friends. Four years later, he opened his first surf shop in Dana Point.

By 1960, he was the first magnate of the surf industry, successfully mass-producing surfboards for a global market in a way his predecessor Blake couldn't accomplish. His entrepreneurial spirit never waned; this photograph shows Alter testing out a motorized surfboard.

1956: Arrival of polyurethane foam boards

Surfboards had always been made from wood until 1956, when Santa Monica-based Dave Sweet shaped the first polyurethane foam surfboard. The lightweight material meant the board was faster and easier to maneuver. Sadly, Sweet didn’t receive recognition for his invention until decades later, as he released his board at the same time as Hobie Alter’s design, which dominated the market.

1959: Gidget hits the silver screen

Kathy Kohner was just a regular girl, living in Malibu and surfing with her friends during the 1950s. After listening to tales of Kohner’s beach antics, her father Frederick wrote a novel based on his daughter's experiences, calling it Gidget.

Three years later, it became a successful Hollywood movie, starring Sandra Dee (pictured). Gidget fueled the already burgeoning surf scene across California and inspired more women to take up the sport. 

1960s: Surf culture explodes

Gidget sparked the beginning of 1960s surf culture that swept the nation, with southern California as its epicenter. It embodied the idea of a carefree existence embraced by 'beach bums' who quit their jobs in search of the perfect wave. This cultural shift came at a revolutionary time in US history when the youth-led hippie movement was emerging, alongside the women’s liberation movement.

1962: The Beach Boys have their first major hit

The rise of surf culture ushered in a new genre of music: surf pop. At the forefront were The Beach Boys. Despite their image as barefoot, tousle-haired beach bums, only one of the band members actually surfed. Nevertheless, the band proved a roaring success, releasing their major debut hit, Surfin’ Safari in 1962, followed by Surfin’ USA, which reached number three in the charts.

1966: The first full-length surf movie

As surf music grew in popularity, so did surf movies. Avid filmmaker Bruce Brown released the first full-length surf movie in 1966, entitled The Endless Summer, which involved chasing the seasons around the world on the hunt for empty waves. Despite only securing a budget of $50,000, The Endless Summer grossed over $20 million worldwide and kickstarted a global obsession with watching surfing on the silver screen.

1967: Shortboard revolution

As surfing performance progressed, more enthusiasts wanted a board that could help them surf the vertical face of the wave. In Hawaii and Australia, they began experimenting with shorter boards.

By 1971, the average surfboard had dropped from 9ft 6in in length to 6ft 6in (pictured), allowing riders to change direction quickly and carve swooping arcs across the face of the wave. It transformed the sport forever, ushering in a new, vigorous style of surfing.

1969: Invention of the surfboard leash

As you can see from this photograph, before 1969 there were no leashes attached to your ankle to stop your surfboard from being washed into the beach every time you fell off. Kneeboarder Steve Russ invented the modern surf leash in Santa Cruz, California and it quickly caught on. During the same year, Greg Noll rode one of the biggest waves of all time at Makaha in Hawaii, pushing performance to new heights.

1971: The Pipeline Masters competition, Hawaii

Pipeline in Hawaii was regarded as the most fearsome surf spot in the US, a steep, barreling wave that sucked over a shallow, pockmarked reef. It was the perfect stage to showcase the best surfers on the planet. The first Pipeline Masters competition took place in 1971 with a prize purse of $1,000 – an enormous sum of money for a surf contest at the time. Jeff Hakman (pictured) won first place.

1973: The Aikau brothers become famous

During the 1970s, the Aikau brothers became legends across Hawaii. Eddie, the eldest, was a big wave rider, known for his bravery in dangerous surf, but it was his brother Clyde (pictured) who became the first Indigenous Hawaiian to win the Duke Kahanamoku Invitational Surfing Championship at Sunset Beach in 1973.

Five years later, Eddie died after being lost at sea. A surfing competition was founded in his memory.

1982: The ASP is founded

The year 1976 marked the beginning of a championship world tour in surfing, run by IPS (International Professional Surfers), the governing body at the time. The finest surfers were invited to compete in a circuit, incorporating contests scattered across the world. However, by 1982, an Australian called Ian Cairns founded the Association of Surf Professionals (ASP), superseding the IPS tour, becoming the world tour surfers follow today.

1991: Point Break is released

Surfing has proved to be an enduring theme in Hollywood and Kathryn Bigelow’s 1991 movie Point Break is a classic example. Starring Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze, it follows the story of an FBI agent as he tries to infiltrate a gang of surfer bank robbers. Darrick Doerner, a top big wave surfer, played Swayze’s stunt double; the actor even used some of Doerner’s character traits in his character, Bodhi.

1994: Lisa Andersen makes waves

Women had competed on the world tour since 1977, but Lisa Andersen (pictured) broke new ground when she won four successive world titles between 1994 and 1997. As a single mum who left home aged 16 to pursue a surfing career, Andersen changed the way the public saw female surfers with her aggressive style and baggy boardshorts. This approach went on to shape beach fashion sold by her sponsors, Roxy.

1995: Surfing gains Olympic recognition

When Duke Kahanamoku won an Olympic gold medal for swimming in 1912, it was his dream to see surfing become a sport at the Games. A major turning point in the sport came in 1995, when the Olympic Movement recognized the International Surfing Association (ISA) as the world governing body. This was the first step towards seeing surfing included as an Olympic sport.

2011: Kelly Slater reigns supreme

If there is one surfer who deserves the moniker 'the greatest of all time,' it’s Kelly Slater. In 2011 the Floridian surfer won his 11th world title, an achievement that no other surfer has come close to matching. His determination distinguished him from the rest, alongside his ability to ride a variety of waves – from enormous hollow curls to small mushy peelers. He was still competing in professional events in 2024, aged 52.

2016: Public wave pools open in the US

The first artificial wave pool was invented in 1929, but it wasn’t until the mid-2000s that the technology improved enough to rival ocean waves. Nland Surf Park (pictured) in Austin, Texas was the first public wave pool in the US, opened in 2016. It was powered by Wavegarden technology from northern Spain, providing long left- and right-hand waves, ranging from one foot to five feet in size, for inland surfers.

2019: Women gain equal prize money

After decades of battling, in 2019 female pro surfers finally secured equal prize money on the WSL World Championship Tour (formerly the ASP World Tour). Prior to this, in 2018, male surfers were competing for $607,800, while the women were only awarded $303,900. The WSL became the first US-based global sports league to offer this. Hawaiian Carissa Moore (pictured) won the 2019 tour, making her the first female to reap the benefits.

2020: Record-breaking waves

Jaws dropped in 2020 as German surfer Sebastian Steudtner broke the Guinness World Record for the largest wave ever surfed – 86 feet – at Praia do Norte, Nazaré in Portugal (pictured).

He beat the previous record of 80 feet, claimed by Rodrigo Koxa in 2017. He has since surfed an even bigger wave – notching a height of 93.73 feet at the same location in 2024 – but this new feat requires official confirmation before entering the record books.

2021: Olympics inclusion

Surfing was included in the Tokyo Olympic Games for the very first time in 2020 (the games took place in 2021 due to COVID-19). Carissa Moore won the first Olympic gold medal in surfing for the US, while Brazilian Italo Ferreira secured gold in the men’s event (pictured). It was a crucial moment in the history of surfing; the ultimate recognition of the sport on the world stage, encouraged a new youthful audience.

2025: Tech fuels the future

From its humble beginnings, surfing has transformed into a lucrative, international industry, and the US surf tourism market alone was estimated to be worth $14 billion in 2024. More people are taking up the sport than ever before, and with GPS-enabled surfboards, performance-tracking smart watches, and artificial wave technology improving year-on-year (as shown in this photo of the landlocked Kelly Slater Surf Ranch), the trend is set to continue.

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