The Origins of Surfing

Surfing is one of the oldest sports in the world. Surfing has an extremely interesting history. It originates from Hawaii. It was originally called “he’enalu”, which translates into wave-riding. According to the website The Sport of Kings Bitton, "he'e" means the transition from a solid to a liquid, and "nalu" "refers to the surfing motion of a wave". It first started as a way of fishermen bringing in their catch, and over the centuries it developed into a sport. It slowly anchored itself in tradition. Surfing fitted in perfectly with Hawaiian society and tradition as back then most people where fishermen, which meant that most people would have used this technique to bring in their catch. All these fishermen became very comfortable and familiar with these ways. They passed these on to their children, who in turn did the same. As it developed into a sport, as everybody knew about it, everybody started to surf. Another reason it fitted in well with Hawaiian society is as because the weather is so good there, most people are very comfortable being in the water as it is a good way to cool down. Surfing became a popular water sport as it was an entertaining way for the locals to cool down in the water by still having fun and enjoying themselves.