Surfing since the 50's

Fibreglass Boards

With the onset of the Second World War surfing paused for breath. Most surfers were in the Armed Forces and most beaches were covered in defences to prevent invasion from enemy forces. However once the war was over there was a huge boost from all the new technology that had been invented during the war years. Fibreglass was the most important of these and the balsa and fibreglass boards that were developed after the war took surfing on to the next level. Previously un-ride able waves were now easily surf able and the number of possible surf spots increased exponentially.

The Endless Summer 

The next major leap forward was midway through the 50s with the development of polyurethane foam. Up until now the supply of balsa wood had been a restriction on the rate at which surfboards could be manufactured. This coincided or perhaps led to several Hollywood films on beach culture, which gave an adrenalin shot straight into the arm of western youth culture. These films continued into the 1960s with the pinnacle being Bruce Brown's 'The Endless Summer'.  

The sound tracks to these created a surfing music scene that developed across America, the epitome of this being the 'Beach Boys' who gained international fame. This decade also saw the arrival of surfing magazines with Surfer magazine going from a circulation of 5000 to 100,000 over the ten-year period.

During the 1960s there were lots of advances within surfing - competition surfing, professional surfers, leaps forward in wetsuit technology, specific manoeuvres like 'hanging ten' to name but a few. The last major innovations that hit surfing came at the turn of the decade and allowed the sport to metamorphose into the extreme sport that it is perceived as today. The arrival of the short board and the acceptance of using leashes allowed surfers to push the limits of their surfing. The far more responsive and manoeuvrable short boards allowed surfers to get into positions and attempt manoeuvres that until now would have been extremely difficult or impossible. Having a leash gave surfers the confidence to push the boundaries of their surfing without losing their boards.

Occy et al

In the 1980s the biggest advance was the invention of the thruster, the three-finned short board that allowed surfers to perform some of the tricks that up until now had only been seen in skate parks. Arial manoeuvres were now achievable and when incorporated into competition surfing created a generation of surf superstars. Sunny Garcia, Mark Occhilupo, Tom Carroll, Tom Curran, Shaun Thompson, Gary Elkerton, Michael Ho, Brock Little, the list is long. Surfing had become so commercial / professional, surfers were becoming famous for being 'free surfers' and not competing - Gerry Lopez being one of the most famous. Women's surfing exploded through a succession of greats - Margo Godfrey-Oberg, Rell Sunn, Pam Burridge, Pauline Menczer, Layne Beachley, Freida Zamba and Wendy Botha leading the charge.

Lisa and Kelly

During the 90's two superstars dominated the sport; the Quicksilver kids of Kelly Slater and Lisa Anderson. Both took surfing to a new level and during the 90s surfing became mainstream, Slater even appearing as a regular in the huge hit TV series 'Baywatch'. Big business latched onto surfing to feed from its sexy and healthy lifestyle allure; even the very act of using the Internet took surfing's name in vain.

Surfing Today

Today our generation have inherited a proud heritage, a sport over 1700 years old that is as inexplicable entwined with Mother Nature and the Ocean, as it was when the first Polynesian travellers arrived in Hawaii. The tools of our trade have changed somewhat, as new branches of the family have grown into sports in their own right and are bound to change further as younger and more adventurous surfers take new technologies and push the limits that little bit further.

The one constant throughout has been the Ocean and Mother Nature herself. We remain her custodians and caretakers for the next generation and it is up to us to look after our playgrounds, so that future generations of surfers will feel as stoked as we do.