I consider myself a good surf historian. I can tell you who ignited the shortboard revolution of the mid ’60s, and who lit the fuse for the longboard renaissance a decade or so later. I was there when some of this history occurred, and even helped write a few of its liner notes.
And, yes, I was once guilty of being a know-it-all on the subject of surf history. That all changed last week, upon entry to the California Surf Museum, where I arrived to pay my annual dues.
After entering the building, I walked around to face some of the most beautiful examples of wooden surfboards I have ever seen. I was so impressed, I tried photographing them, which proved only slightly less difficult than lifting them (they are around 16 feet long by about 250 pounds.)
So, please take my word for it when I say these works of surf art are without parallel in the surfing world. Combining their beauty with their historical significance, the boards on display at CSM put this exhibit at the top of every surfer’s to-do list.
Taken from trees, these boards allow us to see all the way down to the very roots of the activity (I hesitate to call it a sport) that has held us in its tractor beam all these years.
While the original surfboards reside in Honolulu’s Bishop Museum, Santa Cruz board building legend Bob Pearson recently handcrafted exact replicas after spending countless hours with the originals.
Rather than try to explain further, I’ll lift the words directly from the exhibit’s program.
“A Princess, three princes, a Duke and a Hawaiian Royal Minister’s grandson would be the stately stars who initiated standup surf riding to Europe, Australia and the United States. It began in 1885 when three Hawaiian Princes attended St. Matthew’s Hall Military School in San Mateo, California, fashioned surfboards from redwood and took them into the waves at Santa Cruz Bay.”
The three princes, David, Edward and Jonah Kawananakoa were nephews of Hawaiian King David Kalakaua. While away at school in San Mateo, the surfers managed to not only build surfboards from the available redwood in the region, but to haul them 55 miles (the automobile was less than a year old, so transportation was most likely horse and buggy) to the waves of Santa Cruz.
While the surf in Santa Cruz does correspond with that of Oahu, the water temperature does not. This story illustrates what every surfer knows to this day, that a surfer cannot be stopped from riding waves, regardless of the obstacles placed in their path.
Shortly after the three Princes introduced surfing our West Coast, in 1892, Princess Ka´iulani, heir to the Hawaiian throne, was sent to study in England. She too overcame the unfamiliar sting of cold water and, in so doing, brought surfing to the British Isles.
More familiar to most surfers are surfing ambassadors, the Hawaiian-born George Freeth and, of course, the father of modern surfing, Duke Kahanamoku.
The whole story of bringing surfing around the world is being told at CSM. Admission is free to members, while non-members will be charged a price equivalent to that of a large burger, hold the fries. To learn more about this exhibit, please visit CSM’s website: surfmuseum.org.
