Surfing Around the World

Surfing is thought to be over thousands of years old but was not discovered until 1778 by James Cook. At the time only Hawaiian royalty had the privilege of surfing the big waves while commoners only rode smaller ones. Soon after, missionaries came in contact with the islands and condemned surfing as a sinful and wasteful habit, leaving the Hawaiian culture almost in pieces for 150 years. Then in the late 1800's, King Kalakaua brought surfing back to life as a great cultural event and in 1905, Duke Kahanamoku began to make surfing a fun sport for all countries around the world to enjoy. Discover some of the best beaches to surf inside Eric's fun painting!