The act of surfing involves highly-skilled humans gliding, sliding, or otherwise riding waves of energy as they pass through water. As this book argues, however, this act of surfing does not exist in isolation. It is defined by the cultures and geographies that synergize with it – by the places, ideas, images, and other representations which at once reflect, create, and commodify this spatial practice. This book innovatively explores the spaces of surf and surf-riding, informed specifically by the perspective of human geography. Based on a range of critical turns within the social sciences, the book explores the locations, relational sensibilities, and transformative nature of surfing spaces, and examines how the spatial practice has been scripted by dominant surfing cultures. The book details how prescriptive (b)orders of access, entitlement, and marginalization have been created, and how, with the advent of new craft, media, and ideals, they are being actively challenged to redefine surfing spaces in the twenty-first century.

Over the last forty years, surfing has emerged from its Pacific islands origins to become a global industry. Since its beginnings more than a thousand years ago, surfing’s icon has been the surfboard—its essential instrument, the point of physical connection between human and nature, body and wave. To a surfer, a board is more than a piece of equipment; it is a symbol, a physical emblem of cultural, social, and emotional meanings. Based on research in three important surfing locations—Hawai‘i, southern California, and southeastern Australia—this is the first book to trace the surfboard from regional craft tradition to its key role in the billion-dollar surfing business. The surfboard workshops of Hawai‘i, California, and Australia are much more than sites of surfboard manufacturing. They are hives of creativity where legacies of rich cultural heritage and the local environment combine to produce unique, bold board designs customized to suit prevailing waves. The globalization and corporatization of surfing have presented small, independent board makers with many challenges stemming from the wide availability of cheap, mass-produced boards and the influx of new surfers. The authors follow the story of board makers who have survived these challenges and stayed true to their calling by keeping the mythology and creativity of board making alive. In addition, they explore the heritage of the craft, the secrets of custom board production, the role of local geography in shaping board styles, and the survival of hand-crafting skills. From the olo boards of ancient Hawaiian kahuna to the high-tech designs that represent the current state of the industry, Surfing Places, Surfboard Makers offers an entrée into the world of surfboard making that will find an eager audience among researchers and students of Pacific culture, history, geography, and economics, as well as surfing enthusiasts.

Covering famed surf spots all over the world, this unique full-color gift book and travel guide invites you to discover such unexpected gems as the Amazon and the Gulf of Alaska. From the frigid waters off Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula to Nazaré, Portugal, where in 2013 Garrett McNamara broke a world record for surfing the tallest wave (78 feet!), highlights also include: North Shore, Oahu, Hawaii Gold Coast, Australia Malibu, California Faroe Islands, Denmark Cocoa Beach, Florida Hossegor, France Grajagan, Indonesia Montauk, New York Thurso, Scotland Jeffreys Bay, South Africa And dozens more! Fifty Places to Surf takes readers on a wide-roving adventure, divulging the details that make each venue unique—and plenty of tips for those who aspire to surf there. Author Chris Santella writes in his introduction, “Surfing means different things to different people. For some it might mean longboarding mellow chest-high waves in board shorts, followed by a great sushi dinner; for others it may mean donning a six-millimeter wetsuit to brave near-freezing waters and triple overheads. Fifty Places to Surf Before You Die attempts to capture the spectrum of surfing experiences—from beginner-friendly to downright death-defying.” Featuring interviews with seasoned surfing experts such as pro surfer Joel Parkinson and Billabong executive Shannan North, Fifty Places to Surf Before You Die is an essential travel companion for surfers of all levels who are looking to catch that perfect wave.

Whilst being an ambiguous and contested concept, sustainability has become one of the twenty-first century’s most pervasive ideas, as humanity’s increasing impact on the environment, as well as increasing social and economic inequalities, have local and global consequences. Surfing is a globally recognised cultural phenomenon whose unique connection with nature and rapid expansion into a multibillion pound industry offers exciting synergies for exploring various dimensions of sustainability. This book is the first to bring together the world’s foremost experts on the themes of sustainability and surfing. Drawing upon cutting edge theory and research, this book offers multidisciplinary perspectives and methodological approaches on the social, environmental and economic components of sustainable surfing. Contributions provide unique discussions that bridge the gap between theory and practice, exploring topics such as sustainable surf tourism, surf-econometrics, surf activism, surfing governance, the surfing industry, and technological advancements. Each chapter produces in-depth insights to provide foundational insights of the relationship between sustainability and surfing. This book will appeal to multiple audiences in different disciplines and sectors. Practitioners will benefit from the insights presented in this volume, while both undergraduate and postgraduate students will find this volume an invaluable companion, including those working in geography, environmental studies, sport sciences, and leisure and tourism studies.

Sex, gender and sexuality have played an important role in shaping the culture of surfing and are central themes in the study of sport and movement cultures. Rooted in a rich precolonial history, surfing has undergone a modern transformation shaped by visual culture, commodification, sportization, mediatization and globalization, arguably all linked to sex, gender and sexuality. Using the physical culture of surfing as its focus, this international collection discusses the complex relationships between surfing, sex/es, gender/s and sexuality/ies. This book crosses new theoretical, empirical and methodological boundaries by exploring themes and issues such as indigenous histories, exploitation, the marginalized, race, ethnicity, disability, counter cultures, transgressions and queering. Offering original insights into surfing’s symbolism, postcolonialism, patriocolonial whiteness and heteronormativity, its chapters are connected by a collective aspiration to document sex/es, gender/s and sexuality/ies as they are shaped by surfing and, importantly, as they re-shape the many, possibly previously unknown, worlds of surfing. Surfing, Sex, Genders and Sexualities is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in the sociology of sport or gender and sexuality studies.

The evolution of surfing—from the first forms of wave-riding in Oceania, Africa, and the Americas to the inauguration of surfing as a competitive sport at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics—traverses the age of empire, the rise of globalization, and the onset of the digital age, taking on new meanings at each juncture. As corporations have sought to promote surfing as a lifestyle and leisure enterprise, the sport has also narrated its own epic myths that place North America at the center of surf culture and relegate Hawai‘i and other indigenous surfing cultures to the margins. The Critical Surf Studies Reader brings together eighteen interdisciplinary essays that explore surfing's history and development as a practice embedded in complex and sometimes oppositional social, political, economic, and cultural relations. Refocusing the history and culture of surfing, this volume pays particular attention to reclaiming the roles that women, indigenous peoples, and people of color have played in surfing. Contributors. Douglas Booth, Peter Brosius, Robin Canniford, Krista Comer, Kevin Dawson, Clifton Evers, Chris Gibson, Dina Gilio-Whitaker, Dexter Zavalza Hough-Snee, Scott Laderman, Kristin Lawler, lisahunter, Colleen McGloin, Patrick Moser, Tara Ruttenberg, Cori Schumacher, Alexander Sotelo Eastman, Glen Thompson, Isaiah Helekunihi Walker, Andrew Warren, Belinda Wheaton

Surfing and Sustainability presents a new way of understanding the impact of surfing on the environment, society and the economy, providing important insights into the field of sustainability and arguing that the activity of surfing offers a unique opportunity to explore the ambiguity of sustainability. The book contextualises surfing within current debates on sustainability and applies these debates to an innovative theoretical framework drawn from elements of a risk society and sociotechnical transitions. The book discusses the capacity of surfing to influence behaviour, both at an individual and organisational level, exploring sustainability from a range of perspectives including industry, the charity sector, media and celebrity culture. Featuring a range of international case studies, it analyses the greening of the surf industry through topics such as ECOBOARD surfboard manufacturing, business innovation and branding, environmental activism, information technology and surf forecasting, as well as the expansion of artificial wave technology. The book also considers the future directions of surfing and how the inclusion of surfing in the 2020 Olympic Games will impact sustainability debates. This is important reading for academics and scholars, as well as undergraduate and postgraduate students working and studying in sports studies, sociology, geography, economics, psychology, marine science, coastal management and economics. It is also a valuable resource for practitioners across the globe.

Surfing California is your one-of-a-kind guide to more than 200 of the best breaks in the Golden State - from classic surf spots to lesser-known waves. This revised and updated, full-color guide now includes SUP-friendly spots, too--allowing surfers and paddlers alike to find the best breaks and all get along! Explore the surf from the Oregon border to the Mexican border, from North Jetty in Arcata to Steamer Lane in Santa Cruz to Huntington Beach Pier in Huntington Beach.

100 Best Surf Spots in the World will include top surfing destinations ranging from Sunset Beach and the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia to Malibu, California and Oahu, Hawaii. Lesser-known destinations such as Metigama, Sri Lanka and Aviero, Northern Portugal take readers to every corner of the globe in search of the perfect wave. Other countries that make the list include: South Africa, France, England, Scotland, Ireland, Morocco, New Zealand, Japan, Indonesia, and Fiji. Each destination will include brilliant full-color photography of both the area and the breaks; location map, an introduction to the area, notes on the surf and why it ranked, a personal anecdote from the author while there, and a quick-reference chart including such items as skill level required, nerves needed, and surfable days.

The Routledge Handbook of Sport, Gender and Sexuality brings together important new work from 68 leading international scholars that, collectively, demonstrates the intrinsic interconnectedness of sport, gender and sexuality. It introduces what is, in essence, a sophisticated sub-area of sport sociology, covering the field comprehensively, as well as signalling ideas for future research and analysis. Wide-ranging across different historical periods, different sports, and different local and global contexts, the book incorporates personal, ideological and political narratives; varied conceptual, methodological and theoretical approaches; and examples of complexities and nuanced ways of understanding the gendered and sexualized dynamics of sport. It examines structural and cultural forms of gender segregation, homophobia, heteronormativity and transphobia, as well as the ideological struggles and changes that have led to nuanced ways of thinking about the sport, gender and sexuality nexus. This is a landmark work of reference that will be a key resource for students and researchers working in sport studies, gender studies, sexuality studies or sociology.