History of Surfboards

In ancient times the art of surfing was a deeply spiritual matter for the Hawaiian people and the surf is not only recreational but a means to resolve conflicts and training for the Hawaiian chiefs. The Hawaiian people had rituals for the construction of surfboards and surfboard which built ranged from 10-16 feet of solid redwood and the board and the top of their social rank. During the early days, the Hawaiian has made two types of surfboards made from the Wili Wili, the Ula and Koa tree.

The 'Olo' surfboard was mounted by the chiefs or nobles usually between 14-16 feet and 'Alai' surfboard was between 10-12 feet in length and assembled by the commoners.

Captain Cook witnessed the native surf surfboards solid wood when he visited the Hawaiian Islands in 1777 and his diaries are the first official documents that describe the art of surfing.

Later, in the mid-19th century when the western / white missionaries arrived almost died surfing in the islands. At the beginning of 20th century missionary influence on the islands began to decline along with the Hawaiians and the new European and American settlers began surfing again. One was George FREETH, which through its surf, experimented with board design, and cut its 16-foot Hawaiian board in half. Making a typical solid Redwood Hawaiian board at the time about 6 to 10 feet long.

In 1926 one of the most famous names in the history of surfing, Tom Blake designed the first surfboard hollow Redwood built with hundreds of holes drilled in it and was coated with a thin board of wood at the top and bottom of the board . The board is 15 feet long, 19 "wide, 4" thick and weighs 100 pounds. This surfboard hole eventually became the first mass production board in 1930 due to its weight and speed that could generate. In 1932 Balsa wood from South America became a popular material for the construction of surfboards. The new balsa wood boards only weighs about 30 to 40 pounds apposés to 90 to 100 lb Boards Redwood. This weight reduction is an important step forward in board design, and became more and more in demand.

The end of World War II opening of 2 new possibilities in the design of surfboard as many of the new material has become available through advances in technology. Fiberglass and Styrofoam are the most important of these.

The shortboard first came to the scene surf over the past 60 years in the early 70 and the average length increased from 10 to 6 feet, with an obvious reduction in weight. These new boards allows surfers to ride in the pocket of the wave and Dick Brewer is credited with its design. These new boards allowed faster, more aggressive and more maneuverable surf. It was around this time that the dual purpose was to apposés just the one.

In 1966, Nat Young won the world championship in a shortboard named "Sam" designed by George Greenough and Bob McTavish. This board enables higher performance with style surf back sharper and with greater acceleration, which kick-started the "shortboard revolution".