A deeply-rendered self-portrait of a life-long surfer by the acclaimed "New Yorker" journalist
"Barbarian Days" is William Finnegan's memoir of an obsession, of a complex enchantment. Surfing looks like a sport, but that's only to outsiders. To initiates, it is something else entirely: a beautiful addiction, a morally dangerous pastime, a way of life. Raised in California and Hawaii, Finnegan started surfing as a child. He has chased waves all over the world, wandering for years through the South Pacific, Australia, Asia, Africa. A bookish boy, then an excessively adventurous young man, he went on to become a distinguished writer and war reporter. "Barbarian Days" takes us deep into unfamiliar worlds, some of them right under our noses--off the coasts of New York and San Francisco--and dramatizes the edgy camaraderie of close male friendships annealed in challenging waves.
Finnegan shares stories of life in a whites-only gang in a tough school in Honolulu while his closest friend was a Hawaiian surfer, and of a world turned upside down for kids and adults alike by the social upheavals of the 1960s. He details the intricacies of famous waves and his own apprenticeships to them. Youthful folly--he drops acid while riding huge Honolua Bay on Maui--is served with rueful humor. Their knapsacks crammed with reef charts, he and a buddy bushwhack through Polynesia. They discover while camping on an uninhabited island in Fiji one of the world's greatest waves. As Finnegan's travels take him ever farther afield, he becomes an improbable anthropologist: unpicking the picturesque simplicity of a Samoan fishing village, dissecting the sexual politics of Tongan interactions with Americans and Japanese, navigating the Indonesian black market while nearly succumbing to malaria. Throughout, he surfs, carrying readers with him on rides of harrowing, unprecedented lucidity.
"Barbarian Days" is an old-school adventure story, an intellectual autobiography, a social history, a literary road movie, and an extraordinary exploration of a novice's gradual mastering of a demanding, little-understood art. Today, Finnegan's surfing life is undiminished. Frantically juggling work and family, he chases his enchantment through Long Island ice storms and obscure corners of Madagascar.

The image of surfing is everywhere in American popular culture - films, novels, television shows, magazines, newspaper articles, music, and especially advertisements. In this book, Kristin Lawler examines the surfer, one of the most significant and enduring archetypes in American popular culture, from its roots in ancient Hawaii, to Waikiki beach at the dawn of the twentieth century, continuing through Depression-era California, cresting during the early sixties, persistently present over the next three decades, and now, more globally popular than ever. Throughout, Lawler sets the image of the surfer against the backdrop of the negative reactions to it by those groups responsible for enforcing the Puritan discipline - pro-work, anti-spontaneity - on which capital depends and thereby offers a fresh take on contemporary discussions of the relationship between commercial culture and counterculture, and between counterculture and capitalism.

Sam Bleakley and the surf EXPLORE team take us on a roller coaster ride through Gabon, India, Vietnam, Algeria, China and Haiti, drumming up a tropical beat. Combining 'Deep Travel', John Callahan's incredible photography and Sam's performance writing, they capture the spirit of these turbulent coast scapes, blood racing, running on salt water fuel. The wide belt around the Equator - the tropics - has become an alluring path for travel, but a region often steeped in war and environmental disasters. Sam and surf EXPLORE go off the regular route, carving a niche, collaborating with locals, documenting the occasion poetically and with precision. Where 'waves transform from green glass to white foam, the surfboard is the frozen double of that transition - a rainbow bridge that allows you to step in the blink of an eye from inertia to adrenaline-fuelled ecstasy to the fear of the water-wrestling hold-down.' The paradoxical red hot and cool blue of surfing, and the often icy logic of preparation for challenging travel, form a matrix from which springs a distinctive kind of writing as performance. By turns, surf EXPLORE gather their wits at the cross roads where 'lovers part and souls get taken by the lost high way, lured down the wrong route.'

The image of surfing is everywhere in American popular culture - films, novels, television shows, magazines, newspaper articles, music, and especially advertisements. In this book, Kristin Lawler examines the surfer, one of the most significant and enduring archetypes in American popular culture, from its roots in ancient Hawaii, to Waikiki beach at the dawn of the twentieth century, continuing through Depression-era California, cresting during the early sixties, persistently present over the next three decades, and now, more globally popular than ever. Throughout, Lawler sets the image of the surfer against the backdrop of the negative reactions to it by those groups responsible for enforcing the Puritan discipline - pro-work, anti-spontaneity - on which capital depends and thereby offers a fresh take on contemporary discussions of the relationship between commercial culture and counterculture, and between counterculture and capitalism.

The mixed-race Hawaiian athlete George Freeth brought surfing to Venice, California, in 1907. Over the next twelve years, Freeth taught Southern Californians to surf and swim while creating a modern lifeguard service that transformed the beach into a destination for fun, leisure, and excitement. Patrick Moser places Freeth's inspiring life story against the rise of the Southern California beach culture he helped shape and define. Freeth made headlines with his rescue of seven fishermen, an act of heroism that highlighted his innovative lifeguarding techniques. But he also founded California's first surf club and coached both male and female athletes, including Olympic swimming champion and "father of modern surfing" Duke Kahanamoku. Often in financial straits, Freeth persevered as a teacher and lifeguarding pioneer--building a legacy that endured long after his death during the 1919 influenza pandemic. A compelling merger of biography and sports history, Surf and Rescue brings to light the forgotten figure whose novel way of seeing the beach sparked the imaginations of people around the world.

A surfboard is a surfer's best friend, writes author and surf legend Rod Sumpter. "It's the apple of one's eye and a window to the surfer's future skill and achievements -- a ticket to the best show on earth!" Now Rod's passion for surfboard shaping has led him to team with board-building friends the world over to present this wonderful selection of new, hand-crafted custom surfboards, many featuring amazing artwork. Manufacturers and artists include Robb Havassy, Todd Proctor, Chuck Bassett, Drew Brophy, Hobie, Stewart, and Con Surfboards in the U.S., Josh Dowling, Len Dibben, and Steve Friedman Surfboards in Australia, Kimo Greene Surfboards in Hawaii, Rod Sumpter Surfboards and Seabase Ltd. (Hobie Surfboards Europe and Stewart Surfboards Europe) in the U.K. Sit back and enjoy as Rod takes you on an exciting tour of custom surfboards available today! Measurements and current values included.

Surfing has emerged from ancient roots to become a twenty-first century phenomenon - an 'alternative' sport, lifestyle and art form with a global profile and ever-increasing numbers of participants. Drawing on popular surf culture, academic literature and the analytical tools of social theory, this book is the first sustained commentary on the contemporary social and cultural meaning of surfing. Core themes of mind and body, emotions and identity, aesthetics, style, and sensory experience are explored through a variety of topics, and particular attention is paid to: * evolving perceptions of the sea and the beach * the globalization of surfing * surfing as a subculture and lifestyle * the embodiment and gendering of surfing. Surfing and Social Theory is an original and theoretically rigorous text that sets the agenda for future work in this area. Along with the Surf Science courses now appearing in universities around the world, this text provides students and researchers in sport, sociology, culture and geography with a new perspective and a thought-provoking text.

This wanderlust-fuelled guide profiles breath-taking surfing spots in seven European regions, including Spanish Cantabria, the French Basque Country, Tenerife, Belgium, the UK, and Brittany. Veerle Helsen, a die-hard surfer and design journalist, has combed Europe for a mix of better and lesser- known surfing spots, authentic beach restaurants, fabulous hotels, and the most beautiful driving routes. This book expands on her previous photo/guidebook to surf travel (also called Surf & Stay, 9789401449069) which was published in 2018 and focused on the coasts of Spain and Portugal.

A captivating look at two centuries of surfing-"the Sport of Queens"-from Native Hawaiian royalty to the breakout style and jaw-dropping feats on the waves today. Few subjects in the world of sports and or the outdoors is more timely or compelling than women's surfing. From smart, strong, fearless women shattering records on 80-foot waves to professional athletes fighting for equal pay and a more fair and just playing field, these amazing, wave-riding warriors provide an inspirational and aspirational cast of powerful role models for women (and men) across all backgrounds and generations. Over the past two-hundred years, and especially the past five decades, the surfing lifestyle have become the envy of people around the world. The perception of sun, sand, surf, strong young women and their inimitable style, has created a booming lifestyle and sports industry-and the sport that is set to make its Olympic exhibition debut in Tokyo 2021. A massive shift from when colonizers tried to extinguish all traces of Native Hawaiian surfing and its sacred culture. What is it about the surfing that intrigues people of all ages, from all corners of the world? The beaches and idyllic locations? The unique style and mystique that surfers project? These women, on the beach and riding giant waves, or in the media, have made their mark on not just their sport, but our wider culture. Women on Waves is filled with phenomenal athletic performance, breakthrough female achievements, and plenty of inspiration and fun to see us through until the time when we can all hit the surf once more! Spanning a millennia from Hawaii to Malibu, New York to Australia, South Africa to the South Pacific and beyond, Jim Kempton presents a fascinating new narrative that will captivate anyone who loves sports and the outdoors.

Surfing has inspired fantastic and colorful graphic designs to advertise surfboards, surf shops, wax, wetsuits, magazines..., even skateboards and snowboards. Here are more than 1,250 to challenge collectors, inspire artists, and charm the surfing crowd. Written by a veteran enthusiast who knows his way around the surfing world, this exhibit-in-a-book, from many private collections and institutions, is the most comprehensive surf show ever attempted. Here are stickers, patches, and decals from before 1920 until today, documenting the history of surfing worldwide and providing classic and original designs of great beauty and style. The big-name surfboard makers are here, and the shops, organizations, and beaches are represented, from Hawaii to Mexico to Florida. Surfing movies, plastered cars, lifeguard stands, and icons who popularized the sport, from Duke Kahanamoku (1920s), to Greg Noll (1960s), to California Girls (always). Be startled with the creativity these designs show and enjoy them. Surfing has had a dynamic influence on modern life, and it is all captured here in its graphics.

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 surf- board-its essential instrument, the point of physical connection between human and nature, body and wave. Based on research in three important surfing locations-Hawai'i, southern California, and southeastern Australia-this is the first book to trace the surf- board from regional craft tradition to its key role in the billion-dollar surfing business. Hawai'i, California, and Australia are much more than sites of surfboard manufacturing. Their surfboard workshops 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 authors follow the story of board makers who have survived these challenges and explores 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 entre?e into the world of surf- board making that will find an eager audience among researchers and students of Pacific culture, history, geography, and economics, as well as surfing enthusiasts.

Motorboating Start to Finish is the perfect book for you if you are new to motorboating and need to learn the basics, or if you are experienced, but wish to broaden your skills and develop your techniques. This easy-to-follow, step-by-step guide takes you through the basic principles, preparing to go to sea, your first voyage and safety at sea. It includes advice on choosing and buying a motorboat, essential equipment, boat handling, tides, weather and navigation, all taken from courses delivered by the UK's biggest sailing school, the UKSA. This book is accessible to all levels, giving those new to motorboating straightforward advice, and showing experienced powerboaters how to take the sport to the next level with professional tips that will help improve speed, skill, safety and enjoyment. It is a complete reference for every level of tender, RIB, fishing boat, motor cruiser or sportsboat driver. This book is packed with hundreds of illustrations and photographs, and is a great way to learn, develop and refresh your powerboating skills.

This is the radical journey of an Italian surf punk studying Chinese in the late 1980s, fuelling surf adventures in the 1990s through work as a Mandarin interpreter., running Surf News magazine in the 2000s, tackling the Silver Dragon river bore in 2007, and then moving the so-called 'Peoples Republic of Empty Waves' to explore the virgin breaks and the surf development of China. Along the way, Nik discovers an untold history of wave riding in dynastic culture. How do the breathing techniques of Daoism, the flow of calligraphy and the pragmatic values of Confucianism relate to the art of wave riding? Strangely, and quite brilliantly, this happens in the oldest continuous civilisation in the world over 1200 years ago.

Surfing has emerged from ancient roots to become a twenty-first century phenomenon - an 'alternative' sport, lifestyle and art form with a global profile and ever-increasing numbers of participants. Drawing on popular surf culture, academic literature and the analytical tools of social theory, this book is the first sustained commentary on the contemporary social and cultural meaning of surfing. Core themes of mind and body, emotions and identity, aesthetics, style, and sensory experience are explored through a variety of topics, and particular attention is paid to: * evolving perceptions of the sea and the beach * the globalization of surfing * surfing as a subculture and lifestyle * the embodiment and gendering of surfing. Surfing and Social Theory is an original and theoretically rigorous text that sets the agenda for future work in this area. Along with the Surf Science courses now appearing in universities around the world, this text provides students and researchers in sport, sociology, culture and geography with a new perspective and a thought-provoking text.

Experience the thrill and adventure of riding the surf through this wonderful compilation of graphics and collectibles from around the globe, including California, Hawaii, Australia, Britain, and Europe. Surf legend Rod Sumpter shares his memories of the unique culture that evolved in the mid-twentieth century -- one characterized by surf, sport, beach beat, and Friday night surf stomps echoing the joy of riding big, small, and hollow waves. Surf movies were in their heyday and colorful posters, now highly collectible, announced the date and time of local showings. Enjoy this fantastic assortment of movie posters and handbills, striking magazine covers, decals, patches, vintage photographs, advertising, trophies, surf-theme record albums, and much more. Current values are included in the captions. Surfing enthusiasts everywhere will crave this nostalgic and visually exciting look at one of the world's most exhilarating sports.

Your complete practical guide to this fast-paced and addictive sport. Kiteboarding has gone from strength to strength over the last few years, and interest is only set to increase with its inclusion in the 2024 Paris Olympics. In this book, Andy Gratwick (Head of Training for British Kitesports) gets you started with the kite and takes you through to flying it on the water, jumping, tricks and racing, as well as covering weather, wind and tide theory, and helping you select the right kit. Sections cover: - The origins of kiteboarding and massive rise in popularity in recent years - How a kite flies and basic weather principles as well as background on tides and currents, waves, and wind vs tide - Getting started on land – LEI rigging, assembly, launching and flying, body-dragging - How to master your board skills – turns, stopping, rules of the road - Going upwind, riding toeside, turning and transition - Moving fast and riding waves; learning to tack and gybe - Details on all kiteboarding disciplines from speed kiting to kiting on land - How to improve your performance and enjoy incredible airtime! For this second edition there's a new chapter devoted to all things foiling, as well as new text on latest kit, more effective techniques, tips on higher jumps, and new photography throughout. Packed with step-by-step photo sequences explaining the basic moves all the way through to more advanced tricks, and including information on competitions and becoming an instructor, this is a book no kiter will want to be without.

Over 400 dynamic color photos and a concise text rich in facts show important developments in surfing over the last century. The ancient Polynesian heritage of surfing is presented through its introduction to the modern world by Hawaiians such as Duke Kahanamoku in the early 1900s. Emphasis is given to a later period when surfing's popularity grew steadily in southern California during the 1950s and 1960s and surf culture was assimilated into a west-coast lifestyle. The music, filmmaking, photography, design, and literature of surfing all have influenced popular culture internationally. Surfboards are shown here to have evolved from 150-pound solid redwood boards to "hollow" boards of the 1930s and lightweight foam and fiberglass boards of the 1970s. Northern Californians contributed the development of the wetsuit as an adaptation to cold water conditions. As a result, the endless summer now can be found on any beach in the world. This book is based on the exhibition "He'e Nalu: Wave Riding" presented at he San Francisco Airport Museums from October, 1997 to February, 1998.

Fearlessness has got nothing to do with being unafraid. It's about doing things anyway, getting on with it, living, whether you're afraid or not. Fuzzy-haired, free-spirited, cello-playing Catrina is devastated when her lover, Jack, leaves her to go surfing on the other side of the world. Trapped in a dead-end job and torn by his departure, she dreams of running away. But how do you run away when you're flat broke? Luckily, her friend Andrew comes up with a plan: they'll get an old van, turn it into a camper and busk their way from Norway to Portugal, via Nordkapp, the land of the Midnight Sun. When a tragic accident occurs, the journey suddenly takes on new meaning. As she navigates personal loss and the daily challenges of life on the road, Catrina begins to learn the true meaning of love and courage and, above all else, the importance of following her dreams. This is an unforgettable story of a journey like no other - a deeply emotional and inspirational debut by a unique writer.

This is the true story of Ted, Viscount Deerhurst, the son of the Earl of Coventry and an American ballerina who dedicated his life to becoming a professional surfer. Surfing was a means of escape, from England, from the fraught charges of nobility, from family, and, often, from his own demons. Ted was good on the board, but never made it to the very highest ranks of a sport that, like most, treats second-best as nowhere at all. He kept on surfing, ending up where all surfers go to live or die, the paradise of Hawaii. There, in search of the "perfect woman," he fell in love with a dancer called Lola, who worked in a Honolulu nightclub. The problem with paradise, as he was soon to discover, is that gangsters always get there first. Lola already had a serious boyfriend, a man who went by the name of Pit Bull. Ted was given fair warning to stay away. But he had a besetting sin, for which he paid the heaviest price: He never knew when to give up. Surf, Sweat and Tears takes us into the world of global surfing, revealing a dark side beneath the dazzling sun and cream-crested waves. Here is surf noir at its most compelling, a dystopian tale of one man's obsessions, wiped out in a grisly true crime.

Join the quest to surf the biggest wave in history. Welcome to Nazaré, home to the big-wave surfers risking it all – their search to ride the Everest of the ocean – the 100-foot wave. Sports journalist Matt Majendie is welcomed into the inner circle of Nazaré's tight community of extreme thrill-seekers, living among them for a season as he chronicles their incredible highs and terrifying lows. Join a cast of fascinating characters, from surfing scientists to big-wave addicts, as they battle fear, each other and nature itself.

Stand Up Paddleboarding is the fastest growing watersport worldwide. The comparatively low cost, the convenience of inflatable boards and the fact that you can just get on and go all add up to its appeal. But, as with everything, a little bit of knowledge and technique makes the experience so much more enjoyable! That is where this book - the first UK how-to book on paddleboarding - comes in. It provides a perfect introduction to the sport: how to paddleboard, what kit to use and where to go. The book guides you through launching, the correct stance, paddling in a straight line, the different types of turns and landing. It shows you how to choose your board and paddle, inflate and deflate an inflatable board, and talks about where to ride as well as weather, safety, maintenance and repair of your equipment. It covers the main types of paddleboarding: touring, racing, surfing and yoga / fitness. All aspects are heavily illustrated with colour photographs making it easy to understand and clear to follow.

Choosing the right travelling companion for that trip of a lifetime is a tough task, yet Stormrider Surf Stories makes life easy by offering something for everyone who is on a journey of enlightenment through Indonesia. This compendium of short stories brings together some of the finest tales of discovery, adventure and hardship from every corner of this surf-blessed archipelago. Join the pioneers and share their experiences as they hack their way through the jungles of Nias, the Mentawai Islands, G-Land, Sumbawa and Sumba, searching for the perfect wave around the next headland. Feel the terror as survivors recount their flirtation with disasters as big as the Boxing Day tsunami and Bali bombings or as small and personal as getting lost or falling overboard. Learn what it was really like in the early '70s on the sleepy island of Bali or jump in a sampan for a magical mystery tour of the far-flung Mentawai islands, decades before the modern, luxury, charter boats appeared. Shipwrecks, tsunamis, volcanoes, bombs, beatings, malaria and death are all cheated by an intrepid cast of trailblazers and chancers, but it's not all danger and mayhem as there are also some heart-warming narratives of love, joy and face-creasing comedy. This compendium of Stormrider Surf Stories will delight both the road-weary Indo traveller and the inquisitive intern, looking for a good ol' yarn to read during the next flat spell.

The world-famous "Stormrider Surf Guides" have been traveling the globe for decades, shining a light on the paths less traveled. Intrepid surfers have often gone the extra mile to arrive at their destination and now they have the perfect product to plan those trips and record their exploits both in and out of the water. "The Stormrider Surf Journal" is set to become the ultimate traveling companion for both epic adventures to far off shores or the weekend warrior to a nearby beach. At once atlas, planner, and journal, mapping 300 of the best surfing zones on the planet (and when to visit), "The Stormrider Surf Journal" will serve as a personal history of one's surf life and become a treasured possession, both on the road and at home.