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.

Golden Daze tells the story of Australian surfing one year at a time through the lives of our greatest surfers. The book takes a deep dive into a significant year of their surfing lives. Years when they won, years when they lost. Years where their surfing and their surfboards changed the game. Grommet years when the days never ended. Years where they surfed up the coast, down the coast and globetrotted into the great unknown. Years when both surfing and society changed. Years when they made high art, experienced spiritual awakenings or were just tubed out of their minds. Even years where they survived the embrace of a great white shark. Part journal, part biography, part surf culture memoir, in Golden Daze, world renowned surf writer and bestselling author Sean Doherty gives a fascinating insight into what makes Australian surfing tick. Surfing Australia's Hall of Fame recognises the nation's most influential and iconic surfers. Every year the current members of the Hall of Fame vote to induct a new surfer. You will find all of these surfers, from Peter Troy to Tyler Wright in Golden Daze.

A thrilling ethnography of big wave surfing in Hawaii that explores the sociology of fun. Straight from the beaches of Hawaii comes an exciting new ethnography of a community of big-wave surfers. Oahu's Waimea Bay attracts the world's best big wave surfers-men and women who come to test their physical strength, courage, style, knowledge of the water, and love of the ocean. Sociologist Ugo Corte sees their fun as the outcome of social interaction within a community. Both as participant and observer, he examines how mentors, novices, and peers interact to create episodes of collective fun in a dangerous setting; how they push one another's limits, nourish a lifestyle, advance the sport and, in some cases, make a living based on their passion for the sport. In Dangerous Fun, Corte traces how surfers earn and maintain a reputation within the field, and how, as innovations are introduced, and as they progress, establish themselves and age, they modify their strategies for maximizing performance and limiting chances of failure. Corte argues that fun is a social phenomenon, a pathway to solidarity rooted in the delight in actualizing the self within a social world. It is a form of group cohesion achieved through shared participation in risky interactions with uncertain outcomes. Ultimately, Corte provides an understanding of collective effervescence, emotional energy, and the interaction rituals leading to fateful moments-moments of decision that, once made, transform one's self-concept irrevocably.

32 classic big wave surfing stories from the sport's pioneers John Long's classic collection of big wave surfing stories heralded a new era in surfing literature. Focusing on those elite athletes who live to challenge the ocean's fury, The Big Drop is more than just another surfing book. It is both an extraordinary collection of thirty-two true tales and a treasure-trove of insight into the evolution of big-wave surfing-with particular focus on the pioneers of the 1950s and 1960s and the skills necessary to challenge huge waves. Providing a comprehensive look at the sport's eras, locations, and legends, with a host of stunning images and a glossary of surfing terms, it is a truly unforgettable look at the obsession of those who face down monstrous waves. Revealing the tantalizing and terrifying truth about riding big waves, The Big Drop is a must for any surfer inclined to tackle large surf in thought or in fact.

A thrilling ethnography of big wave surfing in Hawaii that explores the sociology of fun. Straight from the beaches of Hawaii comes an exciting new ethnography of a community of big-wave surfers. Oahu's Waimea Bay attracts the world's best big wave surfers-men and women who come to test their physical strength, courage, style, knowledge of the water, and love of the ocean. Sociologist Ugo Corte sees their fun as the outcome of social interaction within a community. Both as participant and observer, he examines how mentors, novices, and peers interact to create episodes of collective fun in a dangerous setting; how they push one another's limits, nourish a lifestyle, advance the sport and, in some cases, make a living based on their passion for the sport. In Dangerous Fun, Corte traces how surfers earn and maintain a reputation within the field, and how, as innovations are introduced, and as they progress, establish themselves and age, they modify their strategies for maximizing performance and limiting chances of failure. Corte argues that fun is a social phenomenon, a pathway to solidarity rooted in the delight in actualizing the self within a social world. It is a form of group cohesion achieved through shared participation in risky interactions with uncertain outcomes. Ultimately, Corte provides an understanding of collective effervescence, emotional energy, and the interaction rituals leading to fateful moments-moments of decision that, once made, transform one's self-concept irrevocably.

Surf Travel is an illustrated guide to the planet's most thrilling surf destinations. From classic surf destinations like Hawaii to less well known areas like Madagascar, the best breaks in each region are described by a team of experienced travelers with all the inside info. Packed with stunning photos, practical advice and up-to-date information, Surf Travel is the essential travel guide for surfers of all ages and abilities.

The Definitive Guide to Scuba Diving and Snorkeling in Palm Beach "This is what divers want. A mapping style and key information presented in a way that really prepares you for each dive site. I expect this book will be the tool that dive shops give to their new divemasters to learn all of the top dive sites quickly." Ocean Frontiers #1 New Release in Scuba Travel Guides For Lonely Planet fans comes a unique and essential scuba, snorkel, and surf travel guide. A great Florida travel book. The detailed descriptions and illustrations of beaches, coral reefs, shipwrecks, and other dive spots are ideal for divers, snorkelers, kitesurfers and windsurfers. This guidebook will help you make the most of your time in the city and in the water. Detailed descriptions and map art. Reef Smart catalogues the beaches, surf spots, and dive and snorkel sites in Palm Beach. With the help of Reef Smart's unique 3D-mapping technology, learn all you need to know about the regions' top dive and snorkel sites. These maps provide useful information such as depths, currents, waves, suggested routes, potential hazards, unique structures and species information. Don't go diving without it. This indispensable resource will help you plan and execute dives without a hitch. Make sure to pack this guidebook with the rest of your scuba gear. This guidebook provides: The best locations for diving, snorkeling and surfing, and how to access them Detailed 3D maps, graphics and information to help you plan your time in and out of the water Species guide to help you identify and understand the marine creatures you'll encounter And much more! A unique and comprehensive SCUBA diving book. Also look for Reef Smart Guides Florida: Fort Lauderdale, Pompano Beach and Deerfield Beach; Reef Smart Guides Barbados; and the best selling Reef Smart Guides Bonaire.

Ramon Navarro, a third-generation subsistence fisherman and farmer who lives on the coast of Chile at Punta Lobos, learned to surf on a busted surfboard left by a visiting surfer. Since then he has become one of the top-ten big wave riders. He has used his surfing accomplishments to protect his home break, and he is admired around the world as an environmental activist: he fights resort development on the point, the building of pulp mills along on the coast, and sewage pipes that pollute the ocean off Pichilemu. Editor Chris Malloy created the film and book The Fisherman's Son, which focuses on Ramon's rise to big wave fame and how Ramon is using that notoriety to make his voice heard on activism issues. Contributors to the book include Gerry Lopez, Josh Berry, and Jack Johnson. Part of the proceeds to the book and film will be used to support Ramon's environmental efforts.

The Stormrider Surf Guide Tropical Islands travels through the trade winds belt on the ultimate island-hopping journey to explore and compare the world's best warm-water surf zones. Many of the planet's finest surf breaks are found between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn - from the powerful, mountainous waves of Hawaii and Tahiti, through the exotic Caribbean to the pristine perfection of the Maldives and Mentawais. Coral encrusted atolls, dazzling white sands and gently swaying coconut palms fringe the backdrop for many of these islands found in the shimmering, equatorial waters of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Superb photos and illuminating text combine to make this Stormrider Guide indispensable for anyone searching for their next tropical paradise surfari. This completely new addition to the famous Stormrider library covers all the world's best tropical islands across the 3 great Oceans. The Stormrider Surf Guide Tropical Islands enhances the proven formula of trusted, dependable surf spot descriptions, coupled with more than 300 beautiful, informative photos. It is the only dedicated tropical islands surf guide. Proven high quality design includes integrated text, symbols and detailed maps containing crucial, otherwise unavailable information.

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

Through fifty years of epic stories, art, and personal ephemera, The Fletcher Family spans surfing's golden era to the present day, when bathing-suit model Dibi and competitive surfer Herbie met, to raising talented Christian and Nathan on boards and waves, to passing the torch to their skating-phenom grandson, Greyson. Herbie Fletcher is a surfing legend. Fletcher and his sons, Christian and Nathan, made a habit of doing things exceptionally well and in their own way before they became the norm. But the Fletchers are not merely trailblazing surf and skate legends; they also are counterculture and subculture icons. T Magazine referred to them as having "punk family values." Their sincere love for art and surfing and their collective DGAF attitude has earned them legions of devoted fans and friends from so many different worlds: music, fashion, streetwear, and art. The epitome of both surfer cool and punk counterculture, the Fletcher family for the first time has put together a window into their immensely colorful life. A visual memoir of this near-mythological surf family, The Fletcher Family is sure to appeal to their massive surfing fan base, young skaters, and those who are interested in the Fletcher family and their place in Southern California as a subcultural force of nature.

A "New York Times "Notable Book
A "San Francisco Chronicle "Best Book of the Year
In her astonishing new book Susan Casey captures colossal, ship-swallowing waves, and the surfers and scientists who seek them out.
For legendary surfer Laird Hamilton, hundred foot waves represent the ultimate challenge. As Susan Casey travels the globe, hunting these monsters of the ocean with Hamilton's crew, she witnesses first-hand the life or death stakes, the glory, and the mystery of impossibly mammoth waves. Yet for the scientists who study them, these waves represent something truly scary brewing in the planet's waters. With inexorable verve, "The Wave "brilliantly portrays human beings confronting nature at its most ferocious.

Waterman is the first comprehensive biography of Duke Kahanamoku (1890-1968): swimmer, surfer, Olympic gold medalist, Hawaiian icon, waterman. Long before Michael Phelps and Mark Spitz made their splashes in the pool, Kahanamoku emerged from the backwaters of Waikiki to become America's first superstar Olympic swimmer. The original "human fish" set dozens of world records and topped the world rankings for more than a decade; his rivalry with Johnny Weissmuller transformed competitive swimming from an insignificant sideshow into a headliner event. Kahanamoku used his Olympic renown to introduce the sport of "surf-riding," an activity unknown beyond the Hawaiian Islands, to the world. Standing proudly on his traditional wooden longboard, he spread surfing from Australia to the Hollywood crowd in California to New Jersey. No American athlete has influenced two sports as profoundly as Kahanamoku did, and yet he remains an enigmatic and underappreciated figure: a dark-skinned Pacific Islander who encountered and overcame racism and ignorance long before the likes of Joe Louis, Jesse Owens, and Jackie Robinson. Kahanamoku's connection to his homeland was equally important. He was born when Hawaii was an independent kingdom; he served as the sheriff of Honolulu during Pearl Harbor and World War II and as a globetrotting "Ambassador of Aloha" afterward; he died not long after Hawaii attained statehood. As one sportswriter put it, Duke was "Babe Ruth and Jack Dempsey combined down here." In Waterman, award-winning journalist David Davis examines the remarkable life of Duke Kahanamoku, in and out of the water.

Grab your board, test your skills and balance on this "mini" wave while retro surf rock plays in the background, all from the comfort of your desk. But -- watch out! -- if you lose your balance and wipe-out you'll have to do the swim of shame back to shore. This kit includes: A balancing wave with three different surf rock songs A finger surfboard Customisable surfboard stickersA 48-page book, with surfboard tricks, fun facts and trivia

**Winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Autobiography** Included in President Obama's 2016 Summer Reading List "Without a doubt, the finest surf book I've ever read . . . " -The New York Times Magazine Barbarian Days is William Finnegan's memoir of an obsession, a complex enchantment. Surfing only looks like a sport. To initiates, it is something else: a beautiful addiction, a demanding course of study, 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, and 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. It immerses the reader in the edgy camaraderie of close male friendships forged in challenging waves. Finnegan shares stories of life in a whites-only gang in a tough school in Honolulu. He shows us 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 LSD while riding huge Honolua Bay, on Maui-is served up with rueful humor. As Finnegan's travels take him ever farther afield, he discovers the picturesque simplicity of a Samoan fishing village, dissects the sexual politics of Tongan interactions with Americans and Japanese, and navigates 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 the gradual mastering of an exacting, little-understood art.