In this volume, Kauai resident and surf historian Timothy DeLaVega has orchestrated a worldwide team of surfing historians, who have compiled surfing images that span the centuries from ancient petroglyphs (rock etchings) to the first modern surfing boom at Waikiki. These images offer a unique and historical perspective, with many never-before-seen images of surfing in Hawai'i.
Title: Celebrate the Surfing History of Hawai'i
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Date: 6/6/2011
PRLog (Press Release) - Jun 06, 2011 - New from Arcadia Publishing's Images of America series is Surfing in Hawai'i. In vintage photographs, local author and surf historian Timothy Tovar DeLaVega shares the history through more than 200 vintage images giving readers a unique opportunity to reconnect to the history that shaped their community. When the early European explorers traversed the globe, their journals held numerous accounts of Hawaiians enjoying surfing. Since Europeans of that era were not accustomed to swimming in their own cold waters it must have seemed like a dream to watch naked native Hawaiians riding the waves of a turbulent sea. Nowhere in the ancient world was surfing as ingrained into the culture as on the islands of Hawai'i. He'e nalu (wave sliding) was the national sport and enjoyed by all. When a swell was up, whole villages were deserted as everyone fled to the beach to test their surfing skills. Legends of famous surf riders were retold in mele (song/chant) and fortunes could be decided on the outcome of a surfing contest. From these shores, modern surfing was born, along with the iconic romantic images of bronzed surfers, grass shacks and hula. Available at area bookstores, independent retailers, and online retailers, or through Arcadia Publishing at (888)-313-2665 or www.arcadiapublishing.com. Arcadia Publishing is the leading publisher of local and regional history in the United States. Our mission is to make history accessible and meaningful through the publication of books on the heritage of America's people and places. Have we done a book on your town? Visit www.arcadiapublishing.com.
Arcadia hits one out of the park with this nicely produced picture history of the early days of surfing, covering the period from Capt. Cook's first glimpse of board riding to roughly 1930, about the time surfing became more organized. There's a surprising number of images -- naked Hawaiian maidens riding the waves was a popular sort of illustration, apparently -- and the pictures get photographic around the turn of the century. That's the beginning of the Kahanamoku era, and the half-dozen Hawaiian brothers were aquatic superstars. The smart, knowing text is from DeLaVega, who's helped out on occasion by Kahanamoku biographer Sandra Kimberley Hall. The pictures are well chosen and nicely reproduced, and bring alive an era when surfing was largely a local, happily disorganized phenomenon.
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