Wave-Sliding

How did surfing become the popular sport it is today?

1 Who first had the idea of shaping a piece of wood into a long narrow board and using it to ride ocean waves? No one knows for sure, but we do know that Hawaiians have been surfing since the 1400s. The Hawaiian word for surfing translates to wave-sliding, a fairly accurate description of this sport in which a surfer stands on a board and gets propelled across the water by the energy of the waves.

2 Surfers are fond of saying that surfing isn’t a sport, it’s a lifestyle. This was true for the relatively small numbers of surfers who participated in the sport before the 1950s. Then, new types of surfboards became available. They were made of fiberglass and foam instead of wood. This made them less expensive, as well as much easier to use and maneuver. Suddenly, surfing became enormously popular in the United States, and surfing culture was born.

3 Movies and magazines that featured surfing became trendy, as did beach music and surfing fashion. But nothing changed what was most important to serious surfers— enjoying the beach and the ocean as they went on a quest for the perfect wave.

4 Surfing appeals to people for several reasons. Surfers have an inherent love and respect for the ocean. They like participating in a sport in which the challenges constantly change and the environment is somewhat unpredictable. Surfers also seek the adrenaline rush that comes with riding the waves. It is the same feeling that draws people to other high-speed activities, like downhill skiing, hang-gliding, or car racing.

5 In 1953, the Waikiki Surf Club hosted the first international surfing championships. This competition led surfing to be regarded as a sport. Judges based their decisions on elements such as the length of ride, the number of waves a surfer caught, skill, sportsmanship, and grace. Today, the Association of Surfing Professionals, or ASP, holds annual world championship series at different beaches around the country. Some surfers participate happily in such competitions, but others feel that this goes against the true nature and “soul” of surfing.

6 Other than Duke Kahanamoku, the Hawaiian surfer who is thought to have introduced the sport to the rest of the world, Laird Hamilton is probably the most well known and respected surfer today. Large waves are his specialty, and Hamilton has been known to surf 70-foot-tall waves at speeds of approximately 50 miles per hour.

7 Hamilton also popularized a form of the sport called tow-in surfing. He wanted to have access to some of the oceans’ largest waves, but he knew surfers could not reach those waves just by paddling their boards. The solution was to use jet skis to tow surfers to areas that were farther from shore, where they could wait for enormous waves to crest nearby.

8 The tow-in method is controversial among serious surfers, but most people couldn’t help being impressed when Hamilton used it to surf a well-known Tahitian surf spot called Teahupoo. Wipeouts at Teahupoo are likely to be fatal, but Hamilton took the challenge and survived.

Spectrum Reading Grade 6

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Write F before the sentences that are facts. Write O before the sentences that are opinions.

1. _____ Laird Hamilton is the most talented surfer alive today.

2. _____ Surfing became very popular in the 1950s and 1960s.

3. _____ The surfing spot Teahupoo is located near Hawaii.

4. _____ No one can appreciate the power of the ocean the way a surfer does.

5. _____ Laird Hamilton has surfed at speeds of up to 50 miles per hour.

6. Why did the new fiberglass and foam surfboards cause a rise in surfing’s popularity?

7. What draws people to high-speed activities?

8. What is tow-in surfing?

9. What do you think the surfing term wipeout means?

10. Write a summary sentence for paragraph 4.

11. Have you ever tried surfing? If you have, describe your experience. If not, explain why you would or would not like to try it.

Spectrum Reading Grade 6

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