Surf Board, Clothing, and Shorts

Welcome to surfoam.com. We are a web site dedicated to the sport of surfing. Whether you’re into long boards or short boards, you’ve come to the right spot. We’ve collected the best information around on surf boards, clothing, and board shorts anywhere on the web. Best of all, we stick to just the facts, you won’t find our information accompanying a high pressure sales pitch. We love surfing, and we want to share that love with you. So welcome, we hope you enjoy your time here and hope to see you again soon!

Surfing was practiced for hundreds of years in the pacific island nations. These little pockets of humanity lived largely isolated from the outside world until well after the discovery of America. They had their own naturalistic religion, and part of that religion involved a ceremony called he’enalu by the ancient Hawaiians. In it, a surfer went out to commune with the sea, which was a deeply spiritual experience.

It was the religious nature of surfing that nearly led to its extinction. Following the discovery of pacific island nations beginning in the 18th century, these areas became hot spots for Christian missionaries. The missionaries came and tried to save what they saw as backwards heathens from going to hell. As part of this race to save, the missionaries tried to stamp out large portions of the islanders native culture. Anything that smacked of superstition or religion was deemed blasphemous or idolatrous. Even their names were changed when they were baptized in an attempt to christen them and cut their ties with their former lives. Surfing was high on the list of things not to do.

Thankfully for us today, the missionaries did not succeed in eradicating surfing, although for the most part, they removed the religious overtones from it and helped morph it into something more akin to a sport. Modern technology did far more than they ever did to create the sport of surfing as we know it, and capitalism did it’s part as well. The origins of surf shops and surf clothing stem from surfboard manufacturers looking for new markets in which to put their wares. They found that they could sell a lot more tee shirts than surf boards, and if the ticket price wasn’t quite as high, this was more than made up for by the volume of sales.

Today surfing is the proud parent of a vibrant family of sports, with the sports skateboarding and snowboarding both owing surfing for the inspiration behind them. Surfing itself is a multi-billion dollar industry, and if you add in snow and skate boards and the accessories and apparel that accompany the skater or boarder look, the end result is a massive sector of the clothing and sporting industries that hails directly from a few small islanders who quietly refused to give up their culture. This small act of protest may not have revolutionized the politics of the world today, but it has definitely done its part to make the world a better place.

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