New Smyrna Beach is a lovely slip of island off Central Florida's east coast, an inlet below the bustle of Daytona and worlds away. Legend tells us Ponce de Leon landed here before sailing to St. Augustine to found North America's oldest city. Bordered on the west by the Indian River and Mosquito Lagoon, the south by Cape Canaveral, the north by the notorious inlet of Crane's The Open Boat, and the east by the Atlantic, New Smyrna is paradise found. The town has fostered more world-class surfers than any other on earth. Here surfing is not a sport, hobby, or pastime. Surfing is a way of life with its own rules, language, culture, and customs. Open these pages to meet the pioneers and the professionals, the grommets, and maybe a kook or two.
Virginia Beach and the Outer Banks share an incredibly rich surfing history. Virginia Beach is home to major surfing institutions so iconic and long lasting they are simply referred to as "ECSC," "WRV" and "17th Street." Of course, the Outer Banks has the consistent waves. The barrels. The lighthouse. Its beaches have been the setting for iconic moments in the history of the Eastern Surfing Association. Local surfing historian Tony Lillis chronicles the rich history of surfing along Virginia Beach and the Outer Banks from the early twentieth century, when world travelers brought home tales of Hawaiian surfing, through the heyday of the 1960s and into the twenty-first century.
THE SURFING YEAR BOOK OFFERS the complete package of news, features, results, opinions, and photography, providing an insider's view of everything that matters in each of the world's surfing regions-Africa, Europe, Southeast Asia and Japan, South and Central America, United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. An extended Surfing Year Book awareness campaign is underway at Surfersvillage.com, the world's biggest surfing news Web site, with more than twenty-two million visitor sessions a year. Surfersvillage will also utilize its large family of publishing partners around the world to advertise the book's arrival in all surfing markets. With each regional section offering text in English and language of origin, the book will have broad appeal in all world surfing markets. Photo essays from the best surf photographers around the world; profiles of all the leading surfers of 2008. Ocean environmental issues, weather, and swell reports. The only global directory of surfing products and services. International sponsors include: O'Neill, Quiksilver, Vans Europe, Oakley Europe, Solitude, Billabong, Hurley, Rip Curl, and Body Glove. Online marketing and promotions. Print and web advertising campaign. Co-op available. For years, Surfersvillage has led the world in providing the most comprehensive online information about the sport, culture, and industry of surfing, from the biggest swell events and contests to the tiniest club meets on the back beaches of the most remote coasts.
With 1,500 alphabetical entries and 300 illustrations, this resource is a comprehensive review of the people, places, events, equipment, vernacular, and lively history of this fascinating sport.
Sharks are intriguing and beautiful creatures - but they can also be deadly. As we humans have explored the world's oceans and exploited them for tourism and recreation, we have found ourselves coming into contact with more and more sharks. And the outcome can be fatal. From the Seychelles to South Africa, and Australia to North America, tourists, divers and surfers have seemingly found themselves under increased threat from unprovoked shark attacks. Fatal attacks have occurred in locations that were previously thought to be safe, and in late 2010 the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh was rocked by an incredible five shark attacks in a matter of weeks. But are sharks really ruthless, vicious killers, or are they simply reacting to humans invading their habitat? Has the number of shark attacks increased in recent years? What can be done to prevent shark attacks? All these questions and more are answered in this fascinating book.
Ethno-aesthetics of Surf in Florida discusses surf and music as glocal sociocultural constructs. Focusing on Florida's unexplored surfing culture, the book illustrates how musical experience begets representations about the world that highlight ways of acting and being of various sociocultural communities. Based on the conceptualization of ethno-aesthetics, this ethnographic study provides an analysis of the Space Coast surfers community's collaborative effort to build social cohesion through their musicking. This transdisciplinary research in American Studies draws upon various theoretical perspectives from both the humanities and social sciences, including ethnomusicology, social psychology, and sociolinguistics, to propose new ways of exploring the links between surfing and musicking. This monograph looks past the myth of iconic 1960s Californian surf music to show how, as a result of the glocalization of surfing, the musicking of Floridian surfers has allowed them to express their subjectivities and to make sense of their world. This book contributes to the debate on the disputed notions of identity and representations by establishing connections between a local expression of the surf lifestyle and its music. It proposes theoretical models that explain cultural hybridization, appropriation, and belonging in surfing. It also develops concepts and notions, such as surfanization, surf strand, lifestyle crossover, and identity marking, to illustrate how global practices, such as surfing, are endowed with various modes of expression exemplified by the emergence of unique regional subcultures of surfing.
To Danny, Joel (fearless of sharks) and Steve of Daytona Beach, and Raul of Long Beach, surfing is first and foremost. The surfers lives unfold in adventure as well as misadventure and romance. Surfer girls follow the young surfers from beach to beach. Some of them find marriage relationships along the way. These surfers' adventures involve Captain Mac's boat and Raul's airplane as well as surfing. The surfers experience driving through hurricanes after the police are gone from the highways, plane crashes, title waves and boat wrecks and surfing in the wake of storms. They chase the storm's wake to surf the killer surf. They surf around the world and the story climaxes in Palm Beach after Hurricane Floyd moves off the South Florida Coast.
Surfing, Jack London remarked, is “a royal sport for the natural kings of earth.” The greatest of those natural kings grant readers an audience in this glorious celebration of the world’s best surfers. Part exquisite picture book and travelogue to the top of the world, part biography and reference guidebook, Legends of Surfing profiles one hundred great surfers, men and women, from throughout the world. In life stories, and in exclusive interviews--which only the surfing icon Duke Boyd could have pulled off--stellar surfers such as Wayne Bartholomew, Tom Curren, Andy and Bruce Irons, Duke Kahanamoku, Dave Kalama, Gerry Lopez, Rob Machado, Mark Occhilupo, and Kelly Slater give us a rare firsthand look at what it’s like, in this crowded world, to “seek and find the perfect day, the perfect wave, and be alone with the surf and his thoughts.” (John Severson, Surfer magazine, 1960)
This in-depth, photo-packed look at the history and culture of surfers is “meticulously researched, smartly written . . . required reading” (Outside Magazine). Matt Warshaw knows more about surfing than any other person on the planet. After five years of research and writing, Warshaw, a former professional surfer and editor of Surfing magazine, has crafted an unprecedented, definitive history of the sport and the culture it has spawned. With more than 250 rare photographs, The History of Surfing reveals and defines this sport with a voice that is authoritative, funny, and wholly original. The obsessive nature of Warshaw’s endeavor is matched only by the obsessive nature of surfers, who are brought to life in this book in many tales of daring, innovation, athletic achievement, and the offbeat personalities who have made surfing history happen. “The world’s most comprehensive chronicler of the surfing scene.” —Andy Martin, The Independent
Here, from the nation’s most renowned beach expert, is the first complete guide to beach safety. Stephen P. Leatherman (a.k.a. Dr. Beach) introduces the gamut of beach hazards—from sharks to rip currents to jellyfish—revealing which dangers should be of greatest concern and how best to minimize their risks. His scientifically sound advice, interspersed with fascinating facts and anecdotes, makes this book a perfect reference for the millions of travelers and vacationers who visit the ocean shore every year. Practical answers to these intriguing questions and more: • Which U.S. beach records the most shark attacks each year? • Which species of shark is the most dangerous to people? • Why are rip currents the most deadly beach threat? • How can rips be avoided? • What should you do if caught in a rip? • Can lightning strikes at the beach be predicted? • Is a stingray dangerous? • When is ocean water pollution likely to be worst? • What types of waves are threatening and how can they be detected? • What is the danger of a red tide? • How can swimmers avoid contact with jellyfish?
