What surfing equipment has changed since surfing started?

Answer 1

Fiberglass was the biggest innovation in Surfing. It created light-weight and ultra-fast boards that could skim through the water at lightning speeds. Before fiberglass, all boards were made from wood.

Wave-runners are also a new innovation in the world of big wave surfing. Surfers can't always paddle into a massively large wave, so sometimes they must be towed in via a wave-runner.

New waxes make the boards slicker and obviously as the human race has become bigger and faster, so too have the surfers.

Back in the day, surfing was an almost oppressively male-dominated sport. Now, surfer chicks have their own circuits and prize money.

The internet has played a large roll in surfing, believe it or not, as people are sharing ideas on best locations to surf, photos, and instant surf reports for thousands of locations worldwide.

Answer 2

well surfing has gone around the world and now we have wet suits because of the cold waters... surfboards also changed they used to be made out of wood but now they are mostly made out of fiberglass. Other surfing accessories such as surfboard wax have evolved over time.

Answer 3

The major changes range from board design, to they way a surfer rides a wave and the locations that are now being surfed that were once thought impossible.

Lets start with board design.

No one really knows when surfing started, James Cook did mention Hawaiians standing up on wooden boards in his journal while traveling through Hawaii. Boards were heavy back then, made out of solid wood with no fins. A foot would be used to steer. From there it takes a long time until surf boards became easy to ride and lighter. There are many people you have engineered the board from Fins being installed to boards being hollowed out to make them lighter, Leash's came into existence which meant no more swimming in after you fell off your board. Then came the era of foam boards which changed everything, all of sudden boards were getting shorter and thinner. Extra fins were being installed to gain more control from the faster speeds that surfers were moving at. Then some surfers were installing grip pads to the aft section of the board for even more control and better foot placement. Now boards are being crafted from CNC machines and Auto-cad computer programs to design boards. Also boards are being made with materials that make them virtually indestructible. That's pretty much a short run down for board design.

Hotdog'n.

That's a term that would be used back in the late 50's early 60's for surfers who would not surf straight down the wave all of a sudden surfers were turning on the wave faces with the advancement of better designed surf boards. Surfing really changed a lot from these boards and it still is. Surfers are doing major airs and landing them, doing complete 360 barrel rolls, doing kick flips a move that started in Skateboarding. Skateboards tricks have found there way into surfing. Since a lot of surfers are skateboards when the swells are flat. Lets not forget the amount of time surfers are spending inside the shack, the tube aka getting barreled.

Location, Location, Location

Surfers are now riding waves in spots that were once thought impossible. With the help off once again better designed boards surfers are able to paddle into waves that are bigger and faster. Not to mention the use of Jet-skies with tow lines attached to them to pull surfers into waves that are moving to fast to paddle into. They are riding waves of 60 feet and more. With the ease of traveling wave breaks are be discovered almost all the time all over the world. There has been some advancement in indoor/outdoor wave pools and there are stand up wave pools. Stand up wave pools shoot water up a fixed wave and surfers enter in on small foam boards, these have even been put on cruise ships!

That's some of the major changes that have taken place.

Marc Pugliese