Page 379 - Hawaii: Diving, Surfing, Pearl Harbor, Volcanoes and More

ieutenant James King, the First Lieuten- If the Swell drives him close to the rocks be- alvinistic Christian Missionaries arrived
L ant of the Discovery, and was given the fore he is overtaken by its break, he is much C from England and taught the Poly-
task of completing the narrative portion of prais’d. On first seeing this very dangerous nesians to believe in only one God (Jesus
Cook’s journals. After Cook’s death in 1779 diversion I did not conceive it possible but Christ). They insisted that the Polynesians
but before the Discovery and Resolution that some of them must be dashed to mum- wear clothes, learn to read and write and
returned to England, Lt. King devoted two my against the sharp rocks, but jus before work more and play less. When missionar-
full pages to a description of surfboard rid- they reach the shore, if they are very near, ies from New England began arriving in the
ing, as practiced by the locals at Kealakekua they quit their plank, & dive under till the Hawaiian Islands around 1820, they discour-
Bay on the Kona coast of the Big Island. His Surf is broke, when the piece of plank is sent aged surfing as a waste of valuable time that
following entry is the earliest written ac- many yards by the force of the Surf from should instead be spent praying or working.
count of surfing. “But a diversion the most the beach. The greatest number are gener- There was some interest in surfing when King
common is upon the Water, where there is ally overtaken by the break of the swell, the Kalākaua took the throne, but with his death
a very great Sea, and surf breaking on the force of which they avoid, diving and swim- in 1891 surfers in the Hawaiian Islands again
Shore. The Men sometimes 20 or 30 go with- ming under the water out of its impulse. By became scarce. By the early 1900’s, surfing
out the Swell of the Surf, & lay themselves such like excercises, these men may be said was almost a dead sport in Hawaii. The haole
flat upon an oval piece of plan about their to be almost amphibious. The Women could had tried to control everything Hawaiian in-
Size and breadth, they keep their legs close swim off to the Ship, & continue half a day cluding their Gods, cultures, land, lives and
on top of it, & their Arms are us’d to guide in the Water, & afterwards return. The above sports. South Oahu was about the only place
the plank, thye wait the time of the greatest diversion is only intended as an amusement, a few people would still surf in the Hawaiian
Swell that sets on Shore, & altogether push not a tryal of skill, & in a gentle swell that Islands. When there were once hundreds of
forward with their Arms to keep on its top, sets on must I conceive be very pleasant, at surfers now there were only a small handful.
it sends them in with a most astonishing Ve- least they seem to feel a great pleasure in The rebirth of surfing in Hawaii was ironi-
locity, & the great art is to guide the plan so the motion which this Exercise gives.” cally due to three haoles and one Native Ha-
as always to keep it in a proper direction on waiian.
the top of the Swell, & as it alters its direct.