Surf History Timeline

SurferToday has put together "The most important dates in the history of surfing" and it is located on their website at: https://www.surfertoday.com/surfing/10553-the-most-important-dates-in-the-history-of-surfing - The list is a bit sketchy after the 1980s, but gives a good overview of major events and significant developments in pre-1980's recorded surf history.

3000-1000 BCE: Peruvian fishermen build and ride "caballitos de totora" to transport their nets and collect fish;
900 BCE: Ancient Polynesians ride "olo" boards as a traditional, religious art form;
1769: Botanist Joseph Banks writes first description of wave riding at Matavai Bay, Tahiti;
1778: Captain James Cook touches the Hawaiian Islands;
1866: Mark Twain tries surfing in Hawaii;
1885: Three Hawaiian princes surf for the first time in the USA, at the San Lorenzo river mouth, in Santa Cruz;
1898: Hawaii is annexed by the USA;
1906: Thomas Edison films surfers for the first time, at Waikiki, Hawaii;
1907: Jack London visits Hawaii and tries surfing at Waikiki, Hawaii;
1907: George Freeth is publicly announced as the "Hawaiian wonder" who could "walk on water", at Redondo Beach;
1907: Surf Life Saving Association is founded in Australia;
1908: Alexander Hume Ford founds the Outrigger Canoe and Surfboard Club;
1911: Duke Kahanamoku, Knute Cottrell and Ken Winter found Hui Nalu;
1914: Duke Kahanamoku introduces surfing to Australia, at Freshwater Beach;
1920: Duke Kahanamoku wins two gold medals for the USA at the Olympic Games, in Antwerp;
1920: Edward, Prince of Wales, is photographed surfing in Hawaii;
1922: Agatha Christie, the crime novelist, learns how to surf in South Africa;
1926: Tom Blake and Sam Reid surf Malibu for the first time;
1926: The first waves ridden in Europe are filmed in Leca da Palmeira, Portugal;
1928: Tom Blake organizes the first Pacific Coast Surfriding Championship, at Corona del Mar;
1929: Lewis Rosenberg rides the first waves in the UK;
1929: The world's first artificial wave pool is built in Munich, Germany;
1930: Tom Blake build the first waterproof surf camera housing;
1930: The "Swastika" is the world's first mass-produced surfboard;
1933: San Onofre is surfed for the first time;
1935: Alfred Gallant Jr. applies floor wax to his surfboard;
1935: Tom Blake writes "Hawaiian Surfboard", surfing's first full-length surf book;
1935: Tom Blake introduces the first stabilizing fin on a surfboard;
1935: John "Doc" Ball founds the Palos Verdes Surf Club in California;
1935: Tom Blake writes an article on how to build a surfboard in "Popular Mechanics" magazine;
1940: Gene "Tarzan" Smith paddles a 14-foot board from Oahu to Kauai, in Hawaii;
1943: Hawaiian big wave pioneer Dickie Cross dies at Sunset Beach, in Hawaii;
1944: John Crowell, Charles Bates and Harold Cauthery work on surf forecasting for the Allied Invasion of Normandy;
1943: Tom Blake adds a twin fin system to a hollow timber board;
1945: Frank Adler founds the Australian Surf Board Association;
1948: John Lind founds the Waikiki Surf Club;
1951: Hugh Bradner, a MIT physicist, produces the world's first neoprene wetsuit;
1952: Jack O'Neill opens his "Surf Shop" in San Francisco;
1954: Hobie Alter opens his surfboard factory at Dana Point;
1954: Wally Froiseth organizes the Makaha International Surfing Championships;
1956: First waves ridden in France, at Biarritz;
1956: Dave Sweet shapes the world's first polyurethane foam surfboard;
1957: Mike Stange, Greg Noll, Pat Curren, Mickey Munoz and Harry Schurch ride Waimea Bay for the first time;
1957: Hollywood surf movie "Gidget" is released;
1958: Marge Calhoun becomes the world's first female surfing champion after winning the Makaha International;
1959: John Severson founds "The Surfer", the world's first surfing magazine;
1961: Philip Edwards rides Banzai Pipeline, in Hawaii, for the first time;
1961: Dick Dale pioneers the surf music genre;
1962: The Beach Boys release "Surfin' Safari";
1962: Bob Evans founds "Surfing World", Australia's first surf magazine;
1964: The World Surfing Championships hit Manly Beach, in Australia;
1964: Eduardo Arena is elected the first president of the International Surfing Federation (ISF);
1964: John Kelly founds Save Our Surf;
1966: Bruce Brown releases "The Endless Summer", the world's first surf movie;
1967: Alex Matienzo, Jim Thompson, and Dick Knottmeyer surf Mavericks for the first time;
1969: Greg Noll rides one of the biggest waves of all time at Makaha, Hawaii;
1969: Steve Russ, a kneeboarder, invents the surf leash in Santa Cruz, California;
1969: Doug Warbrick and Brian Singer found Rip Curl in Torquay, Australia;
1969: Alan Green and John Law found Quiksilver in Torquay, Australia;
1970: O'Neill markets the one-piece fullsuit;
1971: Tom Morey invents the bodyboard;
1971: Jeff Hakman wins the first edition of the Pipeline Masters;
1972: Kelly Slater, the most successful competitive surfer of all time, is born in Cocoa Beach, Florida;
1973: Ian Cairns wins the first world surfing title, at the Smirnoff World Pro-Am Championships;
1973: Gordon and Rena Merchant found Billabong in the Gold Coast, Australia;
1978: Hawaiian lifeguard, surfer and waterman Eddie Aikau, 31, is lost at sea, south of Molokai, never to be found;
1979: Michel Barland designs the world's first commercial computerized shaping machine;
1979: Lacanau Pro, the first ever surfing competition held in Europe, debuts in the southwest of France;
1980: Simon Anderson creates the "Thruster" surfboard fin system;
1982: Ian Cairns founds the Association of Surfing Professionals;
1983: Michael Ho wins the first edition of the Triple Crown of Surfing;
1984: Glen Hening and Tom Pratte found the Surfrider Foundation;
1984: Tom Carrol and Kim Mearig win the first ever ASP World Tour;
1986: Mike Stewart and Ben Severson surf Teahupoo, in Tahiti, for the first time;
1986: Herbie Fletcher tows Tom Carroll, Martin Potter and Gary Elkerton into 10-foot waves at Pipeline, Hawaii;
1987: "California Games" is the world's first video game featuring surfing;
1992: Kelly Slater wins his first ASP World Tour title;
1995: The Olympic Movement recognizes the International Surfing Association as the world's governing body for surfing;
2000: Laird Hamilton rides the Millennium Wave at Teahupoo, Tahiti;
2005: Clark Foam, producer of 60% of the world's surfboard blanks, shuts down;
2011: Garrett McNamara rides the biggest wave of all time, in Nazaré, Portugal;
2014: Gabriel Medina is the first ever Brazilian to win a world surfing title;
2016: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) votes unanimously for the inclusion of surfing in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games;