Backbencher

I read the book Surfing Subcultures of Australia and New Zealand by Kent Pearson. This was an interesting book because it was not about surfing, but it was about the type of people that surf. The book started off with some information on subcultures in general, and then it went on to give some history on surfing. Historians are not exactly sure but they think it originated 4,000 years ago in the Pacific Islands. The people of Hawaii made surfing a sport and became very good at it. In Australia, surfing got its origins based on European influences. The type of surfing in Australia was more body surfing than traditional board surfing. This is because there were no native influences on the Australian people; they were basing their knowledge of surfing off of Europeans and swimming pools!
The book then goes on to discuss the numerous drowning fatalities in Australia and New Zealand. Because of this, the Surf Life Saving and Royal Life Saving Society were implemented. These had been operating in England prior to Australia, but public concern over so many deaths caused them to start in Australia.
The Surf Life Saving Association from 1910-1950 dominated Australia and New Zealand. Many local clubs of this organization controlled the beaches. They also had interclub competitions between them.
Later in the book, “clubbies” and “surfies” are discussed in more detail. The book gives excellent charts and graphs showing the differences between the two surfing cultures. Each has a different opinion about each other. A Surf Board Rider gives his opinion as quoted in the book,

“Clubbies save people. Their activities center around the club and they ride skis, long boards, canoes, boats, and they body surf. They ride on the wave rather than in and with the wave (as surfboard riders do). They have short hair, more muscle and put flags around their beach. Surfies are on the move with their vehicles and their boards, they are wiry types of guys with long hair; freedom loving, happy individuals.”

A surf lifesaver also gave his opinion about the two subcultures stating,
“Clubbies take part in competitions and do patrols. They swim as much as they use craft and they stay at one beach. They are more competent in the water then surfies, many of whom cannot even swim very well. Clubbies have a sense of responsibility. Surfies often have shoulder length hair and untidy appearances and a selfish attitude toward others. They travel in groups in panel vans from beach to beach to follow surf and often appear to resent the authority given to clubbies for policing craft areas.”

Obviously these two cultures do not agree on what they represent. They seem to dislike each other and do not understand each other. I think that this book gives a good representation of each type of surfer. I really liked the charts and graphs. Also, there were a lot of pictures used in the book. The book was published in 1979, so the pictures are quite interesting. Seeing the different boards, swimsuits, and hairstyles are fun to see. All in all, this book was fun to read. It was different from all the other history books we usually read. I think that it is interesting to see how different types of surfing developed. I would have never come up with the idea to research surfing subcultures, but maybe that is because I live 1,000s of miles away from an ocean!