Edison Surf Team
Update: Edison Defeats Huntington — Again!
No, really. After taking second place to Huntington Beach for so long that’s it became a cliche, the Edison Surf Team beat the Huntington team in last year’s Sunset Surfing League All-Star Championships.
Edison High School & fans rejoiced, but there was always the nagging possibility that it was a fluke. Perhaps Huntington just got a few bad breaks that day…
Nope, forget about it…because this year, Edison again claimed the top spot in the Sunset Surfing League All-Star Championships. Not only was it confirmation for the perennial bridesmaids, it was the first time in 25 years that any team has beat Huntington twice in a row. This gained them a bit of notice, and they realized this after receiving gourmet gift baskets.
Below, you’ll find some history and basic definition about water’s best sport, surfing.
Surfing is a water surface sport. A person (the surfer) travels along the face of a breaking ocean wave (the surf). Surfing can and does take place on rivers also – and this is referred to as riding a standing wave.
Here’s a tidbit on the origin of surfing: it was a central part of ancient Polynesian culture. Europeans first observed surfing at Tahiti back in 1767 – these astute Europeans were crew members of the Dolphin. In 1866, Mark Twain visited Hawaii, and wrote about the “naked natives…amusing themselves with the national pastime of surf-bathing.”
In pre-contact Samoa, surf riding on planks and single canoe hulls was also verified – and there, surfing was called fa’ase’e or se’egalu and Tonga.
There are 2 major subdivisions of stand-up surfing: longboarding and shortboarding. As indicated by these terms, these subdivisions reflect differences in surfboard design (surfboard length and riding style).
As well, there’s tow-in surfing (which is most commonly associated with big wave surfing), where a motorized water vehicle tows the surfer straight into the wave front, which helps the surfer match a large wave’s higher speed.
There are a few surfing-related sports that don’t require waves, such as paddleboarding and sea kayaking. Kitesurfing and windsurfing are others, relying more on wind for power. However, some surfers try to get the best of both worlds, and use these platforms to ride waves as well.
Live it to surfers to push the surf envelope. There is a new surf phenomenon that’s gaining traction: wake surfing. Here, with the use of V-drive boats, riding the boat wake has emerged.
Can you imagine trying to surf wearing Amore wigs? That would be a feat. I bet there is someone out there doing this now..