COURTESY JOHN CLARK
John Clark, left, and Ian Masterson pose for a photo after paipo boarding at Waikiki.
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Surfing has evolved — and, in some ways, regressed — since the golden days depicted in John Clark’s wonderful “Hawaiian Surfing: Traditions from the Past” (2011, University of Hawai‘i Press). We have lighter, more maneuverable boards, but there’s less space for bodysurfing, bodyboarding, canoe and river surfing, and sand sliding. Men became dominant and excluded women, who previously surfed alongside them as equals.
Nowadays, “What’s really changed our world is social media,” Clark said in an interview. “That’s put multitudes of surfers in all of our backyard breaks.” Overcrowding, gender discrimination, commercialization, and new fads such as hydrofoil and street surfing are some topics that he and fellow surf writer Ian ‘Akahi Masterson will discuss in their presentation, “History of Surfing,” from 5:30-7:30 p.m. June 13 at the Art Auditorium (Art 132) at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa.
It’s free and open to the public, but space is limited; register by June 10 at 808ne.ws/surfchat Opens in a new tab.
