Event 1 - Huntington Beach Surf Museum

I have been lucky enough to grow up around the beach my whole life.  It actually was a big part of where I chose to go to college because I am an avid surfer.  Admittedly, I have been to the Huntington Beach Surf Museum a few times prior to this assignment, however I never looked at it through the perspective in which this class has given me.  

In this picture, you can see me with the owner and a statue of Duke Kahanamoku.  After 22 years in the Navy, he came back to his hometown to run the museum.  As I walked through the museum it was obvious that the trend was going from the historic first surfers and surfboards to the new age athleticism and with it, the highly efficient surfboards.  The walls were bustling with the pioneers of surfing and halfway through I realized that I was missing half of the story which was displayed as footprints on the floor.  These footprints named historic events in Huntington Beach; one example was of Robert August making the most famous surf movie to date called Endless Summer.

Surfing, at it's core, is biased because it is scored by humans.  The technology has continued to push the limits of what is possible on a wave through innovative and creative new materials and design elements, but something else has played a huge role on surfing's history as well, which is creativity of the athlete.  The ability of surfers to create new maneuvers or even styles has had an increasingly important effect on how surfers are being scored in contests.  This combination of art and technology have combined to create some of the most awe-inspiring events where humans can interact with nature to inspire the next generation of surfing.

Works Cited: 

"Perfect Barrel for Taj Burrow on Day 2 at Globe Pro Fiji." Surfersvillage.com. Globe Pro Fiji, n.d. Web. 13 May 2015. <http://www.surfersvillage.com/content/perfect-barrel-taj-burrow-day-2-globe-pro-fiji>.