Empire in Waves: A Political History of Surfing

250 Pages·2014·2.703 MB·English

by  Scott Laderman

Empire in Waves
Sport in World History
Edited by Susan Brownell, Robert Edelman, Wayne Wilson, and
Christopher Young
Th is University of California Press series explores the story of modern sport from
its recognized beginnings in the nineteenth century to the current day. Th e books
present to a wide readership the best new scholarship connecting sport with broad
trends in global history. Th e series delves into sport’s intriguing relationship with
pol itic al and social power, while also capturing the enthusiasm for the subject that
makes it so powerful.
1. E mpire in Waves: A Po liti cal History of Surfi ng, by Scott
Laderman
2. C ountry of Football: Soccer and the Making of Modern
Brazil, by Roger Kittleson
Empire in Waves
a po litic al history of surfing
Scott Laderman
University of California Press
Berkeley Los Angeles London
University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university
presses in the United States, enriches lives around the world by advancing
scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Its
activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and by philanthropic
contributions from individuals and institutions. For more information, visit
www .ucpress .edu .
University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
University of California Press, Ltd.
London, En gland
© 2014 by Th e Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Laderman, Scott, 1971–
Empire in waves : a po liti cal history of surfi ng / Scott Laderman.
p. cm. — (Sport in the world ; 1)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978- 0- 520- 27910- 0 (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 978- 0- 520- 27911- 7
(pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Surfi ng— History. 2. Surfi ng— Political aspects. I. Title.
GV840.S8L33 2014
797.3'2–dc23
2013032583
Manufactured in the United States of America
23 2 2 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
In keeping with a commitment to support environmentally responsible and
sustainable printing practices, UC Press has printed this book on Natures
Natural, a fi ber that contains 30% post- consumer waste and meets the
minimum requirements of ansi/niso z39.48- 1992 (r 1997) (Permanence
of Paper).
For Izzy and Sam
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: A Po liti cal History of Surfi ng 1
1 • How Surfi ng Became American: Th e Imperial Roots
of Modern Surf Culture 8
2 • A World Made Safe for Discovery: Travel, Cultural
Diplomacy, and the Politics of Surf Exploration 41
3 • Paradise Found: Th e Discovery of Indonesia
and the Surfi ng Imagination 61
4 • When Surfi ng Discovered It Was Po liti cal:
Confronting South African Apartheid 91
5 • Industrial Surfi ng: Th e Commodifi cation
of Experience 131
Epilogue: A New Millennium 154
Notes 165
Index 229
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Ac know ledg ments
I had the privilege of growing up near the beach in California. I learned to
surf in Santa Monica, where I was born, and spent countless hours chasing
waves up and down the coast. Aft er high school I moved north, enjoying a
couple of years in Santa Cruz before leaving for the Bay Area, where I spent
much of my free time surfi ng at Ocean Beach in San Francisco. I now live
about as far from the ocean as one can live in the United States. Yet I still
regularly surf. As ridiculous as it may sound, my adopted hometown of Du-
luth, Minnesota, enjoys probably the best waves in the Midwest. It may be
colder, less consistent, and smaller than California, but I still fi nd the plea-
sure and solace in Lake Superior that I found in my younger years in the Pa-
cifi c. Surfi ng, in other words, has been important to me for the better part of
my life. As has history. I fi rst consciously began to conceptualize Empire in
Waves in 1993, when, as a university student, I spent the summer as an edito-
rial intern at Orange County– based Surfer magazine. It was a tough commute
from L.A., particularly when waiting tables at night, but what an experience.
I worked with great people, joined the editors for periodic surf breaks, and
claimed my fi rst publication— a brief article on a Pearl Jam benefi t for Aaron
Ahearn, a young surfer and sailor in the U.S. Navy who was disciplined for
going AWOL and blowing the whistle on the Navy’s practice of dumping
garbage off shore. I was also, at that time, becoming increasingly active in
human rights issues. I soon found myself presented with an intellectual
conundrum. As an activist I knew a fair bit about Indonesia and its occupa-
tion of East Timor. As a surfer I knew a lot about Indonesia but nothing
about the occupation of East Timor. Why? My attempt to answer that ques-
tion represents the origins of this book.
ix
Not many people have the opportunity to make a living by combining
their personal and academic interests. I recognize my good fortune and the
debt I owe to those many friends and colleagues who made it possible. I want
to fi rst thank John Hamlin, Eileen Zeitz, and the University Education As-
sociation for their seemingly inexhaustible energy and assistance in trying
times. And I thank Sue Maher, dean of the College of Liberal Arts at the
University of Minnesota, Duluth (UMD), for her moral and fi nancial sup-
port. I am also indebted for research assistance to the Society for Historians
of American Foreign Relations; the Graduate School, the McKnight Arts
and Humanities Endowment, and the Imagine Fund of the University of
Minnesota; and the Offi ce of the Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic
Aff airs at UMD.
Research for this project has required the use of sources that are not the
typical fare of historians, and numerous people helped me locate and access
them in recent years. I am grateful to Barry Haun, Becky Church, Dick
Metz, and Tom Pezman at the Surfi ng Heritage Foundation (now the Surf-
ing Heritage and Culture Center) in San Clemente, California; Gary Saha-
gen at the International Surfi ng Museum in Huntington Beach, California;
and Craig Baird at Surf World in Torquay, Victoria, Australia. Craig was also
a generous host during my stay in Torquay, having me over for dinner and
taking me out for a much-n eeded surf. Al Hunt has perhaps the world’s largest
collection of surfi ng magazines, and he generously provided me with access
to his extensive archive. Al and his wife Andrea also invited me into their
home in New South Wales, where they introduced me to Paul Scott. I thank
all three of them, as well as Craig, for the kindness they showed this traveling
American.
Both Craig and Al assisted me as I collected the illustrations for this
book. So, too, did Verity Chambers, Cori Schumacher, Maria Cerda, Peter
Simons, Stu Nettle at Swellnet, Luke Kennedy at Tracks magazine, Jeff Di-
vine at the Surfer’s Journal, Jeff Hall at A-Frame Media, Sunshine Carter in
the UMD Library, and Dustin Th ompson in the UMD Visualization and
Digital Imaging Lab. Th ey have my deep appreciation.
I visited several archives in Hawai‘i. I am grateful for the assistance I re-
ceived at the Bishop Museum from Charley Myers, Tia Reber, and Ju Sun
Yi; at the Hawaii State Archives from Gina S. Vergara- Bautista and Luella
Kurkjian; and at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa from Dore Minato-
dani, Jodie Mattos, and Sherman Seki. My friend Hoku Aikau was a won-
derful host during my Hawaiian stay, as was Ed Coates, who lent me equip-
x • Ac know ledg ments