Bolsa Mexican Surfing History

Introduction:

Few activities are seen as quite so Californian as surfing. From the Beach Boys to the fashion of "surfer dudes", pop culture has seen to it that the existence of surfing and California and incredibly intertwined. Surfing, as defined by the Oxford dictionary, is "the sport or pastime of riding a wave toward the shore while standing or lying on a surfboard". Surfing was a tradition for the Hawaiian people since the early 5th century, and quickly became an integral part in Hawaiian culture. When the British colonists discovered Hawaii in the late 1700s, Christian missionaries placed surfing on hiatus, citing that such an activity was the devil's work. However, the early 1900s saw a revitalization in surfing as it became the mainstream

One of the locations was Bolsa Chica which is where my field study will be located at. Results were found using an opt-in internet survey on a popular surfing website. Wagner et al. found that the average surfer was 34 years old, 62% had a college degree and were earning 75,000 a year. Researchers explored the demographics of seven beaches in Orange County. Two of the beaches are relevant to my field study as they are the location of my interest. Surfers of Bolsa Chica, in Southern California, had a median age of 47 years old, with 51% having a college degree or more, a median income of $100,000, and a median surfing experience of 27 years. Likewise, researchers found that on 56th street, 8 miles away from Bolsa Chica, the surfers had a median age of 27 years old and a median income of $50,000. Wagner et al. found that surfers who surfed in Bolsa Chica tended to be older and preferred Bolsa Chica's beach attitude and environment while the more young surfers tended to gravitate to the consistent beach waves of 56th street. Out of few beaches that were studied in Orange County, Bolsa Chica surfers tended to arrive the earliest to the beach at 7:30 in the morning. Wagner et al. argued that the results of their findings showed that the stereotypes of the young, uneducated and unemployed surfer were

Likewise, Holt found this to be true in his results as well. He found that many surfers believed that feeling a personal belonging in the community and personal satisfaction within the culture was equally important motivators. Holt found that older surfers tended to regard being a part of the community as very important to them. These older more experienced surfers tended to have a more ritualistic focus on the sport and surfed at specific times and dates. These surfers were often called “Dawnies” and tended to surf early in the morning. Dawnies often felt closely connected as these surfers saw each other often and at the same time (Holt, 2012, p. 238). The findings are important in understanding what drives a surfer to do such a risk-taking sport and ultimately better understand the