The history of modern surfing dates to AD 400, when Polynesians began to make their way to the Hawaiian Islands from Tahiti and the Marquesas Islands. They brought many of their customs with them including playing in the surf on Paipo (belly/body) boards. It was in Hawaii that the modern art of standing and surfing upright on boards was invented.

In 1907, railroad magnate and land baron Henry E. Huntington brought the ancient art of surfing to the California coast. Huntington had seen Hawaiian boys surfing the island waves while vacationing. Looking for a way to entice visitors to the area of Redondo Beach, where he had heavily invested in real estate, he hired a young Hawaiian named George Freeth to showcase his surfing skills twice a day in front of the Hotel Redondo.

Regular footed surfers ride waves with their left foot forward, and goofy footed surfers ride waves with their right foot forward. Choosing between a regular or goofy stance comes down to which one you feel more comfortable with.

In 2014, Brazilian Rodrigo Koxa nearly died while attempting to surf a huge liquid beast at the village of Nazaré in the Oeste region of Portugal. It took him months to recover psychologically. But on November 8, 2017, he successfully surfed another wave at Nazaré--an 80-foot (24.4-meter) wave that is officially the biggest wave ever surfed, supplanting the previous record of 78 feet (23.77 m) set in 2011 by Koxa's mentor Garrett McNamara.

World War II pushed surfing to the next level with the invention of Styrofoam, resin and fiberglass, which today are used to make the boards modern surfers are accustomed to.

Duke Kahanamoku was born to a minor noble family less than three years before the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. A powerful swimmer, he easily qualified for the U.S. Olympic swimming team, winning gold medals in 1912 and 1920. Between Olympic competitions, Kahanamoku traveled internationally to give swimming exhibitions. It was during this period that he popularized the sport of surfing, previously known only in Hawaii, by incorporating surfing exhibitions into his tour.

Duke Kahanamoku first advocated that surfing be included in the Olympic Games way back in 1920, but it wasn't until the 2020 Summer Olympics in Japan that surfing actually became an Olympic sport. The first gold medalists of the Tokyo 2020 surfing men and women's competitions were, respectively, the Brazilian Ítalo Ferreira and the American from Hawaii, Carissa Moore.

Tom Carroll won the Australian Junior Title in 1978, the Pro Juniors in 1977 and 1980, the 1983 and 1984 ASP World Tour, and the 1987 Pipe Masters. He went on to become the first surfing millionaire after signing a contract with Quiksilver, a brand of surf-inspired apparel and accessories, in 1989.

The cities of Huntington Beach and Santa Cruz both claim to be "Surf City", based on their respective surfing culture. The title was the subject of a trademark dispute between the two cities in 2004 after the Huntington Beach Conference and Visitors Bureau successfully filed the "Surf City USA" trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. A settlement was eventually reached in January 2008, which allows Huntington Beach to retain the trademark.

Probably the most sought-after surfing experience is the tube ride (a.k.a. "getting barreled"), which occurs when the top of the wave pitches over the surfer so that he or she is completely enclosed in an oval space behind the curtain of falling water. Inside the "green room", they are hurtling through a tunnel of water and the only way out (without wiping out) is straight through the opening in front of them. This is also the origin of the term "tubular," which means awesome.