Catch a wave

More than 200 years of surfing culture

This volume is a comprehensive visual history of surfing, marking amajor cultural event as much as a publication. Followingthree and a half years of meticulous research, it brings togetherhundreds of imagesto chart the evolution of surfingas a sport, a lifestyle, and a philosophy.

The book is arranged into five chronological chapters, tracing surfing culture from the first recorded European contact in 1778 by Captain James Cook to theglobal and multi-platform phenomenon of today. Utilizing institutions, collections, and photographic archives from around the world, and with accompanying essays by the worlds top surf journalists, it celebrates the sport on and off the water, as a community of20 million practitionersand countless more devotees, and as a leading influence onfashion, film, art, and music.

An unrivaled tribute to the breadth, complexity, and richness of surfing, this book is a must-have for any serious player on the surfing scene and anybody who aspires to the surfing lifestyle. As one surfing scribe has declared,There has never been a book like this, and there will never be another one again.