{"id":391252,"date":"2026-07-08T23:19:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T23:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/391252\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T23:19:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T23:19:14","slug":"the-california-surf-museum-traces-the-evolution-of-surfing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/391252\/","title":{"rendered":"The California Surf Museum traces the evolution of surfing"},"content":{"rendered":"

The view from Pacific Street above the Oceanside Pier is an iconic California scene; surfers in the water, waiting for the perfect wave.<\/p>\n

\"Surfers<\/p>\n

Surfers ride ocean waves next to Oceanside Pier on July 1, 2026.<\/p>\n

But head a few blocks inland on Pier View Way, and you\u2019ll find a celebration of all things surfing: The California Surf Museum, which is also celebrating its 40th year.<\/p>\n

Executive Director Jim Kempton detailed the museum\u2019s beginnings. \u201cIt started with a group of people in the North County of San Diego who were realizing that they were losing their heritage,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"California<\/p>\n

California Surf Museum Executive Director Jim Kempton is shown being interviewed by KPBS reporter John Carroll at the Oceanside museum on July 1, 2026.<\/p>\n

That heritage is definitely safe here. When you walk in, the first thing you see is the gift shop. But right next to all the merch, you find a bit of science. That includes a yellow buoy, the kind used by scientists to monitor the waves off our coast.<\/p>\n

\u201cWaves are generated by gigantic storms in the middle of the ocean, and those slowly \u2014 as the wind blows them in, they begin to form these sets of waves, and they travel until they hit the coast,\u201d Kempton said.<\/p>\n

\"Surfboards<\/p>\n

Surfboards are shown in an exhibit on the evolution of the sport at the California Surf Museum in Oceanside on July 1, 2026.<\/p>\n

Humans have been riding the waves in one way or another for millennia. But Kempton, who\u2019s been a surfer most of his life, explained that what we think of as surfing came into being relatively recently; that is, something that\u2019s done for fun, the amazing experience he said surfers get when riding the waves.<\/p>\n

A large exhibit in the museum\u2019s main display space tells how it all started in Hawaii.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis exhibit is called \u2018Surfriding, Hawaiian Royalty\u2019s Gift To The World.\u2019 And the gist of it is how a princess, three princes, a duke and a Hawaiian royal minister\u2019s grandson introduced surfing around the globe, and they did it in this very short period of time between 1885 and 1915,\u201d Kempton said.<\/p>\n

The exhibit tells how, while at military school in San Mateo in the early 1880s, the princes introduced surfing to Santa Clara.<\/p>\n

\"Hawaiian<\/p>\n

Hawaiian princess Ka’iulani is shown in this historic photo at the California Surf Museum in Oceanside on July 1, 2026.<\/p>\n

Then in 1892, while studying in the south of England, Princess Ka\u2019iulani drew huge crowds to the Brighton coast. People were amazed to see the heir to the Hawaiian throne riding the waves, something almost no one had ever seen before.<\/p>\n

Next was the great-grandson of a Hawaiian royal minister. He brought surfing to the Southern California coast in 1907.<\/p>\n

Finally, in 1914, Olympic Gold Medalist swimmer and expert surfer Duke Kahanamoku\u2019s first stop on a world tour was Sydney, Australia; three continents were introduced to this new sport, unknown before outside of Hawaii and Tahiti.<\/p>\n

\"Historic<\/p>\n

Historic wooden surfboards are shown at the California Surf Museum in Oceanside on July 1, 2026.<\/p>\n

That brought us to something you might imagine a surfing museum would have.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a brief history of surfboards, and basically what it is is a history of surfing through the equipment,\u201d Kempton said.<\/p>\n

There are the early boards \u2014 long, huge, wooden 60-pound-plus monsters.<\/p>\n

But over the years, innovations happened. There was the hollow board with ribbing inside, much lighter than the solid wood variety. Then came boards made of balsa wood. Then, the invention of fiberglass in World War II, which Kempton said ushered in the era of the modern surfboard. Short boards and more innovations followed.<\/p>\n

\u201cPutting swallow tails in, then you\u2019ve got the first twin-finned surfboard, two fins, changed everything about riding waves at that stage,\u201d Kempton said.<\/p>\n

\"Multiple<\/p>\n

Multiple surfboards are shown in an exhibit on the evolution of surfing at the California Surf Museum in Oceanside on July 1, 2026.<\/p>\n

More fins came, three and four. New materials have been introduced, the latest being Kevlar.<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s the surfboard that might make you never want to get into the water at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what we call our Mona Lisa,\u201d Kempton said, showing a fiberglass foam board that\u2019s missing a chunk of fiberglass.<\/p>\n

In October of 2003, 13-year-old Bethany Hamilton was riding the board, surfing the waves off Kauai, when a nearly 14-foot tiger shark took a huge bite out of it and severed Hamilton\u2019s left arm in the process.<\/p>\n

\"Visitors<\/p>\n

Visitors to the California Surf Museum in Oceanside are shown looking at the surfboard Bethany Hamilton was riding in 2003 when a tiger shark bit a huge piece out of it off of Kauai at the museum on July 1, 2026.<\/p>\n

A fellow surfer said he knew which shark it was. He caught it and proved he got the right one by taking the animal\u2019s jaw out and putting it in the chomped-out part of Hamilton\u2019s surfboard. It fit perfectly. Hamilton recovered and continued surfing.<\/p>\n

As the museum celebrates its 40th year, Jim Kempton is thinking about the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just always want to keep upgrading, I mean, I guess that\u2019s the thing, you just have to keep up your game because today, the world is moving a lot faster than it used to,\u201d Kempton said.<\/p>\n

\"Visitors<\/p>\n

Visitors are shown alongside Calfornia Surf Museum Executive Director Jim Kempton and KPBS reporter John Carroll at the museum in Oceanside on July 1, 2026.<\/p>\n

There are plans to add two more stories, which will allow the museum to expand the ways it tells the story about a sport that rides on waves crashing into the shore from time immemorial.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The view from Pacific Street above the Oceanside Pier is an iconic California scene; surfers in the water,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":391253,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":["post-391252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=391252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/391253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=391252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=391252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=391252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}