The Everything Guide to Surfing

We invented it, we live it, we love it. Here's how Hawaii surfs now.

Photo by Dana Edmunds

We started planning this month’s surf feature in the summer (beach on the brain, perhaps?). Then, the August issue of Orange Coast magazine landed on our desks, with a surf cover story declaring that Orange County, Calif., is the “surf capital of the world.”

Seriously?

Writes Orange Coast, “‘Velcro Valley’ developed here in the 1980s. … the nucleus of an international industry that in 2010 generated $6.24 billion in the U.S. alone. Today, nowhere else on Earth has such a critical mass of surf culture as Orange County. And while the waves may be bigger in Hawai‘i, the industry and the culture flourish here. Case closed.”

While the bank accounts may be fatter in Orange County, the sport of surfing was born here, the spirit of it flourishes here and there isn’t a wetsuit-wearing surfer on the West Coast who wouldn’t rather be surfing in Hawaii. Court adjourned. On these pages, you’ll find a celebration and an exploration of what it means to surf in Hawaii today.