The very first surfers were the Island folk who would use the waves to get over the coral reefs and back to shore after their hard days of fishing. They found that this was the easiest and quickest way of transport over the reefs so they continued to do it for many years. As time went on the art of riding waves then developed into more of a "leisure sport" than that of being a part of work.

The first actual surfboarders originated in the 1920's where they rode large redwood planks that weighed around 126 pounds. As technology developed the boards became shorter, lighter and became better designed. The next surfboards to follow were made in the 1950's, this time the boards where made of balsa wood and then covered in a layer of fiberglass, these boards reached a length of about 9-10 feet long.

In the 1960's the long board was introduced and was made of Styrofoam and again, covered in fiberglass. In the 70's the short board took over, which had a similar design to the long boards but were only around 6 foot in length. These proved to be very popular due to their faster speeds and easier

These three factors effect the size of the wave but there is one more factor, and that is the direction of the wind. The direction can alter the smoothness of the wave and how long the wave can hold up for. The other elements that can have an effect on a wave are the tides, and also the surface of the ocean floor of which the wave is breaking over.

To start with the tides effect the level of the water, and some surf spots need different tides to actually form a wave. For example if it is low tide, which means that the water level is lower, it might make surf spots really shallow, preventing anyone from riding the wave. But on the other hand another surf spot may be really deep and will only work when it is low tide and shallow.

The two films are about a couple of guys who travel around the world trying to find a perfect wave. Looking at the two movies you can notice how much surfing has improved over the years and how many new spots there are to surf.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 912
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)