Surfing the South

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214 pp., 6.125 x 9.25, 14 halftones, 1 map, bibl., index

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-4696-6777-5
Published: May 2022
E-book EPUB ISBN: 978-1-4696-6778-2
Published: February 2022
E-book PDF ISBN: 979-8-8908-6155-9
Published: February 2022

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When most Americans think of surfing, they often envision waves off the coasts of California, Hawai’i, or even New Jersey. What few know is that the South has its own surf culture. To fully explore this unsung surfing world, Steve Estes undertook a journey that stretched more than 2,300 miles, traveling from the coast of Texas to Ocean City, Maryland. Along the way he interviewed and surfed alongside dozens of people—wealthy and poor, men and women, Black and white—all of whom opened up about their lives, how they saw themselves, and what the sport means to them. They also talked about race, class, the environment, and how surfing has shaped their identities.

The cast includes a retired Mississippi riverboat captain and alligator hunter who was one of the first to surf the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, a Pensacola sheet-metal worker who ran the China Beach Surf Club while he was stationed in Vietnam, and a Daytona Beach swimsuit model who shot the curl in the 1966 World Surfing Championships before circumnavigating the globe in search of waves and adventure. From these varied and surprising stories emerge a complex, sometimes troubling, but nevertheless beautiful picture of the modern South and its people.

About the Author

Steve Estes is an avid surfer and professor of history at Sonoma State University.
For more information about Steve Estes, visit the Author Page.

Reviews

“Combining history, travelog, and memoir . . . a valuable gift.”—Journal of Southern History

"The author’s contribution to the literature of surfing history in particular is a substantial one . . . Estes’s book carves out a little cove of quiet, contemplative ethnographic-historical examination that speaks to the myriad ways southern residents of the United States have engaged with and made meaning of their connections with water, American empire, and surfing culture."—H-Environment

"An impressive travelogue, at the same time the book of a surf enthusiast as well as a close observation of a scholar who is interested in understanding this region and the people who live there."—H-Soz-Kult

“Estes has written an engaging book about the history of surfing in the American South.”—North Carolina Historical Review

“Ultimately, Surfing the South is both enlightening and engaging, even for those who know little about surfing. . . . [W]hat makes this book work, in the end, is the author’s passion for talking, thinking, and teaching surfing, which is evident on nearly every page.”—Oral History Review

“Estes has given historians of surfing and of the South, not to mention historians who are surfers or southerners, a valuable gift.”—Journal of Southern History