Smiling Surfing & Mantra Surf Club : photo courtesy Surfing India

Surf Culture

Thank India for several cultural gems, including the word Surf

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 9 November, 2009 : - - If there is any one word that surfers use the most it is probably ‘SURF’. After all, where would surfing and surfers be without surf? Surf is everything. But did you ever stop to wonder where the word ‘surf’ came from? I did and what I found out from an Etymology Dictionary was that the word ‘surf’ came into use in 1685.

The word 'surf' was derived from the Indian word 'sufe' meaning the coastline. This word was picked up by Portuguese sailer's in the 1600's and 'sufe' soon became 'surf'. Is that far out or what? India, one of the last countries in the world to take up surfing actually gave surfing its name! India may be the last to get into surfing but the surf potential in India is already proving to be amazing! Mother India does it again.

Waves in India

The sub-continent of India has 7,000 kilometers[4,349 miles] of coastline. The greater portion of thatis still unexplored in terms of locatingsurf spots. But with that much exposureto the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean andthe Bay of Bengal and with nothing off thesouthern tip of India for thousands, andthousands of kilometers except Antarctica- with that much ocean out there, you knowthere are going to be some great waves when the conditions are favorable.You're right, there are!

There are waves in India all year round averaging 3 to 5 feet but the season for big waves [8feet plus] is May throughSeptember. This is the pre-monsoon and monsoonseason. At this time the surf will range from 8 to 15 feet and bigger —often blown out and messy but sometimes the conditions are fantastic —super glassy and offshore winds, at which time you can expect someworld class waves.

 

Surf spots in India

 

But before continuing about surfing in India there is one little bit of information that you might find interesting — the word 'SURF' came from India.

If there is any one word that surfers use the most it is probably ‘SURF’. After all, where would surfing and surfers be without surf? Surf is everything. But did you ever stop to wonder where the word ‘surf’ came from? I did and what I found out from an Etymology Dictionary was that the word ‘surf’ came into use in 1685. The word 'surf' was derived from the Indian word 'sufe' meaning the coastline. This word was picked up by Portuguese sailer's in the 1600's and 'sufe' soon became 'surf'.

Is that far out or what? India, one of the last countries in the world to take up surfing actually gave surfing its name! India may be the last to get into surfing but the surf potential in India is already proving to be amazing! Mother India does it again.

www.surfingindia.net
www.surfingindia.net/india-surf-spots

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