International Surfing Day Origins

Neal "Sponge" Miyake has kept the origins of "International Surfing Day" alive, writing in 2005:

It's pretty neat to see that the idea of a worldwide surfing day has finally taken hold...

[Let's] acknowledge the originators of the idea -- the alt.surfing newsgroup. Back in 1993, during the pioneer days of what would become the Internet, some computer-geek/surfer types communicating on Usenet (a distributed Internet discussion system) decided to have a "World Surf Day."

Since then it's been a not-quite yearly event, with varying levels of participation and stoke. I compiled the first decade at: http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/ashub/wsd.htm.

We've even had heated discussions over which day would be the appropriate day: equinoxes or solstices, Earth Day, other holidays (see http://groups.google.com/group/alt.surfing/msg/668228ca5e28ce89). Such arcane discussions are the hallmark of "alt.surfers."

One guy (non-alt.surfer) actually tried to legitimize it back in 2002
via his website,
www.worldsurfday.com...
That didn't last long.

But the true alt.surfers have endured, continuing the longstanding tradition.

So, the next time International Surfing Day rolls around, just remember to give a tip of your hat to the originators of the event.

Aloha!

Neal "sponge" Miyake
www.hisurfadvisory.com


Google Groups : alt.surfing