ee provides a long, almost level beach floor, with surf breaking far out and running hundreds of yards into the calm inshore waters. through the water. The surf-board is handled by one person, who ordinarily propels it through the water while lying prone upon it, feet trailing over the squared end and serving as rudders, hands and arms serving as oars or- Waikiki’s peculiar, long-running surf has given rise to the distinctive and thrilling sport of surf-riding. Surfing is Hawaii’s “sport of kings” in very fact for it was developed by the early kings and chieftains of the Islands and has been handed down from them as a noble pastime. There are three kinds of surf-riding, the names of which are in a measure self-explanatory. ‘These are canoe surfing, board surfing and body surfing. In canoe surfing the singleoutrigger type of canoe peculiar to Hawaji is used. These are built long and narrow with high sides and “battleship” prows. The heavy outrigger parallels the canoe and is fastened to it by means of poles about six While both canoes and boards may be and are used at various points along Waikiki beach, the regular surf for the sport is about half a mile out from one of the big hotels. There the canoes and board-riders congregate, lining up and watching for suitable waves something as horses line up behind the barrier. this When the skilled “pick feet long lashed across the canoe. outrigger the canoe would at Without once cap- size, but with it, it is practically non-capsizable. The average canoe will seat seven or eigh t persons, one to a seat. It is an art to handle a heavy, clumsy craft like this in the surf, and only pilots who have passed prescribed tests may take them out. In the hands of such a pilot any landlubber is safe in an outrigge r, which makes the sport available to many who would never be able to handle a surf-board. paddles. Body-surfing is simply coasting before a breaking wave by stiffening the body. It sounds easy, but it requires a speedy stroke to “catch” the wave, and there is a decided knack to sliding before it, once it is caught. wave is seen surfers have the an ones” among good ~ swells—there “Pull!” at approaching—and uncanny are yells of which the the “Let’s canoe ability to in-rolling go!” crews and paddle madly while the board-riders, waiting a little longer, spurt ahead just as the wave rears its crest behind them. ‘Then the wave breaks in a crashing roar and smother of white foam, — the canoes and boards are seized as with giant hands and rush shoreward in a cloud of spray, traveling sometimes all the way in to the- The surf-board is a nearly oval-shaped piec e of wood about four inches thick at its thic kest point, about two feet wide at its widest, and about nine feet long. One end is pointed or nearly so, and is beveled on the under surf ace; the other end is sawed squarely across. ‘The top surface is flat, the under surface so beveled as to give it the least resistance in mov ing them as they slide down the front of a wave, but these mishaps involve usually nothing but a ducking and a swim to retrieve the board and are a source of considerable entertainment for spectators on the pier and in the canoes. [6] [7] beach., There are frequent mishaps with boards, the riders of which leap upright upon