surfresearch.com.au  hunter : skiing in australia, 1911

The current Director N.S.W. Govenment Tourist Bureau and an enthusiastic skier, he indicates a knowledge surfboard riding acquired when visiting Hawaiia as a tourist sometime before 1911.
Clearly he was not the only Australian visitor to be exposed to the thrills of Hawaiian surfboard riding.

Riding is in the standing position for both sports:
"as the surfrider balances on a single board or runner, while coming down the side of Kosciusko we balance on a pair of runners or skis" (page 11).

In a comparision with snow skis, the article implies the surfboard dimensions are substantial, " 7 feet 6 inches to 9 feet in length" and "five times ... 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 inches wide" (approximately 20 inches, page 11)

The report is one of the few independent sources not directly from the surf life saving movement.

This article kindly provided by Craig Baird (Surfworld, Torquay) in August 2009,  who noted it "came to me via Dr. Garry Osmond (University of Queensland) after I had forwarded a Surfers Journal Article about Alexander Hume Ford (that) mentioned Percy Hunter's articles."

I have enjoyed the Glorious American Forth (thecelebrated  Fourth of July holiday) riding down the white-capped billows at Waikiki on the elusive surfboard; in July, in Australia, we ride down the great snowy billows of Mt. Kosciusko. and the sensation is the same.

The Hawaiian surfboard is about the length of the ski, only it is five times as wide; as the surfrider balances on a single board or runner, while coming down the side of Kosciusko we balance on a pair of runners or skis.

The ski, which has come to us from Scandinavia, is a long plank of mountain ash, from 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 inches wide, and from 7 feet 6 inches to 9 feet in length, about an inch thick at its stoutest part, the center, tapering to about half an inch at either end.
It is upturned in front, in order to glide over inequalities in the snow, or small obstacles.
The foot fits through a broad leather strap laced across the middle of the ski or shoe, the heel being left free.
Skill in the pastime is not difficult to acquire.
It is claimed for ski running that it is the highest advantage that any physical exercise can safely derive from terrestrial at traction, and the practised snow-shoer who has tried other sports will readily admit this.
Free wheeling down a mountain on a bolting bicycle is exciting, motoring at a hundred miles an hour along a level road has its own peculiar sensations, ballooning is by no means tame, and riding on the front of a flying express locomotive makes the wind roar in your ears, and puts a tingle in your blood. I have tried them all; but, without hesitation, I place ski-running over a snow bank that drops away at the rate of a foot in two and a half far before the best of them.
...

Page 12
...
I will give a description of skiing uphill, for this may be valuable to the Hawaiian, although he will never be able to surf up a wave.
In the old days, I was told in Hawaii, the natives used to ski down the smooth, grassy mountain sides, and there is one mountain peak in Hawaii, Mauna Loa, 14,000 feet high, where real skiing might be possible.
It is probable, however, that you will have to come to Australia to learn your skiing, as we must go to Hawaii to learn to ride the surfboard, although we now have a board or two at Manly beach.
...

Page 15
...
There are two great thrills in the world- surfboard riding and skiing down the snow caps of Kosciusko.
In Australia, our summer (sic, should be our winter) is at its height in July; America's summer vacation time.
The Government Tourist Bureaus of the several Australian Colonies invite the Americans to leave their torrid summer behind and enjoy our July snows.
Try the Hawaiian surf- board, as I have done, and then experience life's other great thrill- Australian skiing.

Hunter, Percy: July Skiing in Australia
Mid Pacific Magazine, January 1911, pages 15.

---

surfresearch.com.au

---