ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the ways in which humans relate to the littoral zone, particularly from the perspective of surfers. It argues that surfing is, for many, a compulsive act, with humans drawn to the water in order to engage and encounter it through the practice of wave riding. This chapter draws on primary interviews and (auto)ethnographic accounts of surfing drawn from research in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, in order to articulate how this practice is a key articulation of surfer’s human–water relations. It presents how these connections not only move surfers to continually assert their littoral identity through performance, but also are moved to protect these relations through a variety of political mechanisms at the local and global level.
