ABSTRACT
The sea is not merely the physical medium in which surfing is undertaken, but, along with the beach, it is a place and setting of enormous personal significance and meanings to surfers.1 Furthermore the cultural representations which surround surfing for the wider society are also imbued with the almost archetypal images of the wave as a natural energy force and the seashore as margin or cultural periphery. This chapter seeks to situate surfing within the broad sweep of (primarily) Western culture’s evolving perceptions and representations of the sea and beach.
