Short Story Summary
Surfing: The Royal Sport begins with the narrator, Jack London, sitting on the beach at Waikiki viewing the surf, and describing its beauty. Jack describes seeing a man’s head pop up a half mile out where the waves are breaking, and how gracefully he is able to manage the power of the wave. After admiring the beauty of the surf, Jack describes the physics of the surf. He says that the waves occur when the bottom of the wave meets the top of the land, causing the top of the wave to move over top of its bottom. He also describes the basic steps to getting on a wave from turning around to face the shore to paddling in an attempt to get on the wave. He compares being on top of the wave to being tossed ashore by Titan’s hand.
Jack finally decided to get into the water and try this art. There were some young boys in the water surfing the smaller waves, and using a board that was too small for him, Jack attempted to mimic what the boys were doing. He tried for hours to no avail, and finally his friend, Alexander Hume Ford, arrived. He gave Jack the proper board to surf with for his stature, and gave him some advice. Jack is able to ride some waves in using his own power, and has a feeling of great excitement. On one of Jack’s next rides he encounters a woman in the water. He has to call on what Ford told him about steering, and he is able to steer clear of the woman, and save her life. They finish surfing for the day, and vowed that they would go out to the blue water, where the breaking waves are, the next day.
The next day they paddled a half-mile out to the breaking waves. Jack was elated to be out there, and they met up with another surfer, who Ford knew. Ford and his friend, Freeth, both gave Jack information on how to surf these bigger waves. Jack finally caught his first wave, and it was an experience he would never forget. He stayed out for hours that day surfing the waves, and getting better at his newly learned skill. When he was done for the day he told himself that when the next morning came he would be right back out in the water.
The next morning came, and Jack could not get out of bed. He found that the sun had gotten to his legs, and caused sunburn that did not allow him to move. His legs were not used to this exposure as the rest of his body was, and he would have to stay in bed that day. It was quite all right with him though because he looked forward to the next time that he would get up and ride the waves.