Captain Cook no doubt is one of the greatest explorers in history. With his many expeditions and thousands of nautical miles covered he saw and experienced more than a thousand men do in a lifetime. His third expedition opened his eyes to what he and his crews on HMS Resolution and Discover describe, the ancient culture of surfing. He arrived in the Hawaiian Islands in 1788, it was in a particular area towards the western end of the island chain Hawai'i.

A Lieutenant(James King) of the time later promoted to First Lietuenant was charged with the duty of maintaining cooks journal(narrative-section) after Captain Cook's death at Kealakekua Bay. In his lengthy entry King describes in detail the art of surfing as performed by Hawaiian's. In reading his highly detailed depiction of the motions and skills used the reader is clearly able to depict Kings astonishment at this cultural activity, "On first seeing this very dangerous diversion I did not conceive it possible". This entry in the logs would future become recognised as the first ever description in written form of Surfing as known today.

King was accutely aware that this practice was infact an everyday event for the people of Hawaii, surfing was integral to daily life of the people. Furthermore it extended deeper into mythical beliefs of the great blue ocean surrounding the islands and in turn was the catalyst for religious beliefs of that time. A definite date is impossible to set for when this culture began, however it is officially the time that Surfing was intoduced to the European World.

Surfing at the time of Cook's arrival was at a stage where legend and culture essentially relied on surfing to uphold beliefs and social structures. Men would seek courage by willing the surf to show its power through use of the Kahuna. The Kahuna are experts and in essence spiritual leaders charged with providing and maintaining the beliefs of both men and women.

The kapu known otherwise as taboo outlined to native people how to live, develop and act. These kapu also extended into the surfing(culture) to define area's off limit to people. In essence it is a pecking order experienced in any local breaks of current times. Board size was significant within the culture, commoners would ride boards roughly 12 feet, whilst a those higher in the society would ride boards in excess of 20 feet.

Surfing as outlined had developed well before Cook's arrival. After the explorers left Hawaiian culture diminished and with it came a major decline in surfing culture. Cook's journal publication saw various ships and crews using Hawaii as a staging platform into the pacific. This decline was brought about by the introduction of new beliefs and major changes to Hawaii as it was previously known. The system of beliefs known as kapu declined, leading to all sorts of societal problems, Hawaii was crumbling and with it was the once integral culture(art) of surfing. The early 1800's brought with it numerous inhibiting factors both culturally and spiritually, Christianity was introduced and quickly seized control. Disease and infection from European ships and livestock caused death and illness previously non existent in the Hawaiian Islands. The severitity of disease was so incredibly bad that it lead to population declines in excess of 90% (400 000+ to 40 000) by the end of the 19th century.

Surfing continued to be a part of culture however with all the outside pressures from business, 'land owners' and industry much of the culture previously reserved and exclusive to Hawaii was lost forever.