Few pieces of equipment have transformed as much as the humble surfboard. Decade after decade, shapers and surfers all over the world have innovated and pushed the medium to places previously thought impossible.

Ancient Polynesians have long been considered the original surfers – or he’e nalu as it was known in the native tongue. Back then, they would use timber to construct surfboards creating shapes known as olo and the alaia, the latter of which you probably still see around today. The olo was a beast – more than 16 feet in length and reserved for Hawaiian Royalty. The alaia was typical shorter and there was also a third shape called the kiko’o, which sat somewhere in between. Anyway, let’s take a look at the evolution of the surfboard, era by era.

Before 1900 – Where Surfing Began

The three shapes above formed the basis for surfing in Polyneisa. These were heavy boards and had no fins – which meant you needed a considerable understanding of how these things worked before paddling them out.…