Constructions of surfing space at Durban, South Africa

Surfers at Durban, South Africa, reveal a tendency to cluster in a number of different spaces off the bathing beaches. While this activity appears to function in a social environment that is at the same time companionable, competitive or exclusive, the manner in which the usually robust interaction with the material environment contributes to the construction of surfing space is not visibly evident to the outsider. A survey reveals that surfers construct surfing space out of images of a normative wave environment and practices and processes that are both sensory and social. Images of the perfect wave that describe the normative wave environment sought by surfers are acquired from surfing magazines and other media sources. Knowledge of wave shapes, winds and currents is provided by sensory-derived experience gained in the waves. Individual and group attitudes and behaviour in surfing spaces are socially constructed around issues of identity and exclusion. The path of surfing space construction is shown to link images of the perfect wave with sensory-derived knowledge of local wave conditions and socially constructed attitudes on the use of these spaces.