Wali Kam! - The Surfers Journal

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Wali Kam!

Jess Ponting travels to Papua New Guinea and discovers the indigenous people evolved from surfing on wooden "splinter" boards to making their own boards after the introduction of modern surf technology by a traveling Australian pilot. They discover another community of surfers off the surfing map using no commercial surf products. All the boards were handmade from wood. Fin attachments and shape enhancements followed with the introduction in the 1980s of a surf magazine helped propel surfboard design.

Words by Jess Ponting

Volume 13, Issue 4