Nobody can definitively tell you who invented nose riding, but ask any surfer who lived through it, and they'll tell you that it started in the 50's. By the 1960's, what some call the golden days of nose riding were upon the surfing world, and the term 'hanging 10' became a household phrase around the world. Now, the art of noseriding is just as cool as it was 60 years ago!

The in-depth physics of it are best left to hydrodynamic experts, but the short version (and one that will totally suffice for this short history) of what makes noseriding possible is:

Magic.

Wizardry or not, there's just something stylish about standing suspended on a wave face with your feet together. Add a good old fashioned soul arch (like this kid!) and you're guaranteed to get a smile from the beach. Sure, the kids might laugh as they struggle to paddle their five-foot-nuthin' shortboards through the lineup, but that's not why people ride the nose. They do it because it feels good, and that might just be the very reason that it's stuck around for so long!

Enjoying somewhat of a resurgence in recent times, this classy act was once declared 'over' by a whipper-snapper from Australia, Nat Young. Winning the 1966 World Surfing Championships, the 'revolutionary' surfer knocked Californian David Nuuhiwa out of the finals with several 'power turns' instead of the classic style surfing on display by the rest of the finalists. While David Nuuhiwa spent 10 seconds with his toes on the nose, back arched and in the perfect position, Nat Young was laying into bottom turns and floating off the top.

"If you just stand on the nose from start to finish," Young proclaimed, "you've defeated creativity and individualism-the very essence of surfing!"

That's funny, because if you fast forward to 2016, you'd think the most individual surfer in the lineup was the chick who paddled out on a longboard, and effortlessly cross stepped her way to the nose…

To appreciate the greatness of noseriding, check out the 'Toes on the nose' thread right here in the Seabreeze surfing forums. With nothing but the finest nose riding photos spread over 29 pages, you're sure to get a kick out of the latest and most 'individual' trend in surfing right now.

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