In the 1960s,everyone had to have a surfboard. It was, for lack of a better term, the original action sport. Having coolers and beach blankets were cool, but a surfboard was downright sexy. In the late 1970s, surfers started to ride skateboards more radically and eventually grew a pursuit that is as much a part of city streets as the beach culture from whence it bloomed.

Speaking inevolutionary terms, surfing and skateboarding evolved whereas activities like waterskiing became theHomo habilis of…