In recent publications, several fields of study have shown interest in individuals who prioritize their lives around surfing ocean waves and the institutions and cultures that surround the practice. I will argue that the early-mid 20th century surfer illustrates and offers interpretative value to the concepts of the philosopher Fredrich Nietzsche. From a historical perspective guided by the Nietzschean concepts of the body, good and evil, ressentiment, play, and aesthetics, I urge the reader to consider images, events, and cultural values that tell us the surfer unknowingly and knowingly challenges ideas of identity, norms, capitalism, and society at large—which lead to the nonconformist outlook and inverse appearance from those outside the surf culture. I think the surfer thus offers a response to these traditions, morals and values; it is one of aesthetic pursuits in response to nihilism. I explore the surfer as a historical, concrete artifact; one that is not pinned down by a distinct value but expressed through several - their playful character toward surfing and life, their thrust toward values on their own terms, their loose sense of identity and structured gender roles, and most importantly, how they value the aesthetic experience in response to the nihilism of their world, placing the work-world secondary to their pursuits. The surfer should be explored via a variety of values, truths, and senses. Where do the surfer and Nietzschean thought align? In asking these questions, I think this provides an opportunity to exercise the limits of Nietzschean hermeneutics.
