Where does the term surfski come from

Hi everyone,

I started with surfski about a year ago.
However still i didn't met anyone who can answer the following question:

where does the term surfski come from. and why isn't it called surfkayaking or seakayak racing.

I can clearly see where the surf in surfski comes from. but i don't know where exactly the ski part comes from.

Does anybody know this?

I hate the name surfski. The boats are not even designed to go in the surf. I far prefer the name ocean ski which better describes the pinnacle of the sport which is offshore downwind.
Whenever I tell people I am going on my surfski they think I am going surfing on a wave ski.

I call an ocean ski an ocean ski and a surf ski a surf ski. Surf ski as in surf lifesaving approved craft or made to handle harsh surf conditions or beatings and ocean ski made for catching ocean swells and wind runners.

I think the terms have come about as the craft design for this purpose has developed faster than appropriate language to go with it.

Ps still not solving the ski part! Interested in the answer and hope its something rational! Is it not a racing/advanced version"sit on top kayak"?

As far as I can find out,the ski in surfski comes from crocker ski,a sit on top fairly flat bottomed pointed nose wooden boat used mainly for fishing from the likes of Vetchies off Durban and was then modified,slimmed down and used at the first Scottburgh to Brighton races,a 46.5km race between rival lifesaving clubs.

There is a gentleman down the road from my work,Mr.Harvey who used to race these and when you see these heavy wooden tanks with ungainly flat cumbersome wooden paddles,you begin to realize how lucky we are.

For me you sit inside a kayak but sit on top of a ski.As for the surf,comes from surfing with us "surfing" the swells out at sea be it wind or ocean swell.Just my 5 cents worth.

Not so much snow here but a Ski is slippery and it glides....thus

The first term "surf" is fairly easy.

The term "ski" derives from ancient scandinavian terminologi, meaning an elongated object made of (natural) wood, usually processed slightly, (e.g. a cleaved and/or chaped with axe/knife,) log of wood, flat, or semi-flat on at least one side.
A cleaved, elongated piece of wood, intended for the oven, "firewood", is often termed a "vedski" or a "vedskie"

In modern times in Scandinavia, a "ski" is synomym for any (semi)flat object made for movement on snow.

A bit of quick research has revealed that the earliest reference I can find on surf skis appears that they evolved in the early 1900s on the north coast of NSW Australia see www.surfresearch.com.au/0000h_SurfSki.html