A
History of surfing
The history of surfing
18. UNDOUBTLY goes back a long way. It seems to
19. HAVE FORMED a central part of the culture of
the Polynesian people, who were inhabitants of islands in the Pacific
Ocean such as Samoa, Tonga and Hawaii. These people
20. REGARDED surfing as a mere recreational
activity. For them, it was much more of an art. Although surfing
21. APPEARED from many parts of Polynesia in the
early twentieth century, a small number of people in Hawaii
22. KEPT the tradition alive. In 1912, it spread to
the east coast of the United States, and in particular to Virginia
Beach, which became an important surfing centre. Surfing developed quite
23. RAPIDLY from then on, and the design of
surfboards became more sophisticated. However, it was not until the
1960s that surfing came 24. TO BE a truly global
phenomenon, boosted not only by the success of surfing films but also by
pop songs about surfing culture.