The history of surfing.

Surfing, the sport of riding breaking waves on a surfboard, originated in prehistoric times in the South Seas. The sea was the most important force in the lives of the people of Hawaii and the other islands of the Pacific Ocean. It had strong religious and social connotations. Fron the 15th century onwards, surfing was important  because it showed that one could ``master´´ the sea. There were many competitions and chanllenges to the death betwenn rival chiefs.
The British captain James Cook was one of the first foreigners to see surfing when he went to Hawaii in 1778. He was very impressed by this spectacular sport and Europeans were facinated by the stories the sailors brought home. The reaction of the firts missionaries to Hawaii, howeer, was quite different. They didn´t approve of surfing and actually banned it in 1821. But, despite the efforts of the missionaries, the Hawaiian people never abandoned the sport. Important people made elaborate boards of solid wood; ypung boys surfed on banana trunks.
In 1920 famous Hawaiian swimmer called Duke Kahanamoku started the first surfing club in Waikiki. He gave surfing demostrations all round the USA and in Australia- on a solid wood board that weighed 60 kilos. He was universally loved and admired. When he died in 1968, yhe sport was popular all over the world.
The Internacinal Surfing Federation  was founded in 1962 in Peu and world championships have been held since then in North America, Peru, Hawaii, South Africa and Australia.
Today surfing has become a way of life. It has its music, its clothes, its hi-tech equiment, its new champiosn. The original Hawaiian surfers would be surprised at the modern clothes and equipment but one thing hasn´t change: the magic perfect waves.