Word: surf
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...surfing's Tongan revival? It all began with a love affair. In 1977, a 21-year-old chef from Sydney, Steve Burling, embarked on a holiday with some mates. Their plan was to surf Indonesia's best spots, then check out the less popular destinations of Tonga, Samoa and Fiji. But Burling's holiday ended on Tongatapu, where on his first day he met a local beauty called Sesika. Burling had never had a girlfriend before; never been in love. Sesika knocked him sideways. "It was her femininity," he says. "And she was slamming attractive." She followed him back...
...seemed natural to Burling that he would teach his children - he and Sesika have had six of their own and adopted two others - how to surf, and it was their eldest son, Michael, who first showed promise. By the time he was in high school, having featured in the local press for excelling in overseas competitions, Michael had drawn a number of his friends toward this unfamiliar sport. None of them had a board of his own - one still can't buy surf equipment anywhere in Tonga - so they used boards donated over the years by guests of the resort...
...Other foreign observers have been surprised at how quickly Tongan girls have learned to surf - from being scared, at first, to paddle out beyond their depth, to within weeks showing competence, upright on a board, 100 m out to sea. They feed, suggests Australian visitor Amber Mercy, off the enthusiasm of their friends. Many Western boardies regard surfing as a largely solitary, internal experience. "But Tongans are a very social people who like to do things in groups," says Burling. Between sets one morning the girls are whooping it up. Tongan Idol is back on television and they...
...where nearly everyone could lose a few pounds without keeling over, Burling's students are among the fittest-looking folk around. Lavinia Sunia, 15, had no interest in sport until she started mucking about on a board seven years ago. "I just watched TV," she says. Now she'll surf two hours every day if conditions allow it, and her toned body would be the envy of teenage girls anywhere...
...Vason was 24 when he tried to bring Christianity to Tonga. Burling was just a year younger when he brought the country his own gift of surfing - nothing so profound, of course, though along with golf there's no other sport that stirs such zeal in its disciples. And Burling wants to keep spreading the word. Though a shortage of boards and passable surf spots will limit surfing's growth on the Friendly Islands, "If a kid comes up and asks me to teach him to surf," says Burling, "I'm never going to say no." With salt in their...