Rediscovering the Joy of Surf

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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're in the mood to sing. First it's Ain't No Mountain High Enough, and then the Tongan national anthem gets a whirl. If they could stop laughing for longer than a few seconds, they'd sound pretty good.

On an island 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.

Tonga's next generation is coming through. On this morning there are probably more complete surfers than 10-year-old Alan Burling showing their wares. But he's the kid who catches the eye. While the others appear wary of falling, he zips across the waves with abandon. "I want to be a pro surfer," he says later during a game of ping-pong, in which he at first pretends never to have played the game, and then begins swiping balls into the corners. Dad Steve is not ruling it out: "I think he's surfing better than Michael was at the same age."

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 hair and the sun on their backs, Tonga's band of wave riders is making up for 200 years of lost time.