Surfboars are elongated, platforms used in the sport of surfing. They are relatively light, but strong enough to support an individual standing on them while riding a breaking wave. Like the sport itself, they were invented in Hawaii, where they were known as Papa he‘e nalu in the Hawaiian language, and usually made of wood from local trees, such as koa, and were often over 15 feet in length and extremely heavy . The major advances over the years were the addition of one or more fins on the bottom rear of the board to improve directional stability and a change of materials and shapes.