Captain James Cook became the first Westerner to witness surfing when he reached Hawaii on his last voyage in the late 1770s, and a board which almost certainly dates from then has been brought to Marton, near Middlesbrough, where the world-renowned mariner was born in 1728.
It is the first time that the fourteen-and-a-half foot long board has left Hawaii and it is now the centrepiece of an exhibition at the Captain Cook Birthplace Museum.
Its size marks it out as a board which would have been used by a member of royalty, as only those of the highest social standing would have been allowed to surf with such an impressive example. The surfboard, made out of dark red koa wood which is native to Hawaii, is known to have belonged to High Chief Abner Paki in the 1830s, but it is thought to have been an heirloom dating from the time of Captain Cook's third voyage more than 50 years earlier.
Peter Robinson, director of the Surfing Museum in Brighton, arranged for the giant surfboard, which dwarfs contemporary long-board designs that average between 10ft and 11ft, to be brought to Britain after visiting the Bishop Museum in Honolulu.
The board is not normally on show in Hawaii, and talks lasting several months took place before it was allowed to come to England.
Mr Robinson said surfing then "was not just a sport, it was about love, relationships, business and betting – it formed the basis of society in Hawaii".
PR.Jeeves@ypn.co.uk