Surfing Guinness Book of World Records recognized a wave ride by Garrett McNamara at Nazaré, Portugal as the largest wave ever surfed. For hundreds of years, surfing was a central part of ancient Polynesian culture. Surfing may have first been observed by British explorers at Tahiti in 1767. Samuel Wallis and the crew members of who were the first Britons to visit the island in June of that year. Another candidate is the botanist Joseph Banks being part of the first voyage of James Cook on , who arrived on Tahiti on 10 April 1769. Lieutenant James King was the first
O Tahiti Nui Freedom O Tahiti Nui Freedom The O Tahiti Nui Freedom project, initiated by , is an outrigger sailing canoe built for an expedition in which she reversed the path of Polynesian expansion through the South Pacific in 2010. The design of the "O Tahiti Nui Freedom" was inspired by a historical plan drawn in Tahiti by Admiral Paris around 1820 (standard plank of wood and stitch construction). The design was then reviewed and modernized by a group of naval architects in order to meet the standards of modern safety while respecting the line and form of Paris' 1820 plan. This modified