Like men, women surfed in ancient Polynesia. This was especially documented in the waters around Hawaii, where children, women, and men surfed. Queen Kaahumanu, the most powerful wife of Kamehameha, favored a surf break known today as Castles, an outer reef at Waikiki on the south shore of Oahu that was forbidden ("kapu") to everyone except royalty ("alii"). Standing 6 feet tall and weighing over three hundred pounds, Ka'ahumanu had the physical strength and the skill to paddle an "olo" board and catch the large waves that break at Castles on a south swell and ride them. Until the 1830s women were still actively engaged in Hawaiian surfing, but this changed after American missionaries had come to the islands and taught the Hawaiians that it was improper for women to surf. Women did not begin surfing around the Hawaiian islands again until the late 1800s. By the end of World War II surfing would have a major revival that increased its popularity and participating membership. Women were encouraged to take up surfing by early water sports innovators Duke Kahanamoku and Tom Blake. Blake suggested that surfing would help women to keep their feminine figures.