In the early 20th century, wooden surfboards were long and heavy — measuring 15 feet long and weighing nearly 100 pounds — which prevented many women from taking up the sport.
Here are interesting vintage photos of women surfers from between the 1930s and 1960s:
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| A lifeguard teaches four women how to surfboard on the beach at Newquay in Cornwall, 1950. (J. R. T. Richardson/Fox Photos—Getty Images) |
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| Expert surfer Betty Hunt riding the waves at Newquay, Cornwall, 1952. (John Chillingworth/Picture Post—Getty Images) |
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| Surfing girls (left to right, Marilyn Ridge, Lyn Connelly, Dee Delaney) prepare to ride the swell and maybe catch a tube or two down on Newquay beach, Cornwall, 1955. (Russell Knight/BIPS—Getty Images) |
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| 16 yr. old surfer Kathy (Gidget) Kohner on the beach with her surfboard, 1957. (Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images) |
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| Kathy Kohner (aka Gidget) surfing, 1957. (Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images) |
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| Two women carrying their surfboards at the beach, 1960. (Marka/UIG—Getty Images) |
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| Linda Benson of the United States in competition for the women’s title of the World Surfboard Riding Championships staged at Sydney’s Manley Beach, Australia on May 17, 1964. (AP Photo) |
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| Maureen Horsley, 18, of Sydney, Australia, left, and American champion Linda Benson, 20, of the Encinitas Club of California, prepare for a dip in the Australian surf on May 16, 1964, in a warm-up for the World Surfboard Riding Championships at Sydney’s Manly Beach. (AP Photo) |
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| A woman carries her surf board down to the water on a beach near Sydney, Australia, circa 1965. (Archive Photos—Getty Images) |
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| Sally Field from the television series, 'Gidget,' posing in a swimsuit with a surfboard on the beach, circa 1965. (ABC Television—Courtesy of Getty Images) |
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| Water ski champions demonstrating their skills as they ride the wake of the waves without the use of a tow-line, at Cypress Gardens in California, 1965. (Keystone-France/;Gamma-Keystone—Getty Images) |
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| A woman in a checkered bikini leaning on a surf board Circa 1967 in Los Angeles. (Michael Ochs Archives—Getty Images) |
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| Members of the North Bay surfing club upload their surf boards from a station wagon at Malibu Beach, Calif. on July 12, 1961. (AP Photo) |
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| Six young women are ready with their surf boards on a beach in southern California, circa late 1920s/early 1930s. (Underwood Archives—Getty Images) |
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| Women surfboarders form a star as they lie on their huge hollow surfboards on Santa Monica beach, circa 1935. (General Photographic Agency—Getty Images) |
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| Surfers in the water in Hawaii, 1938. (Toni Frissell—Condé Nast/Getty Images) |
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| Geraldine Mathis being pulled along on her surfboard by a car driven along the sand near the mouth of the Necanicum River in Oregon circa 1940. (FPG—Getty Images) |
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| US surfer, Kathie Lacroix, during the Woman's World Surfing Championships, 1966. (Charles Bonnay—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images) |