SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – Surf’s up in California, where it’s now the official state sport.
Gov. Jerry Brown announced Monday that he has signed a bill making it so.
The new law declares surfing to be “an iconic California sport” – though it acknowledges that surfing originated with the Polynesian people and was imported into California from Hawaii.
Still, it says Californians have embraced surfing and made important contributions to the modern sport.
The state’s 1,100 miles of coastline are home to a number of world-famous surf breaks, and California hosts the Surfers’ Hall of Fame, the International Surfing Museum, and the California Surf Museum.
The law officially claims California is the heart of the surfboard building industry and that surf forecasting and the neoprene wetsuit were both invented in California.
