 And unlike many other sports, the secondary equipment became almost as important as the core surfboard, a prime example being the wetsuit.The worldwide history of surfing could easily be divided between pre-wetsuit and post-wetsuit, because it expanded the potential to surf places previously far too cold, which comprised a vast amount of un-surfed worldwide coastline.On a similar basis, surfing history could justifiably be divided between pre-polystyrene and post-polystyrene surfboards, or pre-fin and post-fin as the original Hawaiian boards did not have fins until Tom Blake added one in 1935.