To their surprise, after Huang paddled into the waves he managed to pop up on the board at his first try with his knees bent, arms extended and torso leaning forward.

"Keeping balance on the board is a lot like standing on a small fishing boat, so it was not as difficult as I had imagined."

The Japanese, suitably impressed, gave Huang a board as a gift when they left the bay. Over the 12 intervening years he has spent hundreds of hours honing his surfing techniques, turning from a novice into a seasoned expert.

In the early days Huang's mother ran a seaside seafood restaurant that was popular among visitors who traveled to the place to surf.

"Other local restaurants did not welcome these people because they usually wore sopping wet suits covered with sand," Huang says. "So naturally after we had been surfing I would take them to my mother's restaurant."

He thus forged good relationships with these non-local surfers, and when they left they would often give him their wet suits and surfboards as a token of thanks for his help.