A-frame

Aaberg, Denny

Aaberg, Kemp

Abberton, Koby

Abbruzzi, Sid

Abellira, Reno

Abubo, Megan

academia and surfing

Adler, Tom

advertising and surfing

Aeder, Erik

aerial

Aguerre, Fernando

Aichner, Scott

Aikau, Clyde

Aikau, Eddie

Aipa, Ben

air-drop

airbrush

Airshow

Ala Moana

Alabama

alaia board

Alaska

alcohol and surfing

Alexander, Kala

Allen, Chuck

Alms, Paige

aloha shirt

Alter, Hobie

Alvarez, Pepe

Ancell, Kevin

Andaman Islands

Andersen, Lisa

Anderson, Craig

Anderson, Simon

Andino, Kolohe

Angel, Jose

angle

Angola

Angourie

Antarctica

Apocalypse Now

Arabian Sea

Aragon, Janice

Arakawa, Eric

Archbold, Matt

Arena, Eduardo

Ashton, Juan

Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP)

Atlantic Ocean

August, Robert

Aurness, Rolf

Auster, Ken

Australia

Avalon, Frankie

Azores

backdoor

backside

backside attack, Pipeline

backwash

bail out

Bain, Rob

Baja California

Baker, Bernie

Baker, Grant “Twiggy”

Baker, Tim

Bali

Ball, John “Doc”

Ballard, Bill

Ballard, Rochelle

balsa

Baltic Sea

Banks, Jim

Barbados

Barilotti, Steve

Barland, Michel

Barreda, Sergio “Gordo”

Barry, Michael

Bartholomew, Wayne

Baxter, Jackie

Bay of Bengal

Beach Boys, The

Beacham, Debbie

beachboys

beachbreak

Beachcomber Bills Grand Prix

Beachley, Layne

beavertail

Becker, Phil

Bedford-Brown, Stuart

Belgium

Bells Beach

Bendall, Ma and Pa

Bennett, Barry

Benson, Becky

Benson, Blanche

Benson, Linda

Bermuda

Bertlemann, Larry

While Hawaii is the birthplace of surfing, California has for better and worse been the center of the surfing world since the mid-20th century. It is the design and manufacturing headquarters for surfboards, wetsuits, beachwear, surf entertainment/media, and surf forecasting; it has been home to generations of influential surfers, including George Freeth, Tom Blake, Mickey Dora, and Tom Curren. California's 840-mile coastline alternates from urban to suburban to rural, and is visited regularly by sharks, fog, fire, flood, heat waves, and earthquakes, as well as the much-lauded sunshine. Among California's nearly one million surfers (out of over two million nationwide) are dedicated competitors, reclusive soul surfers, and dangerous turf-protecting locals; the surfing ambience ranges from the manic commercialization of surf industry trade shows around Los Angeles, to the serene cliff-lined beauty of Big Sur; the surf itself ranges from deadly 40-foot tubes at Maverick's to finely tapered six-foot walls at Malibu to gently sloped two-foot rollers at San Onofre.

Point Conception marks the geographic and cultural dividing point between the state's two main surfing regions. (Conception itself, home to the wave-rich and privately owned Hollister Ranch, is often said to constitute a third California surfing region.) Southern California is warm, crowded, and topographically rounded, with a surf scene that, to a degree beyond that of anywhere else in the world, is commercially driven. North of Conception the shoreline is colder and more rugged, and far less populated. Bank Wright's 1973 guidebook 

 lists just over 400 point-, reef-, and beachbreaks from border to border, but a more detailed survey would likely triple that number. (Wright lists two breaks in Marin County, for example; the actual number is closer to 12.) Open to a full range of swell-producing storms in the North and South Pacific, waves are found all year in most regions of California. Malibu and Lower Trestles are among the better-known California spots during south swells, which generally arrive in late summer and early fall; Maverick's and Rincon are among the spots that require north or west swells, which generally arrive from late fall to early spring. Summer coastal air temperatures in the south can reach into the mid-90s; winter air temperatures in the north can drop into the low 30s. Water temperature, thanks to the North Pacific current, is relatively stable, ranging from the mid-40s to the low 70s.

Surfing was introduced to California in 1885, in Santa Cruz, by three Hawaiian brothers who were attending a nearby boarding school; small numbers of Santa Cruz natives continued to ride waves over the next few years. But the sport didn't really take root in the state until 1907, when Hawaiian-Irishman George Freeth began riding waves at Los Angeles's Venice Beach. Surfer and Olympic gold medal swimmer Duke Kahanamoku, also from Hawaii, helped popularize the sport here beginning in 1915, with the first of a half-dozen visits that included surf stops at a number of Southern California beaches. The annual Pacific Coast Surf Riding Championships, America's first major surfing competition, debuted in 1928, and was won by Tom Blake—the first surfer to ride Malibu (in 1927) and the inventor of the hollow surfboard (1929), as well as the surfboard fin (1935). The Corona del Mar Surfboard Club, the first club of its kind, was formed in the late '20s; the Pacific System Homes company, located in Los Angeles, introduced the mass-produced surfboard in 1930; surfer photographer/dentist John "Doc" Ball published the sport's first photo book, California Surfriders, in 1946. Paddleboard Cove, Corona del Mar, and San Onofre were among the favorite surf breaks in California prior to World War II.

After the war, Los Angeles–area board-builders Bob Simmons, Matt Kivlin, and Joe Quigg all contributed to the development of the "Malibu chip," forerunner of today's longboard. In 1950, boardmaker Dale Velzy opened in Venice Beach what many regard as the world's first surf shop; the production-line boardmaking industry was founded three years later with the opening of Hobie Surfboards, a custom-built surfboard factory/showroom located in Dana Point. In San Francisco, Jack O'Neill opened a surf shop in 1952 that carried neoprene wetsuit vests, and by the end of the decade O'Neill, along with the Meistrell brothers at Dive n' Surf in Redondo Beach, had established the fast-growing surfing wetsuit trade. Santa Monica school teacher and former lifeguard Bud Browne debuted the first surf film in 1953, screening his homemade 

 in a local junior high school auditorium; three years later, UC Berkeley professor Eugene Burdick released 

, the first surfing novel, and Brentwood screenplay writer Frederick Kohner followed the next year with his best-seller 

. By the late '50s, Phil Edwards from north San Diego County and Mickey Dora of Los Angeles were the two best surfers in America, and possibly the world; both were smart, funny, and iconoclastic, and embodied perfectly the still-cherished idea that surfing is less a sport and more a grand pursuit and passion. California-born surfers Greg Noll, Rick Grigg, Peter Cole, Fred Van Dyke, and Buzzy Trent were meanwhile doing much of the big-wave pioneering work on the North Shore of Oahu.

Los Angeles, as home to Hollywood-made surf- themed movies (

 ), as well as surf music acts like the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean, was the font of surf culture in the late '50s and '60s. Former Laguna Beach High School art teacher John Severson founded 

 magazine in 1960, establishing the surf magazine genre; more than a half-dozen other California-based surf magazines debuted over the next five years. In 1964, Dana Point filmmaker Bruce Brown barnstormed his new 16-millimeter surf movie 

 up and down the California coast; two years later he took a 35-millimeter version of the movie into theaters and had a critical and box-office smash hit. Surf music was largely a spent force by 1965, but Hollywood continued with varying degrees of authenticity and success to try its hand at surfing, most notably with 

With companies like Hobie Surfboards and Clark Foam leading the way, the California board-making industry exploded during the early and mid-60s, as Jacobs, Weber, Bing, Gordon & Smith, Greg Noll, and other companies sold thousands of boards locally, and shipped thousands more to the East Coast, Gulf Coast, and Hawaii. Meanwhile, the Hang Ten clothing company, formed in 1960 and headquartered in Long Beach, almost single-handedly launched the surfwear industry.

The United States Surfing Association, formed in 1961 and based in Laguna Beach, was the first nationwide surf organization, and helped turn Southern California into the world hub of competitive surfing. California surfers throughout the decade were equal to the best from Australia and Hawaii—the other two surfing power centers—with top riders including Mike Doyle, Joyce Hoffman, Skip Frye, David Nuuhiwa, Linda Benson, Margo Godfrey, Corky Carroll, and Rolf Aurness. Professional surfing was born in 1965 with the KHJ Hermosa contest (winner Denny Tompkins received an MG sedan), and the $1,500 Tom Morey Invitational, held in Ventura. The World Surfing Championships (later renamed the World Surfing Games) were held in California in 1966, 1972, 1984, and 1996.

The late-'60s shortboard revolution badly damaged the state's board-building industry and all but wiped out its competition structure, and the California surf scene as a whole was bleak during the first few years of the '70s. Ocean Pacific nonetheless became the world's largest surfwear company, and California surf filmmakers continued to make popular movies—including MacGillivray/Freeman's Five Summer Stories (1972), Bud Browne's Going Surfin' (1973), and Bill Delaney's Free Ride (1977)—but none of the state's surfers (save Mike Purpus) figured on the international stage, and a sometimes-violent strain of localism flourished from San Diego to Santa Cruz. In 1977, with the first annual Katin Pro-Am Team Challenge, a $10,000 contest held in Huntington Beach, California, began to reintegrate with not only the larger surf community, but with itself.

California surfing boomed in the '80s. The 1981 Instinct Pro at Malibu put the state on the world pro tour schedule for the first time, and in 1982 the debut Op Pro at Huntington Beach introduced the sport to big-market hype and spectacle. Seal Beach surfer Sean Collins, cofounder of Surfline, a pay-per-call phone service, meanwhile helped transform surf forecasting from voodoo magic to a commercially viable art/science. Hugely successful Orange County–based surfwear companies—founded in California, or licensed from Australia or Hawaii—included Quiksilver, Gotcha, Stussy, Billabong, and Maui and Sons; wetsuit companies also thrived; and the 1981-founded Action Sports Retailer trade show in Long Beach became surfing's biggest international wares exhibition and market bazaar, with a second annual event added in San Diego in 1987. The San Clemente-based Surfrider Foundation, launched in 1984, became surfing's first environmental group, and in 1991 Surfrider made national headlines by winning a $6.3 million case against two Humboldt County paper mills.

Graceful Santa Barbara surfer Tom Curren not only won the world title in 1985, 1986, and 1991, but did so in a way that endeared him to both competitive and noncompetitive surfers. (Santa Barbara's Al Merrick, Curren's boardmaker, attained a similarly high rank in his field.) Californians Joey Buran, Brad Gerlach, and Richie Collins all won world tour events during the '80s; Christian Fletcher, by the end of the decade, was the sport's's premier aerialist; California old school longboard aces Herbie Fletcher, Dale Dobson, and David Nuuhiwa helped spark a renewed interest in longboarding that soon led to a full-scale international revival.

California surf businesses suffered during the nationwide recession in the early '90s, but bounced back stronger than ever by the end of the decade, led by most of the '80s companies, along with newcomers like Reef Brazil, Hurley, Volcom, Oakley, and Black Flies. "Killer Profits in Velcro Valley," a 1999 

 magazine article, reported that sales for the Quiksilver company were up to $316 million annually; two years later the publicly traded Quiksilver went over the half-billion-dollar mark. Much of the upswing was attributed to a long overdue rise in women's surfing; California was home to Quiksilver spinoff Roxy, as well as Surf Diva, the first women's surf school, and 

, the first women's surf magazine. Perhaps the most spectacular surf business development of the period was the creation and implosion of Hardcloud.com and Bluetorch.com, the venture capital-funded surfing Web sites that each spent tens of millions of dollars in 1999 and 2000, before folding. A third site, Swell.com, spent nearly as much, and survived only by hastily transforming itself into an online surfwear and surf accessories dealer.

Meanwhile, the post-Curren generation of surfers, including Rob Machado, Tim Curran, Jeff Booth, Shane Beschen, and Taylor Knox, were among the world's best, but had nothing like Curren's influence. By the early '90s, video had helped finish off the already-weak surf movie industry, leaving room for San Diego videographer Taylor Steele to rise as the new king of surf cinema, with his rough-hewn works such as 

 (1994), which served as templates for hundreds of video titles to follow.

Northern California also began making its presence felt. "Playing Doc's Games," writer William Finnegan's 40,000-word 

 article on surfer/ physician Mark Renneker, was set in San Francisco; Daniel Duane's critically acclaimed memoir 

 (1996) took place in Santa Cruz; novelist Kem Nunn's surfing psychodrama 

 (1997) was set near the California/Oregon border. Maverick's, the big-wave break located between Santa Cruz and San Francisco, was introduced to the surfing world in 1992, and to the public at large in 1994, when Hawaiian surfer Mark Foo died there during his first visit. More attention was given to Maverick's in 1999, with the debut of the Quiksilver-sponsored Maverick's Men Who Ride Mountains big-wave contest. A group of aggressive young Santa Cruz surfers, having already gained a reputation as first-rate aerialists, were now among the world's best big-wave riders as well—particularly Peter Mel, Darryl "Flea" Virotsko, and Kenny Collins, all of whom made an easy transition from paddle-in surfing at Maverick's to mechanized tow-in surfing. Mel and Collins were both part of a January 19, 2001, expedition to Cortes Bank, a big-wave reefbreak located 100 miles off San Diego, where Mike Parsons rode a wave described as between 40 and 65 feet high. Hawaii had always been the big-wave surfing crucible; attention would now be split between Hawaii and California.

As of 2012, it was estimated that California was home to around 350 surf shops. The California surf is outlined in a number of books, including 

Surfer Magazine's Guide to Southern California Surf Spots 

Surfer Magazine's Guide to Northern and Central California Surf Spots

Subscribe or Login

Encyclopedia of Surfing

Encyclopedia of Surfing