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

Popular amateur surfing competition organized and managed by the Eastern Surfing Association (ESA), held annually since 1971 at Cape Hatteras, North Carolina; unaffiliated with the annual pro-am East Coast Surfing Championships held in Virginia Beach. The ESA Championships (or "Easterns") debuted after a lengthy and somewhat complicated phase in East Coast competitive surfing. In 1966, 

 magazine consolidated a number of independent statewide surfing championships into a 10-event United States Surfing Association-sanctioned Grand Prix series, the winner of which was crowned as the East Coast champion. The ESA replaced the USSA the following year, and from 1967 to 1969 competing East Coast surfers were ranked according to their aggregate point scores over a six-event ESA series held from Rhode Island to Florida. The first ESA Championships got under way at Sebastian Inlet, Florida, in the summer of 1970, but were scrapped midevent after the Floridian contingent tried to wrest control of the contest from ESA competition director Cecil Lear, resulting in what was later described in the surf press as "a Civil Surf War."

On September 11 and 12, 1971, the ESA Championships were held in clean shoulder-high beachbreak waves at a relatively unknown surfing area called Cape Hatteras, located on the southeast elbow of North Carolina's bucolic Outer Banks. About 100 surfers competed in four categories, with Florida's Charlie Baldwin winning the men's division, and Linda Davoli of New Jersey winning the women's. By the mid-'70s, the Easterns at Hatteras had become an East Coast surfing institution, with the contest absorbing and reflecting the tranquil Outer Banks atmosphere. Longtime ESA Championship participants often become rapturous when describing the event. "There's something in the air here that just galvanizes everybody," New Jersey-based surf journalist Lisa Roselli wrote about the '89 ESA Championships, "and makes them feel extremely fortunate to be in the best place in the world with the best people in the world."

The number of ESA Championship competitors and divisions have both increased steadily through the years, with the massive 2011 event held over seven days, featuring more than 500 surfers, ages seven to 71, in 23 separate divisions. ESA Championship winners over the years include 1975 U.S. amateur champion Rick Rasmussen, and world tour standouts Wes Laine, Todd Holland, Kelly Slater, CJ and Damien Hobgood, and Cory and Shea Lopez.

Eastern Surfing Association Championships

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

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