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

Alexandre, João (Dapin)

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

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Apocalypse Now

Arabian Sea

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Arena, Eduardo

Ashton, Juan

Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP)

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Aurness, Rolf

Auster, Ken

Australia

Avalon, Frankie

Azores

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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

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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

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Becker, Phil

Bedford-Brown, Stuart

Belgium

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Bennett, Barry

Benson, Becky

Benson, Blanche

Benson, Linda

Bermuda

Laser-focused first-generation pro surfer and boardmaker from Rio de Janeiro; winner of the 1977 Waimea 5000. "Daniel was our David Nuuhiwa," Brazilian surf writer Julio Adler wrote. "Classy, arrogant, and deadly in competition."

Friedmann was born (1956) in Rio to a semi-precious stone merchant father and hotel owner mother, and began riding waves at age 10 on a homemade craft built from Styrofoam and two broomsticks. At 12, he got a secondhand Jacobs longboard imported years earlier from California, and not long after that he got his first short surfboard.

A fast, lithe, compact surfer (5' 6", 158 lbs in his prime) with curly black hair, full mustache, and an intense gaze, Friedmann placed 3rd in the juniors division of the debut Brazilian National Championships, in 1972. The following year, he began shaping boards.

Still a teenager when the IPS world tour began in 1976, Friedmann took 5th in that year's Waimea 5000, in Rio, and finished the year ranked #24. Fellow carioca Pepe Lopes won the Waimea contest, becoming the first surfer from Brazil to notch a win on the world tour. (Friedmann and Lopes had become friends years earlier while riding horses at a local equestrian club.)

The following season it was Friedmann's turn to win the Waimea 5000 (Lopes was runner-up), and he finished the year at #21, between Dane Kealoha (#20) and Eddie Aikau (#21), making him Brazil's highest-rated surfer for the season. The Waimea event would be Friedmann's only A-grade world win (he won the non-rated Stradebroke Invitational, in Queensland, in 1980), and while his international rating fell quickly, his continued to perform at the top in national competition, and his sponsorship with Brahma Beer made him one of the first of the 1970s pros, anywhere, to be backed by a major company outside of the surf industry.

Friedmann had meanwhile developed a taste for bigger, more powerful surf. In 1974, he lived in Hawaii for six months, and by 1976 he was riding Sunset Beach with low-slung aggression and style—at a time when goofyfooters by and large had little presence at the fabled big-wave break. Friedmann during this period was informally mentored in shaping and boardmaking by George Downing and Ben Aipa.

Over the decades, Friedmann launched his own board line (Daniel Friemann Designs, then Daniel Friedmann Surfboards), was the Brazillian importer for Clark Foam, launched his own blank factory (New Color) and clothing brand (Pro Surf), as was involved with national and international surf contest administration throughout South America.

 (1977), Brazil's first full-length surf movie.

Friedmann, Daniel

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

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