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

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

Oregon's ruggedly beautiful 300-mile redwood-lined coast contains a small number of first-rate surf spots and dozens of other serviceable breaks, all frequently made unridable by high winds, gigantic waves, and land-bound North Pacific storms. 

Fall is the best season for surfing in Oregon, as the skies are often clear and wind-free, while early season storms in the Gulf of Alaska regularly produce three to six-foot surf, with stronger swells hitting 10 feet or bigger. Winter conditions are often prohibitively stormy; spring brings ocean-shredding northwest winds; summer is less windy, but often lacking for waves. 

The average daytime air temperatures along the Oregon coast range from the low 60s in summer to 50 in winter; ocean temperatures range from the mid-50s to the mid-40s. Most surf breaks in central and northern Oregon are accessible by car; breaks in the south are all but unreachable as the area is part of the Siskiyou National Forest. 

The most popular breaks in Oregon are those in the wind-protected lee of a headland or promontory. Seaside Point, a long, fast, spinning left tube located on the north coast, is Oregon's best and best-known surf spot. Rare but perfect sand-bottom tubes form on the south side of Cape Lookout on the north-central coast; Otter Rock and Agate Beach, just north of Newport, are both popular and generally easy-to-ride beachbreaks. Lincoln City, right smack in the middle of the state's coastline, is home to Nelscott Reef—a deepwater, right-breaking big-wave spot that is popular among tow-surfers. 

Sharks and rocks are Oregon's two primary natural surfing hazards; local surfers have also earned a reputation—justified in some areas (particularly Seaside), unjustified in others—for being territorial, even macabre. In 2001, a group of visiting pro surfers woke up to find a severed deer's head next to their car, along with an order to leave the state.

Determined Agate Beach ocean divers, protecting themselves against the cold by wearing a full set of woolen underclothes, began riding waves on small wooden bellyboards in the late 1930s. Stand-up surfing came to Oregon in the early '60s at Agate, Coos Bay, and Seaside, with much of the pioneering work done by Southern California transplants Chris Brodeson, Chuck Garland, and Dana Williams. 

The Surf Shack in Portland and Serb's Surf Center in Coos Bay were Oregon's first surf shops; both opened in 1964. A number of local surfing groups were also founded that year, including the Seaside Surfing Association, the Agate Beach Surf Club, and the North Shore Surf Club of Portland—all were defunct by the end of the decade. 

Wetsuits were popular at the time, but not universally used, as some early Oregon surfers rode in Levi's, sweaters, and tennis shoes. The Agate Beach Surf Capades, Oregon's first statewide surfing competition, was held in 1964, with Agate Beach local Marty Scriver coming out ahead of California surf hero Corky Carroll to win the final. California surf moviemaker Bruce Brown helped judge the event, and also screened his just-completed new movie, 

. The 1979-founded Oregon Surf Shop was the beginning of a second small wave of Oregon-based surf retail outlets. 

Nelscott Reef was first ridden in 2003 when local surfer John Forse teamed up with Santa Cruz surfers Adam Repogle and Peter Mel to tow into a few 25-foot waves, the biggest ever ridden in the Pacific Northwest.

By the 2010s, Oregon was home to around two dozen surf shops and close to 3,000 surfers, with both numbers rising steadily. Local surfers have for the most part kept the surf media at bay, but the Oregon surf has nonetheless been featured in a small number of surf movies and videos over the years, including 

The Pacific Northwest Surfing Museum, located inside the Lincoln City Surf Shop, opened in 1992. Nelscott Reef hosts a few number of contests each winter including the Nelscott Reef Big Wave Classic, and is a regular stop on the Big Wave World Tour circuit.

Oregon

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

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The Sunday Joint

Encyclopedia of Surfing

Interviews

Features

The Sunday Joint