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

Small and narrow Central American country located between Costa Rica and Colombia, with tropical coastlines facing the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. Panama is sometimes called the "Crossroads of the World," as it connects North America and South America, as well as the Atlantic and Pacific oceans via the Panama Canal. 

Panama's 750-mile Pacific coastline features a variety of point-, reef-, and beachbreak surf, and regularly produces three to six-foot waves between June and November, with prevailing offshore winds blowing from December to April. Larger surf hits the nearshore islands. 

Five popular breaks are located in Panama City, and high-quality waves of almost every description are distributed evenly from border to border; Playa Santa Catalina, a right-breaking point located 175 miles southwest of Panama City, is one of Central America's most popular surf spots. 

Waves along the 400- mile north-facing Caribbean coast are best from December to April, with several first-rate coral reef- breaks found near the mouth of the Panama Canal and dozens more spots located to the east and west, particularly among the nearshore islands. Some of the best waves along the Caribbean coastline of Central America break in the Bocas Del Toro archipelago, on Panama's northeast coast. 

As Panama forms a rough S shape, the Pacific side picks up swells from the south and west, while the Caribbean coast is open to swells from the north and east. Traveling from coast to coast generally takes only two hours, but beach access along both coasts is often a problem. Daytime air temperatures in Panama City average about 80 degrees throughout the year, as do water temperatures on both coasts. Some breaks are shallow, but for the most part surfing in Panama is relatively hazard-free.

Americans living in the U.S.-governed Panama Canal Zone were the first to surf in Panama in the early '60s. Rio Mar, a resort beach located 60 miles west of Panama City, was the first regularly surfed area; a beautifully shaped rivermouth break called Tits, located at the end of Rio Teta, just east of Rio Mar, soon became known as the country's finest wave, and was featured in a 1971 

A small team of native Panamanians, meanwhile, competed in the 1968 world contest, held in Puerto Rico. As the country labored under sometimes-volatile military rule in the '70s, the surfing population remained tiny, and America's involvement in Panamanian affairs—even after the United States agreed in 1977 to cede control of the Canal—bred resentment toward visiting U.S. surfers. President George Bush's 1989 decision to invade Panama and extract dictator General Manuel Noriega was regarded by many natives as further violation. "But," as Australian surf photographer Ted Grambeau pointed out in 1992, "it helped keep the crowds down." 

Four years later the Panamanian tourist board invited a delegation of American longboarders to visit a newly built surf camp on the Pacific coast of north Panama, and American surfers have since been made to feel more welcome.

An early version of the Panama Surfing Association was formed in 1987; amateur and low-level professional surfing contests are now held regularly in Panama. Panama has been featured in a small number of surf videos, including 

 (2000), as well as dozens of webclips. The 2011 International Surfing Association World Surfing Games were held at Playa Venao.

Panama

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

Encyclopedia of Surfing