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

Category of short, light, high-performance surfboard; shortboards are patterned for the most part on equipment used by professional surfers, and a small-wave shortboard used by a 150-pound rider would likely be about 6'3" long, 181? 2" wide, 21? 4" thick, and weigh just under seven pounds. Virtually all shortboards are tri-fins. The word "shortboard" came into use during the late- '60s shortboard revolution, when average board length dropped from roughly 10 feet to seven feet (early shortboards were often called "mini-boards"). "Shortboard" nearly disappeared from the lexicon in the '70s as virtually all boards were in fact short, then it reappeared late in the decade as longboards once again returned to fashion. Shortboards are also differentiated from hybrids, including funboards, mini- tankers, and eggs. Streamlined big-wave guns are generally categorized as shortboards, not because they're short—some guns are 10 feet or longer—but because they're not longboards (characterized by a round nose), and are generally ridden by shortboard surfers. In general, shortboarders tend to favor tight- radius turns and cutbacks, while the longboarder's method is straighter, smoother, and more flowing. Shortboarders tend to be younger than longboarders, although the distinction is less marked than it was in the '80s. Because the longboard's buoyancy allows users to paddle faster and catch waves earlier than surfers on shortboards, and because the easy-riding longboard brought more bodies into the water, the two groups have a long history of mild friction. Filmmaker Bruce Brown turned the animosity into a running gag in his 1994 travelogue Endless Summer II by pairing longboarder Robert Weaver with shortboarder Pat O'Connell. Surfer magazine addressed the issue with a 1997 cover story, headlined "Can't We All Just Get Along?" The answer seemed to be "no," as San Francisco shortboarder Mark Renneker described longboarding as "an act of acquiescence, a process of resignation" and longboarders as "glinty-eyed, barrel- shaped, middle-aged surfers wearing T-shirts bearing the names of their surf clubs." Longboards have a place in small, sloppy waves, Renneker concludes, but shortboarding is the only way to fully take advantage of what he describes as "the delirious pleasures of surfing." See also longboard, shortboard revolution.

shortboard, shortboarding

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