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

A fast-moving set of waves, sometimes hugely destructive, produced by an undersea earthquake, landslide, or volcanic eruption. Usually referred to as "tidal waves," a tsunami in fact has nothing to do with tides; "tsunami" means "harbor wave" in Japanese. An earthquake alone can create a tsunami, but the effect is thought to be greatly amplified when an earthquake is followed by an underwater landslide, as was the case on July 17, 1998, when a set of three tsunami waves out of the Bismarck Sea— one reported to be 30 foot high—suddenly roared into the northeast-facing coast of Papua New Guinea, killing more than 2,200. These "seismic sea waves" can move through deep water at 600 miles per hour, and are barely perceptible until they approach shore, at which point they can grow tremendously—up to 100 feet or more, by some accounts—as they slow down. Unlike storm-generated waves, tsunamis can retain their power for thousands of miles. In 1960, 5,000 Chileans were killed by a set of tsunami waves just minutes following an offshore earthquake; 14 hours later the waves reached Hawaii, killing 61 and causing millions in property damage; nine hours after that the tsunami hit Japan and killed 150. "Whole buildings were driven directly through the ones be- hind, the way you'd close a telescope," reported Hawaii's Hilo Tribune-Herald. "Boulders weighing nearly a ton were picked up and set down hundreds of yards away." But destructive tsunamis are rare, and nobody has yet taken a photograph of a tsunami wave. Surf lore contains at least two stories involving tsunamis. In the 1860s, surfer/farmer A'a Holoua is said to have been swept out to sea, along with his wooden house, as the first in a set of tsunami waves hit the northeast coast of the Hawaiian Islands. Ripping the door from his home, Holoua allegedly caught the following wave and rode back to the shore while standing on his makeshift surfboard. A more credible story is told by 1965 world champion surfer Felipe Pomer, from Peru, who ventured into the water at a surf break near Lima with a friend on October 3, 1974, about one hour after a violent earthquake. Not long after they'd positioned them- selves beyond the three-foot waves, Pomer and his friend were suddenly pulled more than a mile out to sea as the water drained away from the shore in a typical tsunami prologue. Both surfers then caught and rode separate 10-foot waves, one following the next, each pulling out a few hundred yards off the beach and watching as the waves exploded onto the shore, tossing a beached fishing boat into a building. As California geologist Steven Ward reported in 2001, a big-enough submarine landslide in California's Monterey Bay could within minutes produce 50-foot waves in Santa Cruz and 85-foot waves in nearby Pacific Grove. "Sooner or later, tsunamis visit every coastline in the Pacific," warns the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program Web site. "Never go down to the beach to watch for a tsunami. WHEN YOU CAN SEE THE WAVE YOU ARE TOO CLOSE TO ESCAPE." See also Felipe Pomer.

tsunami

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