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

Umbrella group for American amateur surfing associations, founded in 1979 primarily by Colin Couture of Rhode Island, responsible for choosing America's team to the World Surfing Championships (and later the World Surfing Games); recognized by the International Olympic Committee as America's national governing body for surfing. Conceived as a unifying and organizing group for six existing organizations— the Western Surfing Association (WSA), Eastern Surfing Association (ESA), Hawaiian Surfing Association (HSA), Texas Gulf Surfing Association (TGSA), Women's International Surfing Association (WISA), and the National Scholastic Surfing Association (NSSA)—the United States Surfing Federation (USSF) was a product of the unstable and frequently petty world of American amateur surfing. Original USSF president Couture helped sort out some amateur surfing problems, but overall progress was minimal. "From the beginning," NSSA cofounder Chuck Allen recalled, "there was horrible mistrust between regional bodies, [and] the whole thing was just a bad scene." Friction increased in 1985, the year after the NSSA filled nine of 10 positions for the country's World Championships team. The talent-rich NSSA argued that the national team should continue to be merit-based; the USSF—having taken on yet another group, the Christian Surfing Association (CSA)— wanted to distribute team slots equitably among its constituent groups. The USSF prevailed. In 1993, NSSA president Janice Aragon broke away her organization from the USSF, meaning that NSSA-only surfers were ineligible for the national World Championships team. (The NSSA Nationals had meanwhile eclipsed the USSF's United States Surfing Champi- onships as America's premier amateur competition.) Thus divided, young competitors had to choose between the USSF-affiliated group in their region and the NSSA, or sign up for both organizations and somehow manage a double-duty contest schedule. Hoping to streamline matters somewhat, the WSA and CSA disbanded in 1993 (WISA folded in 1991) to make way for the Western Region Surfing Association. The USSF fielded a plucky title-winning team for the 1996 World Surfing Games (replacement for the World Championships), but without the talented NSSA surfers, the Americans did poorly in the 1998 Worlds, finishing sixth, and even worse in 2000, placing 10th, prompting a Surf News magazine headline that read: "It's Official: America Sucks!" In 2000, Surfing America, a just-formed amateur surfing group organized by the Surf Industry Manufacturers Association, made a failed bid to replace the USSF as the sport's national governing body; the USSF/NSSA chasm was still the main feature on the domestic amateur landscape in 2003, with no solution in sight. The USSF is funded by membership dues and corporate sponsorship, and in 2000 claimed 10,000 members among its seven component groups. See also Colin Couture, National Scholastic Surfing Association, Surfing America, World Surfing Championships, World Surfing Games.

United States Surfing Federation (USSF)

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

Features