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

wake surfing: see Stab cover story, issue #27 Originally a surf world novelty in which a surfer rode the small but endless curling wave formed behind a moving boat; later an acrobatic hybrid sport blending freestyle waterskiing and snowboarding. Although a form of wake surfing dates back to at least 1915 ("aquaplaning," as it was known at the time), when pioneering surfer Duke Kahanamoku of Hawaii rode behind a boat in San Diego's Coronado Bay, it didn't really catch on until 1963, when Floridian Dick Pope began towing surfers behind his motorboat. The ride began with the surfer holding a shortened water-ski rope; after slotting into one of the two wake waves peeling off the stern, the rider dropped the rope, and "surfed" until done in by boredom, leg cramps, a misstep, or an empty gas tank. In 1965, California surfboard-manufacturing magnate Hobie Alter wake-surfed 30 miles from Long Beach to Catalina Island in just over one hour and 45 minutes. The surf industry had high hopes for wake surfing, envisioning, as one surf journalist put it, that "millions of people on lakes and rivers will soon discover the incomparable joy of surfing." A wakeboarding shot was used on the cover of Petersen's Surfing magazine in 1964; specialized wake- riding surfboards were designed and built; and Alter, in conjunction with Johnson Outboard Motors, toured the country in an attempt to sell the new sport to landlocked America. But wake surfing, also known as "freeboarding," never caught on. In 1985, California surfer Tony Finn invented the Skurfer, a shorter, narrow version of a surfboard, with footstraps. Skurfers held the towrope continuously, carved turns off to either side of the boat like water-skiers, and utilized the wake primarily as a ramp for high-flying aerial maneuvers. In 1990, the first Skurfer championships were televised on ESPN. Washington water-ski manufacturer Herb O'Brien meanwhile began making his compression-molded Hyperlite model wakeboards (later versions had a small fin on either end and could be ridden in either direction), while Texan Jimmy Redmon founded the World Wakeboarding Association. The first professional wakeboarding events were held in 1992, and WakeBoarding magazine was launched the following year. In 1996, when wakeboarding was included in the debut X-Games, the New York Times reported that more than 1.3 million wakeboards had been sold worldwide.

wake surfing, wakeboarding

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

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