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

Washington's 230-mile rock- and-tree-lined coastline, often hit by forceful winter storms from the North Pacific, houses an assortment of temperamental surf breaks for a small, adventurous, insular surfing community. The state can be divided into two main surfing areas: 1) The weather-battered Pacific coast, with dozens of beachbreaks and rocky points, is best in fall and spring, and often overwhelmed by storms during winter. 2) The Strait of Juan de Fuca, a natural channel separating Washington and Canada's Vancouver Island, offers protected winter surf as huge swells filter down through the inland waterway. Because of the strait's narrow window to the Pacific, swells here are often short-lived. 

Washington is home to several Indian reservations and national parks, both of which can make access to several of the more remote breaks difficult and sometimes illegal. Westport, on Washington's south-central coast, is by far the state's most popular surfing area, and the south jetty at Westport's Westhaven State Park—a protected cove, easily accessed, with tubing sand-bottom peaks near a harbor jetty—is the area's best-known and most consistent surf break. 

Average daytime air temperatures in coastal Washington range from 65 in summer to 40 in winter; water temperatures range from the mid-60s to the low 40s. Heavy weather, sharks, and isolation are the primary Washington surf hazards. Washington surfers, meanwhile, tend to be closemouthed about their state, and can be cold, if rarely hostile, to outsiders. 

Surfing came to Washington in the early '60s, as teenagers from Aberdeen and Olympia, during summer vacation gatherings, began riding the gentle waves at Point Grenville on the Quinault Indian Reservation. 

Ray Walters is often referred to as the "father of Washington surfing"; he prepared for his cold-water surf sessions with long-distance swims in Puget Sound. Other first-generation Washington surfers included Lee Evans and Tom McCobb from Aberdeen, and George South and Tom LeCompte from Westport. 

Surfer magazine introduced the Washington coast to its readers in 1969, describing "snow on the beach, 12 degree air temperatures, and big shaggy waves," and gloomily suggesting that the northwestern version of the sport might "inspire surfers preparing for the plague years." The Quinault tribe had meanwhile outlawed surfing at Point Grenville; by 1984 it was estimated there were only 30 surfers statewide. 

The Surf Shop opened in Westport in 1986, the first shop of its kind in Washington (not counting the Aberdeen sporting goods store that sold boards in the '60s), and the following year brought the debut Ricky Young Northwest Longboard Invitational, Washington's first and longest-running surf contest, held at Westport Jetty. The 2002-formed Cleanwater Classic, the first Washington pro-am surf contest, is also held at Westport Jetty. The Lost Coast Adventure Surf Camp, located on the Olympic Peninsula near the town of La Push, was founded in 2000. 

Washington-born surfers include Hawaiian contest organizer Randy Rarick, surfboard manufacturer Dave Sweet, and pro surfer Conan Hayes; the Ventures, sometimes credited as the originators of surf music, formed in Seattle in the late '50s. The Washington surf was briefly featured in Out of Control, a 1961 surf movie. 

As of 2003, Washington was home to six surf shops and about 1,000 surfers; a few live on the coast, but most commute from inland towns and cities, including Seattle and Bellevue, and even east of the Cascade Range.

Washington

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

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