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

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Baxter, Jackie

Bay of Bengal

Beach Boys, The

Beacham, Debbie

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Bedford-Brown, Stuart

Belgium

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Bendall, Ma and Pa

Bennett, Barry

Benson, Becky

Benson, Blanche

Benson, Linda

Bermuda

Bertlemann, Larry

Fearless surfer from Haleiwa, Hawaii, described by fellow big-wave pioneer Greg Noll as "the gutsiest surfer there ever was." Angel was born (1934) and raised in San Francisco, California, and became a casual surfer while attending San Francisco State College. He took to the ocean in part because he had severe skin allergies, and seawater provided quick and easy relief.

In 1955, Angel followed wife-to-be Mozelle Gooch to Hawaii; she was at that point the more accomplished surfer of the two. But Angel, a well-muscled goofyfooter (5' 11", 170 pounds), immersed himself in the powerful waves along the North Shore of Oahu, and by the end of the decade he'd earned a singular reputation as a thrill-seeker who loved a thumping wipeout just as much—maybe even more—as a completed ride. "He'd take an unbelievably hairy drop," fellow California transplant Ricky Grigg recalled in 1993, "make the hard part of the ride, and then just step off the board and let the wave blast him; just destroy him."

Angel was also one of Hawaii's best free divers; without scuba tanks, he was able to descend more than 300 feet below the surface. Once, after Angel was separated from his boat following a long dive off Maui, he swam 13 miles to the island of Molokai, then hiked four miles to the nearest phone. In 1974, however, while diving for black coral near Kauai, he came up too fast and suffered a case of the bends (nitrogen bubbles in the body tissues caused by rapid decompression), which left his right leg partially paralyzed and slowed down his wave-riding.

On July 24, 1976, Angel and Grigg went diving at a place called Shark Ridge, off Maui. Angel dropped below 300 feet, and never came up. Grigg later said that Angel probably misjudged the dive and blacked out. Shelly Angel, Jose's oldest daughter, thought her father took his own life. "My dad was never going to grow old gracefully," she said in 1993. "He needed to go out with a bang."

On land, Angel was easygoing, gentle, polite, and helpful; he began working as a teacher at Haleiwa Elementary School on the North Shore in the late '50s, and eventually became the school's principal. He appeared in more than a dozen surf movies, including 

 (‘70). Angel was featured on the cover of the first issue of 

magazine, in 1960, dropping into a giant wave at Sunset Beach. Angel was married twice and had four children.

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Interviews

Features

Videos