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

The world's second-largest ocean, after the Pacific, covering 51 million square miles (about 25 percent of the global sea area), including the Baltic Sea, the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, the Mediterranean Sea, the North Sea, and other tributary bodies of water. The Atlantic is bordered by the eastern coasts of North and South America on one side, and by Western Europe and western Africa on the other. Geographers disagree about the Atlantic's northern and southern edges, some drawing boundaries at the Arctic and Antarctic Oceans, others viewing both as Atlantic adjuncts. 

While the Atlantic produces waves along roughly 70,000 miles of coastline, it has proportionally fewer first-rate surf breaks than either the Pacific or the Indian Oceans. Some of best waves in the Atlantic are located in Europe (in the French/Spanish Bay of Biscay), and along the west and northwest Irish and Scottish coastlines. Tropical reefs in the Caribbean, meanwhile, can produce excellent waves, but not with anywhere near the frequency or power of the Pacific islands.

The equator divides the Atlantic into two halves, each with a distinctive character. The world's roughest and windiest seas are found in the upper reaches of the North Atlantic, between Nova Scotia and the United Kingdom, where the average wind speed is 35 mph, and huge, cold, unridable winter waves pound the coastlines of Iceland and Newfoundland. In late summer and early fall, North Atlantic tropical storms often form off the coast of west Africa and travel west, toward the Caribbean and the American eastern seaboard. In the South Atlantic, wave-producing storms, the majority of which are formed between June and September, tend to be much smaller and weaker. 

The entire ocean is cleaved by the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a deep, curving, underwater north-to-south mountain range that juts above the surface to form the Azores island chain in the North Atlantic and the Ascension group in the South Atlantic. Major currents run clockwise in the North Atlantic and counterclockwise in the South Atlantic. Water temperatures range from 84 degrees near the equator to 28 degrees near the poles. 

Because of ocean current patterns and rates of evaporation, the Atlantic is the world's saltiest ocean. While the Caribbean and Mediterranean contain hundreds of islands, there are fewer than 100 islands in the main body of the Atlantic. The greatest depth in the Atlantic is about 28,500 feet, in Puerto Rico Trench, just north of Puerto Rico. A broad, wave-reducing continental shelf—up to 300 miles across—is found along most Atlantic-facing coastlines.

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

Encyclopedia of Surfing