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

Alexandre, João (Dapin)

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

Type of wave that breaks over a sandy beach. Because beachbreak surf is dependent on sandbars, it's far more mutable and unpredictable than the surf found at pointbreaks or reefbreaks. A poststorm beachbreak sandbar might hang in there for months, or might disappear by the weekend. This ephemeral quality is alternately wonderful and frustrating. "Beachbreak waves are anything and everything," surf journalist Nick Carroll wrote. "One minute they're Pipeline, the next Indonesia, the next they're gone."

While beachbreaks are all over the map in terms of power, and can indeed impersonate some of the world's best point- and reefbreaks, for the most part they generate short, quick waves, frequently breaking in both directions, and often without a set takeoff area or lineup. Beachbreak surf tends to be thought of as inferior to that of pointbreaks and reefbreaks, but beachbreaks have nonetheless produced a majority of the world's best surfers—partly because beachbreaks greatly out-number point- and reefbreaks in the world's coastal population centers, and partly because beachbreak waves demand quick reflexes, as well as a try-again-and-try-harder attitude.

Because beachbreaks tend to be the least hazardous type of wave, they are favored among beginning surfers. On the other hand, because beachbreaks are often crowded, and because beginning surfers may not be aware of the dangers of riptides and currents, they account for a disproportionate number of surfing mishaps, injuries, and even drownings.

With very few exceptions—Mexico's Puerto Escondido in particular—beachbreaks are best when the surf is small- or medium-sized. Bigger waves tend to overpower most sandbars and dump over as shapeless closeout waves; when the shape does hold, the absence of deep-water channels at most beachbreaks makes paddling through the nearshore surf difficult or impossible.

Puerto Escondido, Hossegor (France), Duranbah (Australia) and Huntington (America) are among the sport's best-known beachbreaks. On the eastern seaboard, nearly all surfing from New York to Florida is done in beachbreaks. In the reef-fringed tropics, beachbreaks are almost nonexistent.

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Videos