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

Limber, graceful, innovative goofyfoot pro surfer from Ventura, California; world-ranked #6 in 1999. Curran was born (1977) and raised in Temecula, California, and began surfing at age 11, after moving with his family to a beachfront house in Ventura's Silver Strand. He shot to prominence in early 1995, when surf video mogul Taylor Steele opened 

, his new video, with a shot of the slender 17-year-old landing an aerial 360, one of the first captured on film; later in the video Curran burned through an advanced repertoire of tailslides and airs.

Quiksilver signed Curran to a six-figure contract, and he was touted as a threat—maybe the primary threat—to world champion Kelly Slater. Curran, a longtime born-again Christian, seemed to take it all in humble stride, but was in fact destabilized by the attention, and admitted to having "a nervous breakdown" at age 18 after doing poorly in a contest. "I just lost it," he told

 magazine. "I didn't even want to surf anymore, and the feeling lasted about four months." Curran went on to win two world tour events in 1999, but lacked the killer instinct required to win consistently, and lost his world tour seed at the end of the 2000 season. He requalified two years later, and was back on the tour in 2003. "A strange bird," 

 magazine said of Curran in 1999. "Outside the inner circle."

After retiring from pro surfing in 2005, Curran embarked on a low-key music career that included a stint opening for the Foo Fighters on their 2006 North American tour, and the release of three cruisy-sounding acoustic records from 2006 to 2011. He came out of semi-retirement in 2011, at age 33, smooth and explosive as ever, to win the Katin Pro-Am event in Huntington Beach.

Curran has been featured in more than three dozen surf videos, including the family-made biography 

Curran, Tim

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Interviews

Features

Videos

Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Interviews

Features

Videos