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

Low key, persevering surfboard and surf-accessories manufacturer from San Diego's Pacific Beach, California. Gordon was born (1939) near Chicago, Illinois, and developed asthma, which forced his family to move to Southern California when Gordon was three. He began bodysurfing and mat surfing at age 13, and learned to surf while in high school.

In the summer of 1959, while attending San Diego State College as a chemistry major, Gordon and another local surfer named Floyd Smith began building boards in Smith's garage—their resin and fiberglas supplier was Gordon Plastics, a San Diego business cofounded by Larry's father. Within two years, Gordon & Smith Surfboards (better known as G&S) became the board of choice in San Diego.

Smith had taken a silk-screening class in high school, and in 1961, as a promo effort, he invited young surfers to bring in white T-shirts, upon which he screened the G&S logo, free of charge. Smith has been credited as inventing the surfer T-shirt, although Velzy-Jacobs Surfboards may have beat him to the punch.

Some of America's best surfers in the '60s and '70s were affiliated with G&S, most noticeably Mike Hynson and Skip Frye, as well as Barry Kanaiaupuni, Butch Van Artsdalen, Dale Dobson, Tony Staples, and Charlie Kuhn. Hynson's G&S Red Fin model was one of the most advanced boards of the preshortboard era; the full-templated, soft-railed G&S Modern Machine, introduced in 1974, was the "fun board" prototype. Rusty Preisendorfer, Mike Eaton, and four-time world surfing champion Mark Richards are among those who shaped boards under the G&S label.

Under Gordon's guidance (Smith founded Gordon & Smith Australia in 1965, then sold his interest in the company in '71), G&S flourished from era to era, and by the late '80s the company was one of the world's biggest surfboard-accessories-surfwear manufacturers. Following the early-'90s recession, however, Gordon reduced the operation to boards only, and later licensed the G&S name for skateboards and clothes. Eric and Debbie Gordon, Larry's children, re-consolidated all facets of the G&S brand in 2013.

, a history of the company, written by Gordon, was published in 2014. Gordon died on New Year's Day, 2016, at age 76, from complications related to Parkinson's disease.

Gordon, Larry

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Interviews

Features