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

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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

Relentlessly humid African country located about 400 miles north of the equator, in the south-facing Gulf of Guinea; Ivory Coast's 320-mile coastline is for the most part made up of palm-fringed lagoons and broad sandy beaches. 

Californian wave-hunters Kevin Naughton and Craig Peterson explored Ivory Coast in 1973, but chose not to give locations to any of the breaks they discovered in their subsequent article for Surfer magazine. Today, Ivory Coast's most popular surfing area is located at the eastern village of Assinie, near the Ghanian border, where a French-run surf camp overlooks a few nicely shaped and easy-riding sandbar breaks, most of which begin to overload when the waves hit five feet. 

November to April is the best season for waves in Assinie. Bigger swells provide overhead waves in late spring and summer at a half-dozen reef- and point-breaks to the west, but none of them are first quality. The Ivory Coast water temperature remains near 80 degrees all year; in late spring and early summer the damp air often boils up to the high 90s; August, September, and January are the only months that provide relief from the heat. 

As of 2003, there were a pair of surf shops in the capital town of Abidjan, two hours west of Assinie. West Africans are generally nonswimmers, and just a handful of Ivory Coast natives have taken up surfing; most of the country's roughly 200 surfers are French, as Ivory Coast was a French colony from 1893 to 1960. 

Except for stingrays, which thrive in the sand-bottom shallows, and the roasting equatorial sun, there are few native surfing hazards. But malaria and yellow fever, along with a recent history of civil unrest and lack of prime breaks, contribute to Ivory Coast being a low-priority surfing destination.

Ivory Coast

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Interviews

Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Interviews