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

Rugged, subtropical, Portuguese-governed archipelago, known as "the Garden of the Atlantic," composed of two main islands and seven uninhabited islets, located 600 miles west of Lisbon. With its 6,000-foot peaks and near-vertical oceanfront cliffs, Madeira seems to fairly burst out of the ocean. 

North Atlantic winter swells regularly push thick, powerful, well-shaped waves onto Madeira's points and reefs. "What the place lacks," a 1994 

 newsletter noted, "is relaxing small-wave breaks. Virtually every spot is rocky and powerful, and none seem to break under six-feet." Madeira has no sand beaches, and negotiating the wave-battered rocks while entering and exiting the surf is one of the island's greatest surf hazards. 

On the plus side, Madeira has no sharks, mosquitoes, disease, or theft. The weather is warm and mild, with daytime air temperatures ranging from the mid-60s to the mid-70s and water temperatures from the low 60s to low 70s. Surfers have been visiting here since the 1970s, but Madeira didn't come to the attention of the surfing world at large until 1994, when it was featured in a 

 magazine travel article. A handful of locals have since picked up the sport, gamely learning how to ride waves in conditions that surfers elsewhere wouldn't try until they had a few years of water experience. 

Since 1996, top Portuguese surfers have flown here annually to compete in a regional edition of the Billabong Challenge; in 2001, the Madeira World Team Big Wave Championships were held at Ponto Jardim, the islands' premier surfing location—a long, winding, right-breaking wave.

In the early and mid-2000s the local government of Madeira began building surf-threatening seawalls (to provide for tourist promenades) along several of the island's best-loved waves. Jardim Do Mar, a world-class break, now has a seawall and road that render the spot nearly unsurfable at higher tides and during smaller swells. The impairment of Jardim Do Mar came in the wake of a victorious 2001 fight against a proposed marina development at the break that resulted in the formation of the Save the Waves Coalition by California surfer and frequent Madeira visitor Will Henry.

The Stormrider Surf Guide: Azores and Madeira

, a documentary featuring the Madeira surf and fights over wave-threatening coastside development was released in 2006.

Madeira

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

Encyclopedia of Surfing