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

The Republic of Maldives is made up of nearly 1,200 tiny low-lying coral islands (200 inhabited) strung along a 475-mile-long band in the Indian Ocean, just north of the equator and about 350 miles southwest of Sri Lanka; dozens of first-rate surf breaks are found among the Maldivian reef passes. The glimmering turquoise-colored waves here rarely get over 10 feet and lack the power found in Indonesia or Tahiti, but are shapely, perfectly groomed, and often hollow. 

Among the Maldives' best-known breaks are Pasta Point, a multifaceted left-breaking wave; Honky's, a speeding left that grows in size as it tracks across the reef; and Sultans, a right with three distinct tube sections. 

The Maldives has two monsoon seasons: the November-to-April northeast monsoon brings the best weather, as well as hundreds of tropics-loving tourists from around the world; the May-to-October southwest monsoon produces the best surf. Squalls are common in June and July; December and January often bring small waves and unfavorable winds for surfing. 

Average daytime high temperatures hold steady at 90 degrees; the water temperature remains near 80. The palm- and bamboo-covered Maldives are the world's flattest island group, and nowhere in the country is higher than 10 feet above sea level. 

 magazine outlined the very real dangers the vulnerable Maldives face from rising seas spurred on by global warming. According to the United Nations climate change panel, by 2100, the entire island group could be underwater if the rise in sea levels hits the highest possibilities forecasted. 

Meanwhile, the tourist industry-dependent Maldivian government has a limited and carefully managed policy for visitors, with all resorts located in the North and South Male Atolls' "tourist zone." Surf breaks on the Outer Atolls can be reached only through government-approved charter tours.

Australian surfers Tony Hinde and Mark Scanlon were shipwrecked in 1973 near the capital city of Male—no injuries, surfboards and luggage unharmed—and soon became the first to ride the Maldivian surf. Hinde returned to stay the following year, and began searching out the best breaks in and around Male. He eventually married a local woman, converted to Islam, and became a naturalized Maldivian citizen, and for more than 15 years rode waves more or less by himself. "I ended up having to teach the locals how to surf," he later said, "so I'd have someone to join me in the water." In 1990, Hussein-Hinde (his Muslim name) founded the Atoll Adventures surfing resort in Tari Village.

Photographs of the Maldives were published in surf magazines as early as 1993; by 1997 most of the accessible breaks were mapped out in detail in an issue of the California-based 

 newsletter. The Maldivian Surfing Championships debuted in 1996, and four years later Hussein-Hinde opened the area's first surf shop. 

By 2012, there were a handful of Maldivian resorts that offered regular daily boat service to and from nearby surf breaks and a similar number of surf tour boat charters. Controversy has erupted, however, as plans are in the works for an increasing number of surf resorts that will have the authority to restrict surf spot access to paying guests only. Breaks near the resorts can get crowded; those accessed by boat are less so. 

The Maldives are featured in a small number of surf videos, including 

 (2000). Santa Cruz big-wave surfer Jay Moriarity died while free-diving off Lohifushi Island, north of Male, on June 15, 2001.

Maldives

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

Encyclopedia of Surfing