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

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

The jetty-studded beaches of New Jersey produce some of the East Coast's finest waves, but surfing difficulties here are manifest, with long flat spells, brutally cold winter temperatures, highly regulated beaches, and teeming summertime crowds. New Jersey's 130 miles of east/southeast-facing coastline is made up almost entirely of beachbreaks, with the most reliable waves forming next to jetties, piers, and inlets. 

Popular breaks include Manasquan Inlet to the north, States Avenue in Atlantic City, and Broadway Beach in Cape May. New Jersey's southern beaches are better known and more crowded than the northern beaches; Sandy Hook, a long right- breaking wave in the extreme north of Jersey—with a direct view across Lower New York Bay to the Manhattan skyline—is one of the state's only pointbreaks. Waves arrive throughout the year from a variety of Atlantic Ocean sources, including tropical hurricanes (usually forming in late fall) and powerful nor'easter storms (fall through spring), either of which can produce waves from three to eight feet and sometimes bigger. 

Fall is generally the best surf season; winter brings bone-chilling temperatures and erratic surf; spring is also hit or miss; summer waves are often small, weak, and in many places cordoned off for hundreds of thousands of visiting beachgoers. Average daytime air temperatures along the New Jersey coast range from the mid-70s in summer to the upper 30s in winter; water temperatures range from the mid-70s to the low 30s.

Hawaiian surfer/swimmer Duke Kahanamoku introduced surfing to New Jersey with a well-attended demonstration at Atlantic City in 1912, but the sport didn't really take root here until the mid-'30s, when surfing pioneer Tom Blake visited Ocean City and taught local lifeguard captain John "Bull" Carey how to ride his 13-foot paddleboard. Before and after World War II, Carey built a small number of surfboards and gave informal surf lessons along the Jersey Shore. Still, just a few dozen hardy surfers were counted in Jersey by the late '50s, and not until the lighter foam-core boards were imported from California in the early '60s did surfing take off. 

Ron DiMenna opened the first Ron Jon Surfshop on Long Beach Island in 1961, supplying the local population with surfboards and trunks. Cecil Lear formed the Jersey Surfing Association in 1963, and soon began holding local and statewide surfing contests; the Ocean City Surfing Association was founded in 1964, and was soon running contests featuring more than 100 surfers and up to 3,000 spectators. Keller Surf Shop, owned by pioneering New Jersey surfer Charlie Keller, also opened in 1964; 

 magazine was founded in 1965, in Ridgewood, New Jersey, and was published for nearly three years. 

Cecil Lear cofounded the Eastern Surfing Association in 1967, and over the next three decades organized hundreds of surf contests up and down the East Coast. The Grog's Seaside Pro event, held in Seaside Heights, debuted in 1973, and was included on the world pro tour schedule in 1978 and 1979. Surfboard shaper Dan Heritage meanwhile opened Little Wave Surf Shop in 1964 in Sea Isle; the name was later changed to Heritage Surfboards, and by the end of the '70s the company was producing 500 boards a year. Beach communities across the state had by that time enacted the strictest surfing codes in America, with surfers having to pass a swimming test in order to gain a wave-access registration number. New Jersey's reputation took another hit in the mid- and late '80s, as toxic runoff forced a number of well-publicized beach closures.

Notable New Jersey surfers include pro surfer Dean Randazzo, coldwater surf specialist Sam Hammer, indomitable amateur competitor George Gerlach (winner of the grandmasters division of the United States Surfing Championships in 1982, 1987, and 1995), Ron DiMenna, surf moviemaker and Sundek founder Bill Yerkes, and photographer/publisher Dick Meseroll. 

By 2012, New Jersey was home to over two dozen surf shops and more than 10,000 surfers. The Eastern Surfing Association holds about 12 contests in New Jersey each year. 

Ocean City, on New Jersey's southern coast, was named to 

 magazines list of the 10 "Best Surf Towns in America" in 2009. New Jersey has appeared in many surf movies and videos, including 

(2009) The New Jersey surf is detailed in 

New Jersey

Subscribe or Login

Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Interviews

Features

The Sunday Joint

Videos

Contests