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

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Barbados

Barilotti, Steve

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Barreda, Sergio “Gordo”

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Baxter, Jackie

Bay of Bengal

Beach Boys, The

Beacham, Debbie

beachboys

beachbreak

Beachcomber Bills Grand Prix

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beavertail

Becker, Phil

Bedford-Brown, Stuart

Belgium

Bells Beach

Bendall, Ma and Pa

Bennett, Barry

Benson, Becky

Benson, Blanche

Benson, Linda

Bermuda

Bertlemann, Larry

This Australian state's intricate 750-mile beachfront contains hundreds of surf breaks of all description, and can be divided into four general surfing areas: 1) The less-developed South Coast, from the Victorian border to just south of Sydney, has a generous number of shallow rock-lined reefbreaks, including the spitting left tubes of Black Rock. 

2) The headland-studded coast of the Sydney area, stretching from working-class Cronulla to the affluent Northern Beaches, is home to a few walloping reefbreaks such as Shark Island and Little Avalon, and dozens of temperamental sand-bottom breaks like Narrabeen, Manly, and Bondi. 

3) The central coast, which includes the crowded beachbreaks of Newcastle and the more isolated beaches and bays north to Coffs Harbour. 

4) The pastoral North Coast, from Yamba to the Queensland border, is dotted with a series of outstanding right-breaking point waves, including Angourie, Lennox Head, and Byron Bay. New South Wales (NSW) has reasonably consistent surf all year, but generally gets its biggest and best waves from April through October, during the South Pacific storm season; nearshore cyclones in February and March can also produce excellent surf. Wave height throughout the state is regularly between two and four feet; a few times a year powerful swells will push the surf up to eight to 10 feet, or bigger. Temperate air and water conditions prevail from season to season.

New South Wales was bodysurfed as far back as the early 1900s and board-surfed as early as 1910, but the sport didn't catch on here until surfer and Olympic gold medal swimmer Duke Kahanamoku of Hawaii gave a small number of well-attended surfing demonstrations in late 1914 and early 1915—most notably with a debut performance at Sydney's Freshwater Beach. Frank Adler of Maroubra introduced the Tom Blake–style hollow surfboard to Australia in 1934, which greatly helped to popularize the sport. Surfing was for the most part regarded as an offshoot of lifeguarding, but after World War II, a rift developed between the "surfies" and the Surf Life Saving Association "clubbies."

New South Wales surfers were the first in their country to see the hot new American style of wave-riding in 1956, when a group of California surfer/lifeguards—visiting the country for a lifeguarding festival associated with the Melbourne Olympics— gave a series of impromptu demonstrations on their all-balsa "Malibu" boards. 

Local surfers quickly exchanged their Blake-style hollows for Malibu-style balsas. (Sydney boardmaker Gordon Woods opened Australia's first surf shop a few weeks later in Bondi Beach; a board originally belonging to one of the Americans was passed on to Sydney surfer Bob Evans, who went on to become the country's first surf filmmaker, as well as the founder in 1962 of 

 magazine.) Americans meanwhile got their first look at the waves in New South Wales in 1958, with the release of Bud Browne's 

Sydney was and remains both the state and national surf capital. By the mid-'60s, Sydney had produced world champions (Midget Farrelly and Phyllis O'Donell won the 1964 championships, held at Manly Beach) and top big-wave riders (Dave Jackman and Bob Pike), while Sydney boardbuilders like Gordon Woods, Scott Dillon, and Barry Bennett had a near monopoly on domestic surfboard manufacturing. Surf clubs across the country banded together in 1963 to form the Sydney-headquartered Australian Surfriders Association (now Surfing Australia); the inaugural New South Wales Surfing Championships were held that year in Manly, just before the first Australian National Titles at Bondi. New South Wales's bucolic North Coast became the world's hot spot for progressive surfing and surfboard design in the mid- and late-'60s, as Queensland-born shaper Bob McTavish, along with Sydney's Nat Young and George Greenough of California, launched a movement that would first see Young crowned as world champion in 1966, then create the prototype boards for the shortboard revolution. 

, shot largely in the North Coast, documented the new aggressive style of surfing that was already the trademark Australian style. The North Coast was also featured in Alby Falzon's 1972 movie 

, which focused on Australian surfing's back-to-nature "country soul" period. 

Attention shifted back to Sydney in the mid- '70s with the advent of professional surfing; the 1974- founded 2SM/Coca-Cola Surfabout, which found a semipermanent home at Narrabeen, soon became the sport's biggest and richest contest. Surfers from other areas of the state also made their presence felt. Mark Richards of Newcastle won the 1978 Surfabout riding a twin-fin surfboard of his own making—a design that soon became the world's most popular small-wave board—and went on the following year to win the first of four consecutive world titles.

New South Wales has by far produced more first-rate surfers than any state in the world, including world champions Midget Farrelly, Phyllis O'Donell, Nat Young, Mark Richards, Tom Carroll, Damien Hardman, Barton Lynch, Pam Burridge, Pauline Menczer, Mark Occhilupo, Layne Beachley, Mick Fanning, and Stephanie Gilmore; longboard world champions Stuart Entwistle, Marty McMillan, and Beau Young; kneeboard world champions Simon Farrer and Mike Novakov; and pro tour standouts Phillip MacDonald, Kieren Perrow, Josh Kerr, Ace Buchan, and Sally Fitzgibbons. 

As of 2012 New South Wales was home well over 200 surf shops, around 50 surf clubs, and roughly 350,000 surfers. Dozens of amateur and professional contests are held in the state yearly. The New South Wales surf is detailed in a number of books, including 

The Surfing and Sailboarding Guide to Australia

New South Wales

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