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

Tropical Spanish-speaking American commonwealth island located 1,000 miles southeast of Miami, Florida, measuring about 100 miles by 35 miles; often referred to by surfers as the "Hawaii of the Atlantic." 

Puerto Rico produces the biggest and most consistent surf in the Caribbean; its north coast is open to all manner of storm-generated waves in the Atlantic (particularly from November to April), while its south coast receives infrequent but often-powerful surf from Caribbean Sea hurricanes (typically between August and October). 

An average winter season brings between 20 and 30 swells, with wave size ranging from four to 20 feet. Puerto Rico's 310-mile coastline is lined with dozens of coral and rock reefs that produce a wide variety of waves, many of them fast, hollow, and hard-breaking. Although the north coast sees the most swell activity, northeast tradewinds often render the area all but unsurfable. Breaks in and around the beachfront towns of Aguadilla and Rincón in the northwest are regarded as the best on the island in large part because they're positioned so that the tradewinds blow offshore. Puerto Rico's eastern shore is fringed with small wave-blocking islands. 

Gas Chambers, a temperamental right-breaking tube located just outside Aguadilla, is Puerto Rico's most famous wave. Other popular breaks include Domes, a high-performance right, and Tres Palmas, a deep-water reef generally thought of as the west Atlantic's premier big wave, holding form up to 20 feet. "If Puerto Ricans consider Gas Chambers to be their version of Pipeline," surf journalist Mitch Varnes wrote in 1993, further drawing comparisons to Hawaii, "Tres Palmas is surely their Sunset Beach." More than 100 Puerto Rican surf breaks are located within a three-hour drive. 

Ocean temperatures here range from the high 70s to the low 80s; average mid- day air temperatures range from 70 to 85. The island's primary surfing hazards are shallow reefs, urchins, and sewage near the capital city of San Juan. Local surfers can be aggressive, even hostile, toward visitors. 

Surfing in Puerto Rico began in the late '50s, with natives Jose Rodriguez, Guille Bermuda, and Rafy Viella all taking to the waves of the north and northwest coasts around the same time. American surfer Gary Hoyt opened the island's first surf shop in the capital city of San Juan in 1960. Malibu surfers Johnny Fain and Butch Linden visited Puerto Rico in 1965 and were warmly received by the 50-or-so resident surfers, but the sport didn't really take off here until after the 1968 World Surfing Championships (held mostly at Domes, and won by Fred Hemmings and Margo Godfrey). Fourteen-year-old Puerto Rico surfing savant Jorge Machuca also emerged in 1968 as the island's first great wave-riding talent. 

By 1969, American surfers from across the eastern seaboard were flying into balmy Puerto Rico by the hundreds during the winter months—not always to the island's benefit. "The trickle of visiting sportsmen in search of the perfect ride," Surfing magazine wrote in 1970, "has turned into a veritable tidal wave of escaping hippies, runaways and dopers." (Puerto Rico's drive for national independence over the decades has further complicated the relationship between locals and tourists, surfers included.) 

Puerto Rico continued to produce talented surfers in the '70s and '80s, including Edwin Santos and Juan Ashton. San Juan's Jose "Pepe" Alvarez was the president of the International Surfing Association from 1988 to 1990; he was responsible for bringing the World Amateur Surfing Championships to Puerto Rico in 1988. By 2002, there were nearly a dozen internationally recognized Puerto Rican surfers, including big-wave riders Alberto Licha and Waldo Oliver, 2000 HIC Pipeline Pro winner Carlos Cabrero, 1996 Haleiwa International winner William "Chino" Sue-A-Quan, Pipeline charger Otto Flores, and teenage pros Dylan Graves and Brian Toth. 

Puerto Rico is home to about 25,000 surfers and bodyboarders and more than 20 surf shops. The 1984-founded Puerto Rico Surfing Federation hosts over a dozen surfing contests annually, both professional and amateur. Low Pressure, founded in 2000, is the country's only surf magazine. 

Puerto Rican waves and surfers have often been featured in surf movies and videos, including Evolution (1969), Gone Surfin' (1987), La Bruja (1996), and Epiphany (2000). The Puerto Rican surf is detailed in The World Stormrider Guide (2001). See also: World Surfing Championships 1968.

Puerto Rico

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