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

Energetic regularfoot surfer and surf shop owner from Pensacola, Florida; winner of the East Coast Pro in 1972, and founder of Innerlight Surf Shop; sometimes referred to as the "godfather of Gulf Coast surfing." Spencer was born (1950) in Roanoke, Virginia, moved with his family at age two to Pensacola, and began surfing at 14. Two years later he won the juniors division of the Florida Gulf Coast Championships.

Greg Noll Surfboards in California produced the Yancy Spencer signature model in 1970, making Spencer the first and only Gulf Coast surfer to have his own model; two years later the cherubic Floridian with the blond curls went undefeated on his way to a $1,000 first-place finish in the East Coast Pro, the first professional surf meet held in the Atlantic Ocean, knocking out a tough field of American heavyweights including David Nuuhiwa, Mike Tabeling, Dale Dobson, and Jeff Crawford. Spencer's wave-riding form, as reported by surf journalist David Sledge, was "cerebral, precise, delicate, [and] smooth." As the line between professional and amateur was almost nonexistent at the time, Spencer also finished runner-up in the 1975 United States Surfing Championships, an amateur event.

Spencer opened the first Innerlight Surf Shop in 1972, in the town of Gulf Breeze, near Pensacola; a second Innerlight outlet opened in Pensacola three years later; a third shop opened in Fort Walton Beach in 1981. More outlets were added in the years to come. Spencer's born-again Christianity was a big part of Innerlight's marketing throughout the 1970s; one ad showed a portrait of him with a boldface tag line reading, "Whoever Imagined That I Would Be a Surfing Preacher!?!"

Spencer appeared in a small number of surf movies, including 

 (1969); from 1972 to 1981 he authored a half-dozen articles for 

 magazine, including a 1979 editorial on the importance of good style in surfing. "Doing a maneuver with style," he wrote, "is doing it the right way and not the easy way, and is the difference between mediocrity and greatness." He continued to compete as an amateur: in 1986 he won the senior men's division of the United States Surfing Championships, and in 1987 he finished runner-up in both the senior men's and the longboard divisions. In 1996 he was inducted to the East Coast Surf Legends Hall of Fame.

Spencer died of a heart attack in 2011, at age 60, while surfing Malibu. Sterling Spencer, his youngest son, was by then both a pro surfer and the creater of Pinch My Salt, a popular surf blog.

Spencer, Yancy

Subscribe or Login

Encyclopedia of Surfing

Interviews

Encyclopedia of Surfing

Interviews