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

Active and colorful monthly surf magazine published in San Clemente, California; founded in 1964 by Hermosa Beach photographer Leroy Grannis and ex-Marine Dick Graham.

 in 1974) emerged from a scrum of early and mid-'60s Southern California-based surf magazines—including 

—as the sole challenger to American surf media dominator 

. "For a while," writer Dan Duane noted in 2017, just after the magazine folded, "

 struck an excellent balance between eye-catching design, unabashed obsession with young guns and big airs, and smart commentary.

 began as a fairly conservative bimonthly, had a brief but innovative semi-psychedelic phase in 1967, then fell onto hard times, publishing just two issues in 1968. The magazine in its early years was carried by the first-rate photography of Grannis and Don James; that load was effectivly transferred in the early and mid-'70s to photographers Dan Merkel, Bob Barbour, and longtime photo editor Larry "Flame" Moore.

 in 1973, and for a few years he almost single-handedly kept the editorial tone in league with 

Erudite South African pro surfer Michael Tomson began regularly submitting features and columns to 

 in 1976; world champions Peter Townend and Wayne Bartholomew also contributed in the years to come. 

, focused on the competition scene—particularly the burgeoning world pro circuit. The magazine switched ownership five times from 1964 to 1979 (the year it went to a monthly publishing schedule), and was headquartered in Hermosa Beach, Panorama City, Laguna Niguel (all in Southern California), and New York City, before moving in 1976 to San Clemente.

 a bright, sharp, playfully aggressive look in the early '80s, and the magazine, creatively and financially, pulled up neck and neck with archrival 

. Sales bumped in 1983 when the magazine, following 

lead, debuted its first annual "Swimsuit Preview" issue.

 staffers Aaron Chang and Jeff Hornbaker by that time had became something close to the Lennon and McCartney of surf photography (with Don King making a valuable contribution as well), while the magazine's voice was strengthened with the addition of Dave Parmenter, Sam George, future 

 creator Chris Carter, and editors-to-be Bill Sharp and Nick Carroll. Parmenter's 1987 article "Big Time," on Mexico's Todos Santos Island, was a coup for the magazine, as it showed that West Coast surf could rival that found in Hawaii for size and power.

's rise during this period was guided by the steady hand of Dave Gilovich, hired as associate editor in 1975, and later serving as editor or editorial director from 1979 to 1991. Publisher Bob Mignogna, hired a year earlier, meanwhile proved to have one of the sport's canniest business minds.

's target audience grew progressively younger through the '90s and early '00s, with grommet (young surfer) features published regularly, and a special late-2001 issue with cartoon figures on the cover, next to a blurb reading "KRAAK! 20 Surfing Superheroes Blast Into Battle." After the introduction in 1992 of the decorous and semiformal 

 had also lowered the age of its target audience—but not to the degree 

 advertising director-turned-publisher Peter Townend noted in 1996, "

 is National Geographic. And that's the way it should be."

 continued to find new material virtually in its own backyard, and on January 19, 2001, photo editor Moore led a one-day expedition to Cortes Banks, a reefbreak 100 miles off the coast of San Diego, and came back with the sport's biggest story of the year, as tow-in surfers rode 40-foot-plus waves.

The magazine hit a creative high point in the mid-'00s, as former 

 editor Evan Slater took the editor's chair at 

, and put together a first-rate editorial team that included writers Nathan Myers, Matt Walker, Nick Carroll, and photographers Steve Sherman, Jeremiah Klein, Hank Foto, and Pete Frieden.

 spin-off magazines over the years include 

 (1996), a Kelly Slater commemorative issue (2011), and an annual calendar.

 introduced the Airshow, a popular series of pro surfing contests in which entrants are judged solely on aerial maneuvers; copycat Airshow events were soon being held around the world. Surfingmagazine.com was launched in 1999.

 was bought by New York–based publishing giant Primedia. In a move that stunned surf magazine insiders, Primedia in 2001 bought Emap, bringing both titles into the same publishing house, and leading 

 magazine to announce, just slightly tongue in cheek, that it was "the end of the world as we know it." By 2013, 

the sport's three-biggest magazines, were all owned by the same company, Source Interlink Media.

 created the Hall of Fame Awards, in response to the Surfer Magazine Poll Awards. There was no actual hall for the hall of fame, but in '66 and '67 members were inducted at a lavish black-tie event at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. Winners included Duke Kahanamoku, David Nuuhiwa, Nat Young, Bob Simmons, Dale Velzy, Mike Doyle, Dewey Weber, Mickey Dora, Greg Noll, and Buzzy Trent.

 toughest competitor, as young eyes gravitated to surf media instant gratification found on their computers and smart phones. After years of declining ads sales and subscriber numbers, the print version of 

Surfing magazine

Subscribe or Login

Subscribe or Login

Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Interviews

Features

The Sunday Joint

Videos