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

Candid regularfoot surfer from Santa Cruz, California; best known as the author of a controversial 1965 

 magazine article "Big Wave Danger: A Hoax!" and for his dramatic, arms-out, drop-knee turns.

Peter Van Dyke, younger brother of big-wave surfing pioneer Fred Van Dyke, was born in San Francisco (1936), and began surfing at age 14 in Santa Cruz. The cutback move for which he came to be known was developed in the mid-'50s, on a 40-pound balsa board. "The essence of Peter's drop-knee cutback was a crucifix upper body, balanced over a compressed, telemark style leg arrangement," Midget Farrelly later wrote. "I won the 1964 World Contest with that cutback."

Van Dyke visited Hawaii in 1955, and again in the winter of 1956–57, and while his big-wave experience was limited, he was the debunking voice of confidence in "Hoax," at a time when big-wave surfing was never presented as anything but heroic and death-defying.

"Riding big waves isn't as perilous, dangerous or as hairy as it's cracked up to be," Van Dyke wrote. "I've ridden all kinds of surf and I've come much closer to being killed in small waves on a crowded day in California than I ever have in the Islands [Hawaii] in surf over 20 feet." Big-wave practitioners, Van Dyke continued, generally trained on a diet of "cake, Kool-Aid, ice cream, candy, and a pack of cigarettes a day." Wipeouts almost never lasted longer than 20 seconds, he added, and big-wave danger wasn't in the same league as that found in Grand Prix racing, mountain climbing, or bullfighting. The 

 audience wasn't convinced. "How about telling Van Dyke," responded a West Los Angeles reader, "that the real 'hoax' is screwball articles like his."

Van Dyke graduated from San Diego State University and worked as a beach lifeguard in San Clemente for a few years, in the late '50s and early '60s, but spent most of his life in Santa Cruz.

 (1963), and other period surf movies. He died in his sleep in 2010, age 74, at his home in Santa Cruz.

Van Dyke, Peter

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

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