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

Virginia is held in slight regard as a surf destination, despite the fact that it's the birthplace of East Coast surfing and home to a full register of talented wave-riders, as well as the time-honored East Coast Surfing Championships. "The best spot in Virginia," as resident pro surfer and surf journalist Jason Borte wrote in 1996, "is the Outer Banks of North Carolina." 

Virginia's 112-mile coast is divided by the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay into two distinct regions. To the north is the island- and inlet-filled Accomack-Northhampton coast, for the most part undeveloped, accessible only by boat, and rarely surfed. While more than 15 breaks are mapped out from near the southern edge of the Chesapeake down to the North Carolina border, surfing in Virginia essentially begins and ends in the resort town of Virginia Beach, at First Street Jetty—a sandbar break in front of a hotel-crammed beachfront that for the most part offers soft and easy right-breaking waves. 

Virginia is the only state in the nation with a mandatory surf leash law, and board-surfing is prohibited during most daylight hours everywhere except at First Street, which often becomes, as Surfer magazine described it, "a two-block surfing insane asylum." 

The warm and dry months of late summer and early fall generally bring the best surf to Virginia, in response to hurricanes tracking up through the North Atlantic. Winter waves are stronger, but cold and usually less groomed; spring surf is cold and inconsistent; summer waves are small to flat. Daytime air temperatures in Virginia during winter can drop into the 20s, with water temperature in the low 40s. Summer air temperatures often hit 90 or higher, and while the water usually remains chilly until June, it warms to the mid-70s by August. 

"Wave shooting" in dories and canoes was practiced in Virginia Beach as far back as 1910; two years later, Virginia Beach resident James Jordon returned from Hawaii with a nine-foot redwood surfboard, which he put to use immediately. Additional boards were imported during the 1910s and '20s; by the early '30s, local surfers (including John Smith, Dusty Hinnant, Babe Braithwaite, and Bob Holland Sr.) were given work as beachfront lifeguards, and later began making hollow surf-rescue paddleboards, which doubled as surfboards. When summer resort season was over, the Virginia Beach surfers would load up their boards and drive south to Miami, stopping frequently along the way to give surfing demonstrations. 

In 1935, the East Coast's first surfboard paddle race was held on a 14-mile south-to-north course across the mouth of the Chesapeake. In the mid- and late '50s, local surfer Scott Taylor imported a dozen balsa/fiberglass boards from California; in 1962, Bob Holland Jr. and Pete Smith opened Smith and Holland Surf Shop, the first shop of its kind in the state, on 19th Street in Virginia Beach. Holland would be a finalist in regional and national amateur surfing contests for the next five decades. 

Wave Riding Vehicles, founded by Virginia Beach surfer Bob White, opened in 1967 and went on to become one of the East Coast's leading board manufacturers. The Virginia Beach Surfing Festival made its debut in 1964; the following year it was renamed the East Coast Surfing Championships, and the midsummer competition has run annually since then. 

Jimmy "Jimbo" Brothers was the first Virginia surfer to attract national surf world attention, when Surfing magazine in 1966 published a short profile on the 10-year-old up-and-comer. Virginia Beach surfer Wes Laine turned professional in 1979, was world-ranked #9 in 1983 and 1985, and has long been an East Coast surfing icon. Chris Culpen and Jason Borte are among the small number of Virginia surfers of the post-Laine era who performed well on the regional or domestic pro scene. 

By 2003, there were nine surf shops in Virginia and roughly 12,000 surfers, most of whom frequently make the two-hour drive south to North Carolina's Outer Banks. Virginia has been featured in a tiny number of surf films and videos, including Summer of '67 and The Wrong Side (2001). The Virginia Beach surf is detailed in The Stormrider Guide North America (2002).

Virginia

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