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

Long, fast, left-breaking wave in Honolulu, Hawaii, located next to the Ala Wai Yacht Harbor; "the agony and the ecstasy of the South Shore," as described by 

 magazine; a high-performance haven for local surfers, nearly as famous for its mashing crowds as for its tubing Bowl section.

While Ala Moana breaks from two to 10 feet and is ridable almost daily from midspring to midfall, it rarely gets over eight feet, and hits peak form just a few times each season. The dependable northeast tradewinds blow offshore at Ala Moana, so that the afternoon surf is often better groomed than the morning surf.

Ala Moana (Hawaiian for "Ocean Street") was dynamite-blasted into existence when the Ala Wai Harbor entrance was rerouted from nearby Kewalo Basin in 1952, producing a deep-water channel for waves to spill into. Still, most surfers thought the new break was too fast to ride. Not until the early '60s did local surfers, including Sammy Lee, Paul Gebauer, Conrad Canha, Paul Strauch, and Donald Takayama, transform Ala Moana into Hawaii's premier summer surfing hot spot. Lee was particularly gifted at threading his way through the Bowl section, placing himself and his 10-foot board behind the curl with such regularity that he's been noted as the original tuberider.

Ala Moana has hosted dozens of state championship surf contests, along with the 1976, 1992, and 1996 editions of the United States Surfing Championships. But its greatest moments have traditionally taken place during unscheduled free-surf sessions. Larry Bertlemann, Ben Aipa, and Gerry Lopez were among the top performers at Ala Moana in the early '70s—the break's golden decade—followed shortly by Montgomery "Buttons" Kaluhiokalani, Mark Liddell, and Dane Kealoha.

 (1981) perfectly captures the superheated thrills and chaos of a big day at Ala Moana, with deep tuberides, flying boards, gurgling wipeouts, and merciless drop-ins, all building to a climax as a baby-blue catamaran exiting the nearby harbor is pulled into the vortex of a 10-foot closeout set.

Subscribe or Login

Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Interviews

Features

Videos

Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Interviews

Features

Videos