A-frame

Aaberg, Denny

Aaberg, Kemp

Abberton, Koby

Abbruzzi, Sid

Abellira, Reno

Abubo, Megan

academia and surfing

Adler, Tom

advertising and surfing

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aerial

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Aikau, Eddie

Aipa, Ben

air-drop

airbrush

Airshow

Ala Moana

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alaia board

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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

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Angourie

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Arabian Sea

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Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP)

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August, Robert

Aurness, Rolf

Auster, Ken

Australia

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Azores

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Bali

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Belgium

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Bennett, Barry

Benson, Becky

Benson, Blanche

Benson, Linda

Bermuda

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.

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Interviews

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