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

Argentina covers much of the southern portion of South America and has nearly 1,500 miles of Atlantic-facing coastline. Most surfing in Argentina is practiced along a 40-mile stretch between the northern cities of Mar del Plata and Miramar, an area containing over 30 beach- and pointbreaks. A continental shelf reduces both the size and the power of Argentina's waves, but head-high surf is common all year, with the best and biggest waves—occasionally up to 10 foot—arriving between April and October. The winds during this period are generally offshore in the morning and onshore in the afternoon. Mar del Plata is the country's top beach resort town as well as the Argentinean surf capital, and is inundated with tourists during the summer months. Yath, a long, hollow right-breaking point next to the city harbor, is one of the area's best breaks; Paradise, another right point, just south of town, can also produce first-rate waves. While the northern coastal regions of Argentina are subtropical, the southern areas can be bitterly cold and windy. It is thought that dozens of good surf breaks remain to be discovered in the south. Air and water temperatures vary widely, depending on season and location. Surfing in Argentina presents few hazards, and most breaks in the north are easily accessible. Stand-up surfing, however, is banned along popular beaches for much of the day during summer months.

Surfing was introduced to Argentina in 1963, when native teenager Daniel Gil traveled with his father's soccer team to Peru and returned with a surfboard. Gil first rode a beachbreak he named Kikiwai (a play on Waikiki), near Mar del Plata; he eventually built a house at Kikiwai and opened a small surf school. California's Mark Martinson, draft dodger and reigning U.S. men's division surfing champion, arrived in Mar del Plata in June 1966, after a two-month drive, and rode some "beautiful walls, sandy and perfect, six and seven feet, with the hollow rights a little better than the lefts." Infamous California surfer renegade Mickey Dora, also on the run from the law, visited Argentina in 1971. A military-installed government banned surfing in Mar del Plata in 1977, but the sport continued nonetheless; in 1978, when local surfing brothers Fernando and Santiago Aguerre, along with Luis Villaverde, formed the National Surfing Association of Argentina (NSAA), the country had about 150 surfers. Just two years later— thanks largely to NSAA's successful lobbying effort to lift the Mar del Plata surfing ban, along with the popularity of the NSAA-published "Argentina Surf and Skate Magazine," as well as the NSAA-operated Ala Moana surf shop—there were more than 2,000 surfers in Argentina. The Aguerre brothers later moved to La Jolla, California, and founded the Reef Brazil sandal company. The surf industry in Argentina, meanwhile, continued to grow at a steady rate, and Reef sponsored Argentina's first international pro contest at Playa Grande in 1996, near Mar del Plata. 

 are Argentina's two most popular surf magazines, and the country boasts dozens of surf shops and tens of thousands of surfers as of 2012.

Argentina

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

Encyclopedia of Surfing