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

Central Florida barrier island resort town, located just south of Cape Canaveral; filled for the most part with nondescript sand-bottom waves, yet home to a wildly disproportionate number of first-rate surfers, including eleven-time world champion Kelly Slater. While Cocoa Beach itself has just 12 miles of coast (and only 15,000 residents), the city name is often used as shorthand for a 72-mile stretch of Brevard County that includes Satellite Beach, Indialantic, and Melbourne, ending to the south at Sebastian Inlet, the state's best-known surf break.

The American space program brought thousands of engineers, scientists, technicians, builders, and support staff to the Cape Canaveral area in the late '50s, '60s, and '70s, and while they worked on the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions, their sons—and to a much lesser degree, daughters—crossed the powder-sand beaches and began riding the warm central Florida surf. Dozens of them went on to become national or international figures in surfing, including Gary Propper, Bruce Valluzzi, Mike Tabeling, Claude Codgen, Greg Loehr, Jeff Crawford, Greg Mungall, Matt Kechele, Todd Holland, Charlie Kuhn, and Kelly Slater. 

Four-time world champion Lisa Andersen lives in Ormond Beach, just a few miles north of Cocoa, as does 1966 World Championship runner-up Mimi Munro; four-time world champion Frieda Zamba lives in Flagler Beach, one town north of Ormond. 

 magazine posed the question in a 1991 feature article, "Why are the Cocoa Beach Guys so Good When the Waves are so Bad?" Greg Loehr thought it was because local surfers were competitive among themselves, but united in wanting to prove something to the rest of the surf world. "We surfed for fun, of course," Loehr said, "but we also surfed to be better than the Californians." Claude Codgen's view was slightly different. "These little waves here are just enough to get you stoked, but not quite enough to get you spoiled."

Ron Jon Surf Shop, the biggest (52,000 square feet) and gaudiest store of its kind in the world, is located in central Cocoa Beach. The Cocoa Beach Easter Surfing Festival (originally called the Easter Surfing Classic) was founded in 1965. 

In honor of Kelly Slater, 3rd Street North was renamed Slater Way in 2002. In 2010, a 9-foot bronze statue of Slater was unveiled on state road A1A.

Cocoa Beach

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