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

Surf contest organizer from Rhode Island; executive director of the Eastern Surfing Association (ESA) as well as president of the United States Surfing Federation (USSF) for most of the 1970s and '80s; described by 

 magazine as "the political guru of amateur surfing competition." Couture was born (1943) and raised in Rhode Island; he received a doctorate in clinical psychology from Boston University, and became director for a health and human services agency. He began working for the ESA in 1969, and two years later was named the group's executive director.

Overweight, shambling, and gracious, Couture wore aloha shirts, cord shorts, and sneakers, no matter what the occasion. Under his direction (1971 to 1989), ESA membership went from 1,000 to 6,000, making it the sport's largest amateur body. He launched an ESA college scholarship program, steered the organization into the political arena by taking on beach access issues, and helped get surfing accepted into the Amateur Athletic Union. As head of the USSF, American amateur surfing's umbrella organization, Couture worked mightily to bring some measure of order to the internecine warfare that has long been the hallmark of American amateur surfing.

Couture himself quit riding waves after an ankle injury in 1970, and he was occasionally accused of having lost touch with the noncompetitive aspects of surfing. "A lot of resistance to progress is actually coming from within the sport," he said in 1984, "from people who think surfing should remain an art form. These are the people holding the sport back, in my opinion." But a majority of surfers, East Coasters in particular, felt Couture was always looking out for their best interests.

Couture died of a brain aneurysm in 1989, at age 46. He never married, but adopted two sons.

In 1991 Couture was inducted into the International Surfing Hall of Fame; five years later in made it into the East Coast Surf Legends Hall of Fame.

Couture, Colin "Doc"

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing