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, Linda

Bermuda

Bertlemann, Larry

Beschen, Shane

Small, tropical, densely populated Central American country located between Honduras and Guatemala, featuring 150 miles of wave-rich south-facing Pacific Ocean coastline. El Salvador regularly produces three- to six-foot waves between March and October, with 10-foot-plus surf sometimes hitting in late summer and early fall. 

About two-dozen breaks have been mapped in El Salvador; more than half are located near the coastal town of La Libertad, just south of the national capital of San Salvador. Because incoming swells hit the coast at an angle, most spots—pointbreaks, beachbreaks, and rivermouths—break to the right. 

The Point at La Libertad is the country's most popular spot, and its long, powerful, well-foiled waves are often compared to Rincon in California. A small number of pointbreaks to the south, some accessible only by boat, are just as good. Ocean and daytime air temperatures in El Salvador both remain near 80 degrees from month to month; the dry season lasts from November to April; the rainy season from May to October.

El Salvador was probably first surfed in the mid-1960s by Peace Corps volunteers; when surf journalist Bernie Baker arrived in 1970, he reported back to California that he was one of three surfers in the entire country, all visiting Americans. Florida surfer Bob Rotherham moved to La Libertad in 1974 and opened a restaurant catering primarily to the small but growing number of peripatetic surfers from California, Florida, and Texas who had heard of the Point's world-class waves. 

In 1977, filmmaker John Milius and a group of famous surfers and surf photographers, including Peter Townend, Ian Cairns, Bill Hamilton, Gerry Lopez, George Greenough, and Dan Merkel, spent a month in La Libertad shooting for Warner Brothers' surf-nostalgia film 

. Two years later, just as crowds were beginning to become a problem at La Libertad, civil war broke out in El Salvador and surf tourism all but vanished. Adding to the country's woes, an earthquake in 1986 leveled portions of San Salvador, killing more than 1,000 and leaving tens of thousands homeless.

By the mid '00s, there were fewer than 150 native El Salvadorian surfers, most living in or around La Libertad, virtually no domestic surf industry, and a steady but not-overwhelming stream of visiting surfers. Crime was a problem, but the civil war had ended 10 years earlier, the international surf press was producing articles about El Salvador's high-quality waves, and the country's popularity as a surf destination was rising.

El Salvador

Subscribe or Login

Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Interviews

Features

The Sunday Joint

Videos