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

Tropical South Pacific island nation made up of roughly 330 wave-fringed volcanic islands (100 inhabited) and 500 atolls covering 120,000 square miles; home to Restaurants and Cloudbreak, both premier left-breaking reef waves located off Tavarua Island. 

Fiji can be divided into three areas: 1) The Mananuca Island group, just west of Viti Levu, includes Tavarua and the popular Tavarua Island Resort; and nearby Namotu Island, featuring the high-performance tubes of Namotu Lefts, Swimming Pools, and Wilkes Pass. 

2) The south shore of Viti Levu, Fiji's biggest island, home to the temperamental sand-bottom peaks of Sigatoka Rivermouth, and the hollow rights at Hideaway. 

3) The scattered islands south of Viti Levu, including Beqa Island's open-ocean waves at Frigates Pass and Nagigia Island, home to the quick tubes of King Kong Lefts. 

Fiji gets its best surf between May and October, as Southern Hemisphere storms regularly generate four- to six-foot swells, along with the occasional 12-footer. Many of the breaks are improved by offshore or side-offshore tradewinds. The surf from February to April is less consistent, but passing Coral Sea cyclones will occasionally create excellent waves. 

Access to most Fijian surf breaks is by boat. Average daytime air temperatures vary from 70 to 90 degrees, with water temperatures ranging from the low 70s to the low 80s; the Fijian people themselves are famously warm and welcoming. Sharks and sea snakes are plentiful, but shallow reefs are by far Fiji's biggest surf hazard.

Although Fiji was visited by surfers as far back as the early '60s, it didn't become popular until 1984, not long after the opening of Tavarua Island Resort—the first all-amenities surf camp—with Cloudbreak and Restaurants immediately touted in surf magazines as two of the world's best breaks. Additional resorts opened on Viti Levu and Namotu in 1992. 

The Fiji Surfing Association formed in 1995, and began holding contests at the beachbreak peaks of Sigatoka Rivermouth; Viti Surf, Fiji's first surf shop, opened in 1995 in the main port city of Suva. Tavarua has been the site of more than dozen major international pro contests since the late '80s. By 2012, Fiji was home to several surf shops, about 1,000 native surfers, and nearly a dozen surf camps and resorts scattered across the island cluster, with per-day prices (not including airfare) ranging from $50 to $1000.

Fiji

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Features

The Sunday Joint

Videos