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Abellira, Reno

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academia and surfing

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advertising and surfing

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alaia board

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Allen, Chuck

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Anderson, Simon

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Beschen, Shane

Small, troubled Caribbean nation located 45 miles east of Cuba and 100 miles east of Jamaica; the poorest country in the Northern Hemisphere. Haiti forms the western half of Hispaniola, the second largest island in the Caribbean, and has a variety of surf breaks along its 1,100 miles of tropical coastline. 

The north shore produces the most reliable waves--generally from November to April--though it rarely gets above five feet. Hurricanes will occasionally generate waves as large as ten feet on the southern coast between July and October. Most of Haiti's ridable waves break over shallow and sharp staghorn coral reef; urchins are also a hazard. Still, Haiti's shallow reef passes can produce fine, thin-lipped surf. 

The water temprature is usually around 82; afternoon daytime air temprautre averages a humid 85 Pistons, a rare sand-bottomed point break near the southern coastal town of Jacmel is Haiti's most popular break. The waves here were first ridden by visiting Californians in the 1960s, but surf travel to Haiti is a rarity, due to country's reputation for lawlessness. In 2005, Transworld Surf magazine named Haiti one of the world's "five most undesirable--yet surfable" places, citing "rampant AIDS and street thugs who will kill you for five bucks." The country has very few native surfers. 

On January 12 2010., a magnitude 7.0 earthquake ripped through Haiti; it was the largest earthquake in that part of the Caribbean since 1770. Two-hundred-and-twenty-thousand Haitians were killed and twice as many were left homeless. A few members of the surfing community helped provide aid to the nation, including Laguna Beach pro surfer Jon Rose, whose non profit Waves for Water foundation provided clean water for thousands of Haiti's devastated residents.

Haiti

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

Features