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Aaberg, Denny

Aaberg, Kemp

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Abellira, Reno

Abubo, Megan

academia and surfing

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advertising and surfing

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aerial

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Aikau, Eddie

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air-drop

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Alabama

alaia board

Alaska

alcohol and surfing

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Allen, Chuck

Alms, Paige

aloha shirt

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Andaman Islands

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Anderson, Simon

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Angel, Jose

angle

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Angourie

Antarctica

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Auster, Ken

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Azores

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Bay of Bengal

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Benson, Becky

Benson, Linda

Bermuda

Bertlemann, Larry

Beschen, Shane

Holiday town on the southwest coast of France, 60 miles north of the Spanish border; world-renowned for its tubing beachbreak surf, and the epicenter, along with neighboring Biarritz, of French surfing. 

Hossegor breaks from late summer to spring, but is best from September to December, as North Atlantic storms regularly send powerful three to eight-foot surf into the Bay of Biscay. Because the wave-forming sandbars along Hossegor's two-mile beachfront (connected to a near-endless stretch of beach to the north) change and shift frequently, and because wave quality is greatly affected by the area's extreme tidal changes, surfing here is a catch-as-catch-can experience, with flawless tubes often disintegrating within an hour into a churned-up riptide. Pro tour surfers nonetheless voted Hossegor the "Best Beachbreak in the World" in 1993, and 

 magazine in 1997 listed it as one of the "Ten Waves Every Surfer Should Ride."

The Fosse de Capbreton—a narrow offshore canyon created by the river Adour—points directly at Hossegor and magnifies incoming swells, so that the waves here are dependably bigger than at beaches to the north and south. Hossegor gets 10 feet or bigger in fall and winter, but most of the sandbars overload when the waves get above eight feet. Popular surfing beaches in Hossegor include La Graviere, a right-breaking tube located at the south end of town that can hold bigger waves than anywhere in the area; Les Estagnots, occasional home base for an annual world pro tour competition; and La Piste, a shallow, nearshore right tube just south in Capbreton.

Alain Weber was among the first of a small group of local and visiting surfers who began riding Hossegor in 1960, but the break remained something of a secret until 1969–70, when it was featured in two popular surf movies, 

. The latter film, made by California's Greg MacGillivray and Jim Freeman, featured Billy Hamilton, Keith Paull, and Mark Martinson riding dreamlike six-foot Hossegor tubes. The European Surfing Championships were held at Hossegor in 1973. 

In years to come, a surfing community—largely transient throughout the '70s, followed by the first all-year pioneers in the early '80s—began to take shape among Hossegor's beachfront pine trees and sand dunes; three-time world champion Tom Curren often surfed there while living in France from the mid-'80s to the early '90s. 

By 2012 there were more than a dozen surf shops in Hossegor, as well as a handful of summer-season learn-to-surf camps. Surf industry giants Rip Curl and Billabong built their European headquarters in Hossegor; 

 magazine, founded in 1999, is also headquartered there, along with the French Surf Federation and the Hossegor Surf Club.

In early 2003, the Hossegor beaches, along with the rest of the south and southwest Bay of Biscay beaches, were closed due to an oil spill following the sinking of the tanker Prestige off the Spanish coast. About 2,000 full-time surfers live here (including touring pro Jeremy Flores), and thousands more visit during late summer and fall, often joining the masses of European tourists in nighttime revels. 

Hossegor has been featured in dozens of surf movies and videos over the decades, including 

Hossegor

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

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