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

Surfing arrived in Israel in 1957, when American surfer/physician Dorian Paskowitz, serving as a volunteer in the Israeli army, brought his 9'6" Hobie balsa from Hawaii to Tel Aviv. Paskowitz invited local lifeguard captain Shamai "Topsi" Kancepolsky to help recruit surfers; the two men began giving surf lessons at Hilton Beach in Tel Aviv, and soon had to import more boards from California. 

By 1975, Hilton Beach had become the Malibu of Israel, and Kancepolsky was making surfboards with locally produced materials. "Polyester resin was something new to us," recalls Kancepolsky's son, Nir Almog, who later went to America to learn how to shape surfboards. "I remember doing the first ding repair. We used old cigarette filters instead of foam. Who had heard about foam?" 

In 1977 Nir Almog founded Almog Surfboards, Israel's first surfboard company. The sport continued to grow, and an international pro contest was held in Tel Aviv in 1984, with Derek Ho of Hawaii beating Australia's Wayne Bartholomew in the finals. The Israel Surfing Association was founded in 1986, and was soon running surf clinics and hosting contests. 

Israel's temperate 170-mile beachbreak-lined coast is interrupted with a few rocky points and jetties, and faces out to the greatest fetch of any Mediterranean country. The surf rarely gets over four foot, and swells are generally short-lived and weak; winter usually brings the best and most consistent waves. Surfing enthusiasm runs high in Israel, and many surfers carry cell phones specifically to inform each other of swell conditions. 

The best breaks near Tel Aviv remained crowded with wave-riders even as the country's long-standing Palestinian conflict exploded in 2002. Israel is home to about 15 surf shops and 10,000 surfers.

Israel

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Interviews

Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Interviews