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

Muscular waterman from Maui, Hawaii; "a polydimensional surfer," as described by Longboard magazine, expert in tow-in surfing, sailboarding, and longboarding. 

Kalama was born (1964) in Newport Beach, California, the son of West Coast Surfing Championships winner Ilima Kalama. He began surfing at age seven, moved to Maui at 21, and soon became a top competitive wave-sailor, winning virtually every contest in Hawaii, including the 1991 Hard Rock Café World Cup. 

Kalama began experimenting with footstraps on his surfboard in the early '90s, and was soon able to perform a dazzling variety of small-wave aerials and flips. Meanwhile, surfers Laird Hamilton, Buzzy Kerbox, and Darrick Doerner were pioneering the tow-in method of big-wave riding on the North Shore of Oahu, getting a personal watercraft–assisted start on giant waves from behind Kerbox's inflatable Zodiac boat. 

When Hamilton and his group moved to Maui in 1992, they joined up with Kalama and his strapped-in surfing/sailboarding friends and were soon riding enormous waves at a break called Jaws. 

Tow-in leader Hamilton became partners with Kalama, and on December 20, 1994, Hamilton towed Kalama in to a 35-foot-plus Jaws wave, described by Surfer magazine as possibly "the biggest wave ever ridden." 

While Kalama rode bigger waves in the years to come, as did a growing number of tow-in surfers, he also became a top paddleboarder, surf canoeist, tandem surfer, kite surfer, and hydrofoil rider. "Dave is a bad man," Hamilton said in 2001. "Anything he tries he's proficient at in no time, and then before you know it he's pro." 

Kalama is featured in Jaws Maui, a 1997 coffee-table book. He appeared in the Hollywood-produced Endless Summer II (1994) and In God's Hands (1998), as well as a number of surf videos.

Kalama, Dave

Subscribe or Login

Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

The Sunday Joint

Videos

Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

The Sunday Joint

Videos