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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

Alexandre, João (Dapin)

Allen, Chuck

Alms, Paige

aloha shirt

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Alvarez, Pepe

Ancell, Kevin

Andaman Islands

Andersen, Lisa

Anderson, Craig

Anderson, Simon

Andino, Kolohe

Angel, Jose

angle

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Angourie

Antarctica

Apocalypse Now

Arabian Sea

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Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP)

Atlantic Ocean

August, Robert

Aurness, Rolf

Auster, Ken

Australia

Avalon, Frankie

Azores

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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

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Beachley, Layne

beavertail

Becker, Phil

Bedford-Brown, Stuart

Belgium

Bells Beach

Bendall, Ma and Pa

Bennett, Barry

Benson, Becky

Benson, Blanche

Benson, Linda

Bermuda

Long, hollow, bullet-fast point surf located in southern Queensland, Australia, near the New South Wales border; an on-again off-again marvel, depending on how the sand has arranged itself along the point. Remembered, today, mostly for how well it broke in the 1970s and '80s. "Kirra is a barrel, a keg, a spitting pit," longtime Kirra local and former world champion Wayne Bartholomew explains. "That's all it is."

The word "Kirra," which refers to the surf break and the surrounding neighborhood, is an aboriginal term for "gathering place." The Coral Sea cyclone season (December through March) generally brings the most consistent surf, but the winter months (May through August) can produce bigger waves along with steady offshore winds. Four to six feet is the ideal size. In its heyday, the wave at Kirra was divided into three sections of diminishing intensity—Big Groyne, the Point, and Little Groyne, as set from the top of the point to the bottom—and on bigger swells it was possible to link all three into a 300-yard-long ride; top surfers could ride inside a funneling sand-bottom Kirra tube for 10, 15, even 20 seconds at a time.

While Queensland's balmy subtropical weather was an added bonus, enormous crowds—up to 200 surfers at a time—more often than not made Kirra one of the most frenzied and frustrating surf breaks in the world, and a dangerously shallow impact zone regularly sent riders to the beach (or the hospital) with sprained limbs and wrenched backs.

Members of the 1917-founded Kirra Surf Lifesaving Club began riding waves at the base of Kirra Point in the '20s, and the break remained the focal point of Queensland surfing in the decades ahead. The Kirra Surfriders Club was founded in 1962; the first surf contest held at Kirra was the inaugural Queensland state titles in 1964. Famous among Australian surfers for years, Kirra was mostly unheard of internationally until it was featured in Alby Falzon's popular 1972 surf movie 

, which showed local ace Michael Peterson—still regarded by most as the greatest Kirra surfer of all time—dashing across a series of aquamarine Kirra walls.

While Kirra hit peak form a few times each season, occasionally a cyclone—or cluster of cyclones—produced a memorable long run of perfect surf. In April and May of 1972, Kirra turned on for nearly six consecutive weeks; the 1975 Queensland titles were held in flawless eight-foot Kirra tubes during the middle of a two-week swell; 1982's Cyclone Abigail produced 10 consecutive days of excellent surf.

Top local riders at Kirra over the years included Graeme Black, national champions Keith Paull and Peter Drouyn, Wayne Deane, three-time national champion Michael Peterson, world champions Peter Townend, Wayne Bartholomew, Mick Fanning, Joel Parkinson and Stephanie Gilmore, and pro tour standouts Joe Engel, Michael Barry and Dean Morrison. In the mid- '90s and early 2000s Kirra was often the site of an annual Queensland-based world pro tour contest; winners of the event included world champions Kelly Slater and Sunny Garcia.

In 2001, in an attempt to restore natural sand flow patterns and to make the river more navigable for marine vessels, a sand dredging operation commenced at the mouth of the Tweed River, about a mile south of Kirra. Sand was pumped around a headland and aimed down the point. The enormous sand buildup more or less buried the wave at Kirra (along with two or three lesser breaks), while creating the aptly named Superbank, which started just below the headland. Superbank produced an occasionally mind-boggling wave that was longer, easier to ride, and in places nearly as hollow as Kirra, but with nowhere near Kirra's fierce power.

Beginning in the 2010s, local surf groups began campaigning to restore the surf at Kirra, and have at succeeded in reducing the amount of sand pumped south out of Tweed River. Kirra hasn't exactly been restored, but it comes alive on occasion (mid-March, 2013, saw the best surf there in more than 12 years), and locals hope that with more fine-tuning the break will continue its comeback.

 (1998), a cable TV series produced by Opper Films, and has appeared in more than 50 surf films and videos over the years, including 

 magazine in 1981 as one of the "Ten Best Waves in the World"; a 1997 issue of 

 listed it as one of "Ten Waves Every Surfer Should Ride."

In 2012, the entire point, from Kirra to Superbank, along with nearby Burleigh Head, was listed as a National Surfing Reserve

Kirra

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