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

Sprawling suburban county in Southern California, located between Los Angeles County and San Diego County; the surf world's industrial and media hub since the 1950s. Orange County has 42 miles of shoreline, and includes the coastal towns of Seal Beach, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Dana Point, and San Clemente. 

Surfing was likely introduced to Orange County in 1908 by Hawaiian-born George Freeth, not long after he first rode Los Angeles's Venice Beach. By the mid '20s, Corona del Mar, on the south end of Newport, had become one of the state's most popular surf breaks and in 1928 it was the site for the inaugural Pacific Coast Surf Riding Championships. (The Corona del Mar Surfboard Club, host group for the event, was the mainland's first surfing club.) Trestles, the Wedge, and Huntington Pier eventually became the area's three best-known surf breaks.

Orange County surf industry got under way in earnest when Hobie Surfboards, the first all-service surf shop, opened in Dana Point in 1953. More than a half-dozen shops would open in Huntington Beach alone before the end of the decade. In 1959, Kanvas by Katin in Seal Beach began making surf trunks, surf guitarist Dick Dale began playing at Newport's Rendezvous Ballroom (Guitar-making legend Leo Fender invented the solid-body electric guitar in Orange County in the 1940s; Dale was a lifelong Fender man), and the West Coast Surfing Championships debuted at Huntington Pier; one year later 

 magazine began publishing in Dana Point. Surf moviemaker Bruce Brown was also living and working in Orange County by that time, as was polyurethane foam innovator Gordon "Grubby" Clark. The United States Surfing Association, America's first national surfing group, was formed in Laguna Beach in 1961.

Orange County consolidated its industrial- commercial position in the surf world over the decades, as home to beachwear giants (Rip Curl, Quiksilver, Gotcha, Hurley, among others), surf magazines (

 ), surf organizations (the National Scholastic Surfing Association, the Association of Professional Surfers, the Surf Industry Manufacturers Association, the Surfrider Foundation), and major surf contests (the US Open of Surfing, the Op Pro, the NSSA Nationals, the Stubbies US Pro, the Hurley Pro). Commercial surf forecasting was born in Orange County in the mid- '80s, with Huntington Beach–based companies such as Surfline and Wavetrak. Orange County has also produced dozens of world-class surfers (including Phil Edwards, Corky Carroll, Joyce Hoffman, Mike Parsons, Matt Archbold, Christian Fletcher, Shane Beschen, Pat O'Connell, Colin McPhillips, Brett Simpson), as well as a commensurate number of surf filmmakers and photographers (Bud Browne, Greg MacGillivray, Jim Freeman, Ron Stoner, Art Brewer, Larry Moore, and Jeff Divine), and top surfboard shapers (Robert August, Rich Harbour, Bill Stewart, Jeff "Doc" Lausch, Timmy Patterson, Matt Biolos).

By 2012, Orange County was home to an estimated 200,000 surfers and nearly 100 surf shops. The Orange County surf is detailed in 

Surfer Magazine's Guide to Southern California Surf Spots

 (2006). San Clemente came in at number five in 

 magazine's 2009 list of the "Top Ten Surf Towns in America."

Orange County

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