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, Blanche

Benson, Linda

Bermuda

Bertlemann, Larry

Temperate and largely suburban area in California's southwest corner, including just over 75 miles of Pacific Ocean coastline; encompasses the coastal towns and communities of Oceanside, Carlsbad, Leucadia, Encinitas, Cardiff, Del Mar, La Jolla, Pacific Beach, Mission Beach, Ocean Beach, Coronado, and Imperial Beach. 

San Diego County offers a wide range of surf breaks, including the point-reef rights at Swami's, the two-way beachbreak waves at Oceanside, the quirky peaks of Windansea, and powerful sand-bottom tubes at Blacks Beach. (Trestles, one of the state's best-known breaks, straddles the border between San Diego and Orange counties, but is generally regarded as Orange County territory.) 

The two most popular surfing regions in San Diego proper are the reef-lined Sunset Cliffs, along Point Loma, and the wealthy La Jolla area. San Diego County receives waves all year, but the best and biggest surf generally arrives between late fall and early spring; four-foot surf is common during this period, and the biggest winter swells can produce waves up to 12 feet or bigger at places like Blacks, La Jolla Cove, and Tijuana Sloughs. Summer surf is generally small. 

San Diego has been described as having the world's best climate, with daytime air temperatures along the coast rarely dipping below 60 or above 90; water temperatures range from the mid- 50s to the low 70s. San Diego surf lineups can be maddeningly crowded, and areas in La Jolla and Sunset Cliffs have earned a reputation for localism. Because most San Diego surf breaks are relatively soft and easy to ride, the entire area has for decades been popular with longboarders and beginning surfers. 

Surfing was probably introduced to San Diego in 1916, when lifeguard Charlie Wright borrowed a redwood surfboard from visiting Hawaiian Duke Kahanamoku and rode a few waves at Ocean Beach. (Hawaiian-born George Freeth, a Los Angeles County lifeguard, may have surfed in San Diego sometime between 1907 and 1909.) Wright began making surfboards and giving surf lessons, and wave-riding communities were founded up and down San Diego County in the '20s and '30s. The annual Pacific Coast Surf Riding Championships—the state's first all- regions surfing event—was held from 1936 to 1941 in the easy-breaking waves at San Onofre, near San Diego County's northern border. 

In 1959, San Diego surfers Larry Gordon and Floyd Smith opened Gordon & Smith Surfboards in Pacific Beach, the county's first full-service surf shop. (Hansen Surfboards, another first-generation shop, opened two years later.) Windansea by that time had earned a reputation for producing some of America's loudest, rowdiest, and most talented surfers. Looking to channel some of that energy, local surfer Chuck Hasley formed the Windansea Surf Club in 1963—with a roster that included Skip Frye, Mike Hynson, LJ Richards, Pat Curren, Butch Van Artsdalen, and Rusty Miller—and it soon became the best-known organization of its kind in America. 

Other top San Diego county riders of the era include power surfer Phil Edwards, 1964 World Championships runner-up Mike Doyle, 1968 World Championships winner Margo Godfrey, two-time U.S. Champion Linda Benson, and surfboard shaper Mike Diffenderfer. (Other influential San Diego designer/shapers include Steve Lis, Rusty Preisendorfer, and Gary Linden.) 

San Diego County made up one of the original competition districts in the 1961-formed United States Surfing Association, and in 1966 the city hosted the wildly successful World Surfing Championships, won by Australian Nat Young and Joyce Hoffman of California. The Championships returned to San Diego in 1972, with titles going to Jimmy Blears and Sharron Weber of Hawaii, but the contest was an organizational disaster. Localism by that time had become the rule on many San Diego County beaches: David Nuuhiwa, top contender for the 1972 title, had his board stolen by Ocean Beach–area surfers during the early rounds of the contest, and on finals day it turned up mangled and spray-painted, hanging from a piece of rope off the Ocean Beach Pier. 

The California Pro, one of the state's first international pro contests, was held in Oceanside in 1977 (earning a special place in surf contest history when all the winners' checks bounced); the Stubbies Pro, also held in Oceanside (from 1984 to 1988), was the biggest world pro tour event held in San Diego County. The United States Surfing Championships were held in Oceanside in 1981, 1989, and 1993, and annually from 1997 to present day; Oceanside also hosted portions of the 1984 World Surfing Championships. Noteworthy San Diego–area surfers of the past 30 years include world tour pros Joey Buran, Debbie Beacham, Brad Gerlach, Rob Machado, and Taylor Knox; style exemplar Chris O'Rourke; and longboarders Dale Dobson and Joel Tudor. Tenured surf photographers Jeff Divine and Aaron Chang are also from San Diego. 

By 2003, San Diego County (population 2.5 million) was home to about 60 surf shops and 200,000 surfers. Local surf companies include Gordon & Smith, Rusty, and TransWorld Surf. The San Diego surf is detailed in Surf Guide to Southern California (1963), Surfing California (1973), and The Stormrider Guide North America (2002). 

San Diego, San Diego County

Subscribe or Login

Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Interviews

Features

The Sunday Joint

Videos

Contests