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

Burly California artist best known for his rich, layered, allegorical, and often satirical surfing-themed oil paintings, produced in the style of Rembrandt and Caravaggio. Ancell was born (1963) and raised in Santa Monica, and began surfing at age nine. He moved to China in 1985 and briefly taught at the Beijing Institute of Science and Technology; two years later, after the Chinese government expelled him as a "cultural pollutant," he moved to San Francisco and began drinking heavily. "When I cleaned up," he told 

 magazine in 1998, "the taverns in San Francisco flew their flags at half mast."

 (1996) is typical of Ancell's work, showing a nude surfer floating between a skeleton and a tiny Prozac-bearing angel. For 

, a 2000 surf-art exhibition at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, Ancell grouped together 25 full-size polyurethane hula dancer automatons, some of them wielding assault rifles and hand grenades. "Here's the dashboard hula doll," Ancell told the 

, gesturing to the slowly gyrating assemblage, "except now she's got guns and she's been drinking and she's pissed off."

As a scenery painter in Hollywood, Ancell worked on 

 (1999), among other movies. His work has been featured in a number of gallery shows including the 2002 Laguna Art Museum show, 

In the mid '00s, Ancell began working with boardmaker Reynolds Yater on collectible balsa surfboards, with Ancell designing intricate abalone mother of pearl inlays. He also paired with clothing designer RVCA, painting surfboards for their team riders, and participating in gallery shows with RVCA-sponsored pro surfer-artist Danny Fuller. In 2015, Ancell painted "the Pod," a set of boards for 11-time world champion Kelly Slater, designed to call attention to what Slater viewed as the abusive treatment of captive orca whales.

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

Interviews

Features

Encyclopedia of Surfing

Interviews

Features