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

Alexandre, João (Dapin)

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

Surfboard shaper and entrepreneur from Santa Monica, California; often described as the Father of Japanese Surfing. Kawahara was born (1940) in Los Angeles, the son of an American-born gardener, raised in Santa Monica, and began surfing at age 17. He attended University High School in West Los Angeles, where his classmates included future celebrities James Brolin and Nancy Sinatra, as well as surf world icons Kemp Aaberg and Kathy "Gidget" Kohner.

As a teenager, Kawahara got a job as ding repairman with Con Surfboards in Santa Monica, and soon began learning how to shape; in 1961, he became a Con shaper. Over the next ten years, Kawahara worked for many top board brands, including Weber, Jacobs, Noll, and Morey-Pope. A utility man in the factory, Kawahara also filled in as sander, laminator, and glosser.

In 1963, Kawahara spent five months in Japan, and returned often in years to come. He was the first person to build boards in Japan, which he sold out of his own retail space, called Malibu Surf Shop. He was a tireless promoter on behalf of surfing in Japan, set up an import-export company there, and scouted for waves along the Shonan and Chiba coasts, near Tokyo. "The officers didn't know what a surfboard was for," Kawahara told 

 in 1969, describing the time he was held up in customs during his first visit to Japan. "So I dug out an old surf magazine and showed them some pictures. They told me there were no waves in Japan and that I should return to Hawaii." Kawahara knew otherwise and discovered some of Japan's finest breaks—which, in the beginning, he rode alone.

Kawahara founded California Hawaii Promotions (CHP) in 1976 in Los Angeles, which became the international wholesaler for the popular surfboard and surfwear maker Town and Country—of which Kawahara was a wholesale division co-owner. In the 1980s, in large part largely to Kawahara's marketing and design savvy, as well as his knowledge of the exploding Japanese surf market, Town and Country became one of the world's biggest and most diverse surf brands.

Kawahara, Tak

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Interviews

The Sunday Joint

Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Interviews

The Sunday Joint