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

A type of plywood surfboard used exclusively in Brazil for about six years, starting in 1959. After one or two false starts, the origins of Brazilian surf history can be traced back to the 1940s, in Rio de Janeiro. Beachgoers began riding small plywood boards, known as a 

 (alligator), and for years to come, any kind of wave-riding—bodysurfing, bellyboarding, even stand-up surfing—was known as "alligator catching." The 

 nose was curved up slightly to prevent pearling, and some had matching cutaway handles on the either side, along the board's rails. By the late 1940s, many riders were also using swim fins to help propel themselves into waves, and the sport was popular enough that different models and brands of factory-made 

Stand-up riding, meanwhile, was a rarity in Brazil until the 1950s, when it was taken up by a handful of 

, mostly ocean divers and spearfishermen, who gathered at Arpoador Beach, located on the south side of the rocky headland between Ipanema and Copacabana.

Because these wave-riding newcomers had little contact with the surf world at large, apart from an occasional foreign magazine or film, the homegrown equipment they developed looked nothing like what was in use at the time in places like Hawaii, California, and Australia.

The rectangular "church door" style board that began showing up at Arpoador in the mid-'50s was just a longer version of the 

square nose and all, but included a low-profile keel, about two inches high, running along the back third of the board. It was difficult but not impossible, to stand on a church door; it was sometimes ridden from a kneeling position. Brazilian surf historian Reinaldo Andraus reports that the core group of Arpoador church door surfers had an informal competition at some point, probably around 1956.

The standouts were Jorge Americano, Gilberto Laport, Paulinho Bebiano, and future movie star Arduino Colassanti. It was supposed to be a fishing contest, but as the sea was cloudy, with waves hitting the rocks, they decided to switch to surfing. The girls on the beach would decide the winner. In the absence of the favorite, Jorge Paulo, Arduino was declared the champion.

and the church door, were made from a particular kind of marine plywood ("madeirite" is Portuguese for "lumber" or "plywood") and featured a lifted nose. They had a stabilizing fin and were varnished, like boats, to keep seawater from soaking into the wood; the wood itself was lighter than that used for the church door and 

A Rio surfer named Irencyr Beltrão later claimed he designed the first madeirite, in 1959. "It was [made from] 2.5-centimeter-thick marine-spec plywood, about 50 centimeters wide and 2.2 meters long." The board was built by a Copacabana boat repairman named Moacyr Silva, who suggested that the nose and tail be rounded rather than square.

Even with the added length, the madeirite still floated low in the water, so riders continued to use fins to kick into waves. The fins were sometimes trimmed back to make standing up easier, but hopping from prone to standing was still hard, and the ride was often done in three stages—prone, kneeling, standing.

In the early '60s, as the sport became more popular, some of the madeirite refinement was done in São Paulo. But riding waves in Brazil was still associated mostly with Rio, and Arpoador, where incoming waves exploded spectacularly off the rocks and offered an entry point for surfers looking for a long left-running slide. As with the 

, the madeirite was sold in sporting goods stores, alongside tennis rackets and soccer balls.

In part because the wave-riding was affiliated with Rio's new bossa-nova-age arts and culture scene, the madeirites themselves were often given an artistic flair, and decorated in bold colors and shapes. In early 1964, 

Brazil's leading illustrated magazine, took note:

There is something new under the Arpoador sun—which, this year, takes on features of Hawaiian beaches, with boys gliding on the crest of the waves balanced on boards. And the sport has an English name: "surfing."

A key moment in Brazilian surf history took place in late July 1964, when traveling Australian surfer Peter Troy arrived in Rio, borrowed a madeirite, and joined the local surfers at Arpoador. An accomplished surfer, fresh off a win in the inaugural European Surfing Championships in France, Troy rode without swim fins, and rode well, making a big impression on the 

 who grilled him over the remainder of his stay in Rio about modern boardmaking and riding techniques.

Troy did not introduce surfing to Brazil, as was widely reported in years and decades to come. His time in Rio, however, went a long way toward pushing Brazilian surfing into the modern era—which meant the madeirite was soon a relic.

madeirite surfboard

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

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The Sunday Joint

Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Interviews

Features

The Sunday Joint