The Baja Invitational has always garnered a crowd. Photos: Courtesy Baja Surf Club
The Baja Surf Club recently announced its 2025 Baja Surf Club Invitational will be held in San Miguel from January 17-19 during Martin Luther King weekend. Because the exact itinerary and details have not been released, Baja Surf Club president Alfredo Ramirez gave us more insight into the Invitational and what makes this upcoming event so special for the club.
“It’s the 60th anniversary of the Baja Surf Club,” Ramirez said. “The original club was founded by Nacho Felix. He founded the club at San Miguel in Ensenada in 1965. The club’s big, annual event has always been the Baja Surf Club Invitational, where surfers like Miki Dora, Skip Frye, Jeff Hakman, Mickey Munoz, and other legends of the sport were getting top places in that era.”
According to Ramirez, the club disbanded in the late 1970s then disappeared for decades. But Ramirez explained that himself and Jorge McFarland relaunched the club in 2015, keeping the same logo and the same spirit.
“We started the Baja Surf Club invitational again. It’s going to be 60 years since the club was founded, and then ten years since we re-launched the club. So, it’s going to be a special event. We do it at the birthplace of Mexican surfing, which is San Miguel, where everything started in terms of the gathering of the tribes back in the ’60s.”
The location of the event spans more than just cultural roots. For all surfers, Ramirez explained that San Miguel is “such an iconic, world-class wave. In January, it is probably the best month. It’s just a celebration of nature and it’s such an international surf spot.”
While the wave isn’t really suited for beginners, the event attracts all levels of competitors from intermediates to pros. “We can see past winners or surfers like Chris Ward or Kyle Knox, just because the wave is so good. But it’s also points-based for clubs. We crown the best team or the best club, as well as individual winners.”
The event is popular, perhaps partially due to the expansive nature of who can attend. Ramirez reported that the event is usually at capacity. “It sold out over the last few years. It’s about 100 people, usually, that we have. It’s a combination of people from California and people from Baja, Mainland Mexico, and sometimes we even have people from South America.”
The Baja Surf Club is a non-profit and the proceeds from this event benefit the club.
Registration for this year’s invitational opens on November 1, and interested attendees can check the Baja Surf Club Facebook page or website at that date.
The Baja Surf Club’s sister club is the Windansea Surf Club, and they remain closely tied. Ramirez said, “to this day, we still have an amazing relationship because it was instrumental for the Baja Surf Club in the ’60s to launch the club and help with the contest, with the judges and that kind of thing.”
“It is important to promote that there is no divisive line between the two countries and the ocean. That’s how the surfers back then saw it. As surfers, that’s what we look at. With the waves and the surfing and in the water, everyone is the same. It’s just beautiful, surfing, what it does. We just keep doing this. We love it. There are so many friendships that have been created over 60 years and the trips together. When the Windansea Surf Club came down, there was a surf trip to Todos Santos Island in the ’60s, and that’s documented, which is amazing.”
Ramirez ended with the foreshadowing that this anniversary is only the start of an even greater future for both clubs. “There have been lots of adventures together, and there’s only more to come.”
