International Surfing Museum Director Diana Dehm announced September 20 has officially been designated as California Surfing Day along with Duke and Ben Aipa, Senator Janet Nguyen, State Assemblyman Matt Harper, and Mayor Mike Posey. Photo: Heyden
Under an unrelenting Southern California summer sun, a group comprised of local surfers, city councilmembers, state assemblymen, and state senators announced on Tuesday at the Huntington Beach Pier that a bill to designate September 20 as California Surfing Day had officially become law.
Bill SCR-122, was introduced in the state legislature by California State Senator Janet Nguyen of the 34th district back in March and passed in the state senate and assembly without opposition. Come September 20, 2018 and every year thereafter the day will “celebrate the California surfing lifestyle, [and] commend all those who honor the history, culture, and future of surfing,” explains the text of the bill.
Senator Nguyen along with Huntington Beach city councilmembers Barbara Delgleize, Mayor Mike Posey, International Surfing Museum Director Diana Dehm, and a smattering of Surf City’s local surf legends, held a press conference on the pier to commemorate the designation while U.S. Open of Surfing heats continued in the background.
The logo for California Surfing Day features Jericho Poppler and Paul Strauch. Photo: Heyden
“What better day to honor California and Huntington Beach’s contributions to surf culture than during the U.S. Open of Surfing,” said Dehm, “a contest that brings together surfers from all over the world.”
Dehm and the International Surfing Museum have been a major force in recent years, mobilizing Huntington Beach’s surf community to participate in setting a Guinness World Record for the largest paddle out, setting a record for the most surfers on a single surfboard, and working with city officials to hatch a plan to push this designation through the state legislature.
“Huntington Beach is really the epicenter of surf culture,” said Huntington Beach Mayor Mike Posey from the pier. “So to claim this for the city and for the state of California is an honor.”
This designation comes as the state legislature continues to deliberate on another statewide designation: whether surfing should become the state’s official sport. Like California Surfing Day, the bill to designate surfing as California’s official sport has so far faced little opposition and is likely to pass in the coming months.
The subtext of both efforts, of course, is wrapped up in Olympic fervor. At the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, surfing is set to make its official debut. If it proves popular enough to capture a younger audience, which is a primary ambition of the International Olympic Committee, surfers will compete for their countries in Paris in 2024, and then in Los Angeles in 2028. For Southern California’s coastal cities, the prospect of hosting an Olympic competition represents an enormous opportunity.
In 2005, now defunct Surfing Magazine and the Surfrider Foundation unofficially established International Surfing Day as a global day to celebrate the sport every year on the third Saturday in June. California surfing day, however, bills itself as a day to celebrate specifically California’s contributions to the sport and to celebrate statewide.
Photo: Lydia Sawyer-Chu
