International Surfing Day in Southern California

Getting up at 3 am is usually not my thing. But it’s ISD, and I am the only German available to make this day truly international. We need to beat the morning traffic and meet the news crews at the crack of dawn in Venice. Surf is supposed to be flat, the coffee shop is not even open yet. But by 9 in the morning I have tried out standup paddle surfing on a 12 foot monster board, shredded some waves on Joel Tudor’s new Surftec prototype and appeared on Fox 11 ‘s morning news cleaning up the beach. Get interviewed by a Cuban surfer who is really excited to see a German guy surf. Turns out he is from Miami, and he can’t really surf.
Next stop is Raging Waters, to check the waves 30 miles away from the ocean. The wave is better than Venice, because it’s powered by jets, not the South Pacific. Some rippers throw spray and do shove-its on the FlowRider. We both give more TV interviews, everybody is excited about us coming down and flexing the Surfrider muscle.
Back to the beach, check in at Laguna Beach’s Thalia street where the surf shop hosted a great beach cleanup. Everybody is stoked, the weather is great, schwag bags are handed out to everybody who participates.
After a really needed pit stop at a coffee shop, we join our friends at Salt Creek. I surf for the third time this day, 11 Surfriders from the office share waves at Strands. What a great way to end the day!

- From Olaf Lohr, Surfrider headquarters USA