The US Open of Surfing, a mega surf contest and action-sports festival held each year on the sand in Huntington Beach, will next be Aug. 3-11, organizers have announced.
The World Surf League released its schedule for the six-stop Challenger Series, the Huntington Beach competition among them. The series of surf contests offer big points for up-and-coming athletes to qualify for the elite World Tour to compete against the sport’s top surfers.
Early planning is needed for the famed event, with visitors coming from around the world and hotels booking up during the busy end-of-summer event.
The Challenger Series kicks off at Snapper Rocks on Australia’s Gold Coast from April 27 to May 4, then heads down to Sydney, Australia mid-May. The surfers travel to South Africa in early July before heading to Huntington Beach.
Following the event in Surf City, the competitors travel to Portugal before ending the Challenger Series in Brazil in October.
Several San Clemente surfers dominated on the Challenger Series in 2023, earning spots on the upcoming World Tour, which kicks off in Hawaii in late January. San Clemente surfer Sawyer Lindblad won the US Open last year.
Organizers have not yet announced the sponsor for the upcoming US Open of Surfing. For a decade, Costa Mesa-based Vans was at the helm, but last year pulled out of the event.
Wallex, a digital currency company, became title sponsor and the event saw several more changes, such as the addition of freestyle moto on the sand with Nitro Circus’ Full Throttle FMX, which drew big crowds.
The US Open of Surfing has taken on many forms through the years in Huntington Beach and sponsorship has changed hands many times.
For years, it was the OP Pro, but by 1994, it was rebranded the US Open of Surfing.
The US Open of Surfing has grown into a huge money maker for the surf town and beyond.
Direct visitor spending during the multi-day event jumped from $21.5 million in 2010 to $55.8 million in 2018, more than doubling in less than a decade, according to Visit Huntington Beach’s last report released on the event’s economic impact.
