Photo: Surfing Santas // YouTube
Cocoa Beach, Florida is known for two things in the world of surfing: Birthing Kelly Slater and a bunch of people riding waves while dressed up in Santa costumes. The first one only happened once (that we know of), but the second is a yearly tradition on Christmas Eve, and this year is no different.
Today marks the 17th iteration of the annual Surfing Santas event, where participants dressed in Santa costumes descend on the Space Coast beach. It all began in 2009, when organizer George Trosset went for a surf in costume, accompanied by his son and daughter in law, dressed as elves. Local papers took notice, and the event quickly grew traction. “We surfed and had one spectator,” Trosset told Florida Today in 2021. “One thing we learned: Elves can’t surf in nylon stockings. We also learned what waterboarding is when the beard got wet.”
Since then, the event has snowballed massively, with hundreds of participants, live music and costume contests. The event also collects donations for the Florida Surf Museum, Grind for Life, and Who We Play For. Grind for Life provides financial assistance to cancer patients and their families when traveling long distances to doctors and hospitals, and Who We Play For is a non-profit dedicated to preventing sudden cardiac death in young people.
According to the Surfing Santas site, they have managed to raise over $100,000 for charity, all while spreading holiday cheer and stoke. You can check out the livestream of the event below.
