The U.S. Open of Surfing is a week-long surfing competition held annually during the summer in Huntington Beach, California. Generally held on the south side of the

Huntington Beach Pier The Huntington Beach Pier is a municipal pier located in Huntington Beach, California, at the west end of Main Street and west of Pacific Coast Highway. At in length, it is one of the longest public piers on the West Coast. (The longest is Ocea ...

, the U.S. Open is part of the qualification process for the

World Surf League The World Surf League (WSL) is the governing body for professional surfing, surfers and is dedicated to showcasing the world's best talent in a variety of progressive formats. The World Surf League was originally known as the International Prof ...

and is a WSL QS 10,000 event. It is the largest surfing competition in the world. It has been owned by

IMG img or IMG is an abbreviation for image. img or IMG may also refer to: * IMG (company), global sports and media business headquartered in New York City but with its main offices in Cleveland, originally known as the "International Management Group ...

since 2000. As part of the event, notable people in the world of surfing are added to the Surfing Walk of Fame and to the Surfers' Hall of Fame, both directly across from the pier.

History

The U.S. Open, then called the West Coast Surfing Championship, was first held in 1959. In 1964 it became known as the United States Surfing Championships. In 1982 it became known as the OP Pro for its sponsor, Ocean Pacific. The event was renamed the U.S. Open of Surfing in 1994. The contest was traditionally held during Labor Day weekend. The event was changed to an earlier date following the 1986 event when riots occurred at the OP Pro. Rioting again marred the 2013 U.S. Open. On the final day of the event, as the crowds left the contest area and filled Main Street, a civil disturbance erupted, resulting in property damage and several arrests and some injuries. As a result, the event owner IMG stated that in 2014 it will discontinue events such as free concerts and focus more on the sport. Spending at the nine-day event adds $21.5 million to the

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

economy and $16.4 million in Huntington Beach. It is attended by nearly 500,000 people.

Champions

West Coast Surfing Champions

1959: Jack Haley, Linda Benson 1960: Mike Haley, Linda Benson 1961: Ron Sizemore, Linda Benson 1962: Ilima Kalama, Gudie Wilkie 1963: LJ Richards, Candy Calhoun

United States Surfing Champions

1964: Jim Craig, Linda Benson 1965: Mark Martinson,

Joyce Hoffman Joyce Hoffman (born 1946/47) is an American surfer, considered a pioneer in her sport. She is often regarded as the first female international surfing star and was one of the first inductees of the International Surfing Hall of Fame. In 1968 she ...

1966:

Corky Carroll Corky Carroll (born September 29, 1947) is a professional American surfer and is considered a pioneer in the sport by becoming the first real professional surfer as well as being the first to make paid endorsements. Life and career Carroll sta ...

1967:

1968: David Nuuhiwa, Linda Benson 1969:

, Sharron Weber 1970: David Nuuhiwa,

1971: Brad McCaul, Jericho Poppler 1972: Dale Dobson, Mary Setterholm

Op Pro Champions

1982: Cheyne Horan, Becky Benson 1983:

Tom Curren Tom Curren is an American surfer. Professional career By the time Curren joined the ASP World Tour in 1983, he was competing with professionals such as Rabbit Bartholomew, Shaun Tomson, and Cheyne Horan. He was world champion A world c ...

, Kim Mearig 1984:

, Frieda Zamba 1985:

Mark Occhilupo Marco Jay Luciano "Mark" Occhilupo (born 16 June 1966) is an Australian surfer and winner of the 1999 ASP World title. Occhilupo, also known as "Occy", began his professional career in the World Championship Tour (WCT) at the age of 17. In S ...

Jodie Cooper Jodie Cooper (born 4 May 1964 in Albany, Western Australia) is a former champion surfer. She won 13 international surfing events, including titles in Australia, Japan, Hawaii and mainland United States and was runner-up on a further 13 occas ...

1986:

, Frieda Zamba 1987: Barton Lynch,

Wendy Botha Wendy Botha (born 22 August 1965) is a four-time world surfing champion. She won her first title as a South African citizen in 1987, then she became an Australian citizen and won three more titles in 1989, 1991, and 1992. She also posed nude f ...

1988:

, Jorja Smith 1989: Richie Collins, Frieda Zamba 1990: Todd Holland, Frieda Zamba 1991: Barton Lynch, Frieda Zamba 1992: Team USA ( Kelly Slater, Richie Collins, Todd Holland, Mike Parsons, Alisa Schwarzstein) 1993: Sunny Garcia, Kim Mearig

U.S. Open Champions

1994:

Shane Beschen Shane Beschen (born February 18, 1972) is a California (USA) born professional surfer. In 1996, at Kirra, Shane Beschen became the first and only professional surfer to score three perfect 10 point rides for a total 30 out of 30 ASP three-wave s ...

, Lisa Andersen 1995:

Rob Machado Robert Edward Machado (born October 16, 1973) is an Australian-born American professional surfer. Early life Machado attended San Dieguito High School. He describes himself in interviews, vlogs and social media as a "soul surfer," or fre ...

, Neridah Falconer 1996: Kelly Slater,

Layne Beachley Layne Collette Beachley (born 24 May 1972) is a former professional surfer from Manly, New South Wales. She won the World Championship seven times. Currently she is the chair of Surfing Australia. Surfing career At the age of 16 Beachley ...

1997: Beau Emerton,

Rochelle Ballard Rochelle Ballard (born February 13, 1971) is an American professional surfer and a veteran of the Association of Surfing Professional's (ASP) World Championship Tour. She co-founded International Women's Surfing (IWS) and has appeared in severa ...

1998:

Andy Irons Philip Andrew Irons (July 24, 1978November 2, 2010) was an American professional surfer. Irons began surfing with his brother Bruce on the shallow and dangerous waves of Kauai, Hawaii, before being spotted by a local surfboard brand and flown to ...

1999: Shea Lopez,

Keala Kennelly Keala Kennelly (born August 13, 1978) is a professional surfer, DJ, and actress from Kauai, Hawaii. After spending a decade ranked in the top 10 on thASP World Championship Tour (WCT) Kennelly took a break from the tour in 2007 to explore her p ...

2000: Sunny Garcia, Tita Tavares 2001:

Pauline Menczer Pauline Menczer (born 21 May 1970) is an Australian surfer. She was Women's World Champion for Professional Surfing in 1993. Surfing career Menczer started surfing aged 12 in about 1982. She won the 1988 women's amateur world title at the co ...

2002: Kalani Robb,

2003: Cory Lopez, Chelsea Georgeson 2004:

Taj Burrow Taj Burrow (born 2 June 1978) is an Australian retired professional surfer. Taj retired from the WSL World Tour in June 2016 where he left a legacy of power and impressive surfing. Early life Burrow was born in Yallingup, Western Australia, A ...

, Chelsea Georgeson 2005:

, Julia Christian 2006: Rob Machado,

Sofia Mulanovich Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...

2007:

C.J. Hobgood Clifton James "C.J." Hobgood (born July 6, 1979) is an Association of Surfing Professionals(ASP) World Championship surfer. He has a twin brother, Damien. They both compete in top-tier professional surfing events around the world. C.J. Hobgood ...

, Stephanie Gilmore 2008: Nathaniel Curran, Malia Manuel 2009:

Brett Simpson Brett Simpson is an American surfer and coach from Huntington Beach, California. He is the inaugural head coach of the United States Olympic surfing team. As a surfer, he won the 2009 U.S. Open of Surfing contest, and repeated again in 2010 ...

, Courtney Conlogue 2010: Brett Simpson,

Carissa Moore Carissa Kainani Moore (born August 27, 1992) is a Hawaiian American Olympian, world champion surfer and activist. She was the first-ever winner of the Olympic Gold Medal in women's short board surfing in 2020. She was also the 2011, 2013, 20 ...

2011: Kelly Slater, Sally Fitzgibbons 2012: Julian Wilson, Lakey Peterson 2013: Alejo Muniz,

2014: Filipe Toledo, Tyler Wright 2015: Hiroto Ohhara, Johanne Defay 2016: Filipe Toledo, Tatiana Weston-Webb 2017:

Kanoa Igarashi Kanoa Igarashi (born October 1, 1997) is a Japanese American surfer who has competed professionally worldwide since 2012. In 2016, he was the youngest rookie on the World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour (CT), and had collected more ...

, Sage Erickson 2018:

Courtney Conlogue Courtney Conlogue (born August 25, 1992) is an American professional surfer. She was born in Santa Ana, California. Courtney learned to surf at the age of 4. In 2004 when she was 11, Conlogue was the youngest athlete to be selected to the USA ...

2019: Yago Dora, Sage Erickson 2020: Cancelled 2021: Griffin Colapinto, Caitlin Simmers

U.S. Open of Longboarding Champions

Awards

Notable people are inducted into Surfing Walk of Fame and Surfers' Hall of Fame each year during the U.S. Open. The Walk of Fame has plaques imbedded in the sidewalk, while the Hall of Fame has handprints. Each are located across the street from one another and across Pacific Coast Highway from the Huntington Beach Pier.

Surfing Walk of Fame

Every year the Surfing Walk of Fame at Huntington Beach inducts members in the categories of surf pioneers, surfing champions, local heroes, surf culture, woman of the year, and honor roll. Eligibility for each award are as follows: *The surf champion must have held the world championship and/or world class event titles specific to the city of Huntington Beach. *Woman of the Year winners are chosen based on who garners the most collective votes from the surfing champions, surfing culture, surf pioneers, and local heroes categories. *Local Hero award winners have either resided in Huntington Beach for ten years or graduated from the Huntington Beach Union High School District and were finalists in the surfing champions category, contributed to Huntington Beach surfing culture, were surf pioneers in the city, or were champions of the annual Huntington Beach City Championships.

Surfers' Hall of Fame

Inductees by year are as follows: *2022: Peter Mel, Martin Daly, Michele Turner *2019: Janice Aragon,

Kai Lenny Kai Lenny (born October 8, 1992) is an American professional big wave surfer, stand-up paddle (SUP) surfer and racer, surfer, tow-in surfer, windsurfer, kitesurfer, wing foiler and celebrity watersports enthusiast. Lenny lives on Maui. ...

, Sam Hawk *2018: Ben Aipa, Herbie Fletcher,

*2017:

Mick Fanning Michael Eugene Fanning (born 13 June 1981) is an Australian professional surfer who was crowned champion of the Association of Surfing Professionals/World Surf League (ASP/WSL)'s World Tour in 2007, 2009 and 2013. In 2015, he survived a shark ...

, Bethany Hamilton *2016: Blaine "Sumo" Sato,

Shawn Stussy Shawn may refer to: *Shawn (given name) *Shawn (surname) See also * Sean Sean, also spelled Seán or Séan in Irish English, is a male given name of Irish origin. It comes from the Irish versions of the Biblical Hebrew name ''Yohanan'' () ...

, Ryan Turner *2015: Gordon "Grubby" Clark,

, John Davis *2014: Timmy Turner,

, Rusty Preisendorfer *2013: Skip Frye, Rick "Rockin' Fig" Fignetti, Shane Dorian *2012:

Rabbit Kekai Albert "Rabbit" Kekai (November 11, 1920 – May 13, 2016) was an American professional surfer and one of the original innovators of modern surfing. He was a dominant master of the sport in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, and was also a winner of ...

Dane Reynolds Dane Reynolds (born September 7, 1985 in Long Beach, California) is an American professional surfer from Ventura, California. He is known for his "go for broke" style of surfing that includes many experimental and aerial maneuvers. Biography ...

, Andy Verdone *2011: George Downing, Chuck Linnen,

Simon Anderson Simon Anderson (born 7 July 1954) is an Australian competitive surfer, surfboard shaper, and writer. He is credited with the 1980 invention of a three-fin surfboard design, called the "thruster". Early life Anderson grew up in the Northern B ...

Taylor Knox Taylor Knox (born May 15, 1971) is an American professional surfer. Knox was born in Thousand Oaks, California and began surfing at 8 years old. He moved with his family to Carlsbad at 13 and continued to pursue his dream of becoming a pro sur ...

*2010: Stephanie Gilmore, Ian Cairns, Randy Lewis *2009: Dick Baker, Chris Hawk, Joey Buran, Pat O'Connell, Bruce Brown, Jeff Hakman *2008: Wayne “Rabbit” Bartholomew, Sean Collins, Brad Gerlach, Mike Parsons *2007: Martin Potter, Bruce Irons, Al Merrick,

*2006:

, Bob Hurley,

Greg Noll Greg Noll (' Lawhead; February 11, 1937 – June 28, 2021) was an American pioneer of big wave surfing and a prominent longboard shaper. Nicknamed "Da Bull" by Phil Edwards in reference to his physique and way of charging down the face of a w ...

*2005: Carl Hayward, Tom Carroll, Bob McKnight, Mark Richards *2004: David Nuuhiwa, Jack Haley, Jericho Poppler,

, Peter "PT" Townend, Gerry Lopez *2003:

Shaun Tomson Shaun Tomson (born 21 August 1955) is a South African professional surfer and former world champion, environmentalist, actor, author, and businessman. He has been listed among the top 10 surfers of the century, and was the 1977 World Surfing C ...

, Jack O’Neill, Bud Llamas, Paul Strauch, Mike Doyle *2002:

Laird Hamilton Laird John Hamilton (born March 2, 1964) is an American big-wave surfer, co-inventor of tow-in surfing, and an occasional fashion and action-sports model and actor. He is married to Gabrielle Reece, a professional volleyball player, television ...

, Lisa Andersen, Kelly Slater, Joel Tudor, Robert “Wingnut” Weaver,

Robert August Robert August (born 1945) is an American surfer and surfboard shaper. Raised in Seal Beach, California, he attended Huntington Beach High School where he was ASB President his senior year. He is most famous as one of the subjects of Bruce Brow ...

References

External links

Official Website
{{Huntington Beach, California World Surf League Surfing competitions in California Surfing in the United States Tourist attractions in Orange County, California Sports in Huntington Beach, California 1959 establishments in California Recurring sporting events established in 1959