From recognizing Ocean Friendly Businesses and rocking out at Jack Johnson concerts to Surfrider's first annual Climate Week and spooky seasonal festivities, Surfrider chapters across the state found creative ways to bring communities together for our ocean, waves, and beaches this October. Here’s a look at some of the highlights from a month full of community connection and coastal impact. 🌊🎃
Starting up in the North Coast, the Humboldt Chapter hosted a chapter meeting and social at Humboldt Bay Provisions, an Ocean Friendly Restaurant, and hosted a beach cleanup just before the Festival of the Sea.
The Sonoma Coast Chapter held its 15th annual Blue Water Paddle Race at Doran Beach in Bodega Bay. Any paddle-powered craft could enter the short course, long course, or relay, and fun was had by all. An opportunity drawing, which included amazing prizes from local businesses, including several Ocean Friendly Restaurants, helped raise funds for the chapter's programs.
The Marin Chapter celebrated Ocean Friendly Business Month with a monthly social at Hook Fish Co. at Proof Lab Beer Garden.
The San Francisco Chapter kicked the month off tabling at the Village Green during the Berkeley stop of Jack Johnson’s SURFILMUSIC tour! The event provided an opportunity to raise funds to support the Chapter and its ongoing work, and Jack Johnson gave Surfrider a big shout-out during the concert. As part of their speaker series, the San Francisco Chapter held a Coastal Resilience at Ocean Beach talk featuring coastal ecologist Peter Baye, where participants learned how dunes protect our beaches and community. The chapter hosted a haunted dune revegetation workday with amazing costumes and amazing progress on the dune restoration project.
The San Mateo County Chapter held a beach cleanup at the newly reopened Tunitas Creek Beach. They teamed up with the California White Shark Project to hold their annual Sharktacular event, a night of education and fascinating shark research. The Chapter and the Linda Mar Water Quality Coalition launched a human health survey as part of their ongoing work to monitor and address the habitually bad water quality at Linda Mar Beach. Since launching the survey in August, they have received nearly 300 responses and have continued a weekly “Linda Mar health stories” series.
Moving down to Central California, the Monterey Chapter held a watershed and park clean-up at Laguna Grande Regional Park in Seaside. Thank you to all the volunteers and supporters! Here are the stats: 🙋62 volunteers 🚯171 lbs of trash ♻️27 lbs of recycling 🚬🚭Nearly 1800 cigarette butts (😱‼️You read that right!). Thank you to all our volunteers and Pacific Flow Yoga for leading our morning flow. More chapter updates here!
The Santa Barbara Chapter celebrated the The Land Trust for Santa Barbara County annoucement that it will enter escrow to acquire the 1,000+ acre Santa Barbara Ranch, widely known as Naples, on the Gaviota Coast. If completed, the purchase would end nearly 140 years of land use conflict over one of California’s most pristine and contested stretches of coastline. The acquisition complements the longtime work of the Surfrider Foundation, Environmental Defense Center, Gaviota Coast Conservancy, Naples Coalition, and other partners.
The Ventura Chapter’s October Chapter Meeting featured an El Niño Surf and Weather Forecasting presentation with Nathan Cool. They also continued to make strides towards a cleaner and healthier coast, hosting three beach cleanups and one dune restoration event.
Down in Southern California, Los Angeles Chapter brought the community together at the Dreamland in Malibu to host the Saves the Waves Film Festival. The event included surf films, live music, and live surfboard painting that one lucky attendee got to take home. Huge thanks to everyone who came out, brought their friends, supported Surfrider LA, and helped us raise funds for our local coastlines.
The South Bay Chapter handed out over 150 packets of native seeds at outreach events, encouraging community members to plant them before the rains. They also continue to tackle marine debris, this month removing 140 lbs from Hermosa Beach.
Long Beach Chapter celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the Coastal Act by co-hosting a beach party with live music, inspirational speakers, and even a sandcastle building contest. This event was hosted in collaboration with the California Coastal Commission, Azul, and California Coastal Protection Network.
North OC Chapter hosted their annual Halloween beach cleanup, removing a frightening 1,660+ lbs of trash from Seal Beach. The chapter also participated in Surfrider's Climate Week with two Ocean Friendly Garden workdays, and the celebration of a completed restoration plan for Seal Beach dunes.
South OC Chapter teamed up with the Coast Film and Music Festival to host a beach cleanup and a networking mixer as part of the annual festival that celebrates the outdoors through film, music, and art.
Last but not least, the San Diego Chapter was proud to support San Diego Climate Week as a Surf Sponsor and host of several events, including beach cleanups, a habitat restoration event, a film screening, and more!
Another win for our Plastic Pollution Initiative: Solana Beach updated its single-use plastics ordinance, requiring truly compostable foodware and prohibiting so-called “recyclable” plastic containers.
Our San Diego staff also had the opportunity to table at Village Green during the Chula Vista stop of Jack Johnson’s SURFILMUSIC tour! The event also provided an opportunity to raise funds in support of the Chapter and its ongoing work.
The California Coastal Commission also met in Oceanside October 7-9 and tackled a busy agenda that included the fallout from last month’s Hurricane Marie swells, LCP Updates for the cities of Carlsbad and Pismo Beach, and more. As always, your California policy team was on-site to advocate on behalf of our state’s ocean, waves, and beaches. Dive into the recap here!
Check back next month for more impact updates as Surfrider California chapters close out 2026 strong! In the meantime, get involved in the action and volunteer with your local chapter or donate to support our work across the state.