Surfers are being asked to participate in an event called Surfboards in the Sand September 19th in Huntington Beach. Basically, participants will lug their boards and whatever basic creature comforts they can carry down to the sand. There, they will stand shoulder to shoulder, boards sticking nose-first into the beach, posing en masse for an ambitious photo project to be shot by Transworld Surf Magazine.
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If enough people show up and the project unfolds as planned, historic photos of the line of surfers with their boards might end up hanging on the walls of every surf museum, surf shop, airport and taco joint in coastal Southern California.
Anyone with a half-decent imagination can picture it–the immense scale of such a gathering, a historic sense of solidarity among surfers, a demonstration of commonality in divisive times. You can almost see the yellowing prints with weathered corners, smell the years of taco grease and sea salt on a retro coffee table book about surfing in the 2000's. But that's getting a little ahead of ourselves…
Sponsored by Rip Curl and executed by Transworld, the event hopes to draw surfers for miles around…Why? According to SurfboardsintheSand.com, the massive public assembly is meant to “honor surfing culture and support the preservation of Southern California's coastal environment.” Some of the money from the event will benefit Surfrider Foundation and Orange County Coastkeeper.
Those who show up will be standing with Peter Townend, surfing's first-ever world champ and a promoter of the event. The website provides information on volunteer opportunities, registration information, The grand photo set will be published in Transworld Surf.
