Annual Carmel Surfabout

Since 1980, once a year, local Monterey county surfers and their families have gathered on the squeaky white sands of Carmel Beach for a weekend of friendly surf competition. The weekend marks the only calendar date throughout the whole year where our surf community's coming together is not dictated by chance ideal surf conditions. Instead, we come together for each other, and to celebrate our shared love for a life of chasing waves on our central coast and beyond.

The Surfabout was originally established by Brad Johnson and Tom Knight, founders and original purveyors of Sunshine Freestyle in Monterey, an iconic local's-first surf shop and the lifeblood of the organized surf community on the Monterey Peninsula for over thirty years. The original intention of the surf contest was to create an opportunity for local surfers from otherwise smaller micro surf tribes on the Monterey Peninsula to gather, connect, and enjoy the water together amidst a weekend of friendly but earnest surf competition.

Over time, while always retaining its spirit of local surf competition, the contest has evolved into a family-friendly community gathering of all Monterey Peninsula ocean lovers and beachgoers. Together, we share a passion for recreating in the waters of the central coast, and for the friendships created along the way.

While new elements have been added and subtracted to the Surfabout throughout the years, the contest centers around three different main competitive categories--Surfing, longboarding, and the long-distance paddle.