Sorry skateboarding, baseball, and beach volleyball, Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill Monday declaring surfing the official sport of California. Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi of Torrance, an avid surfer and co-author of the bill, said in a statement statement “I am stoked that surfing is now California’s official sport. No other sport represents the California Dream better than surfing — riding the waves of opportunity and living in harmony with nature.”
With 1,100 miles of coastline and scores of world-famous surf breaks, the bill claims that California is home to the Surfers’ Hall of Fame, the International Surfing Museum, and the California Surf Museum while being host to the International Surf Festival, U.S. Open of Surfing, Mavericks Big Wave Surf Contest and the Founders’ Cup of Surfing. Additionally, it cites California as the heart of surfboard manufacturing and originators of surf forecasting and neoprene wetsuits.
Muratsuchi also tweeted “surfing in CA has a rich history and culture. It attracts people from all around the world and generates over $6b in annual retail sales for the state.”
Thanks to @JerryBrownGov who has signed AB 1782 making surfing CA official state sport! Surfing in CA has a rich history and culture. It attracts people from all around the world and generates over $6b in annual retail sales for the state! Thanks to @IanAD57! #surfsup
— Asm. Al Muratsuchi (@AsmMuratsuchi) August 20, 2018
On the environmental tip, Bill Calderon, the Majority Leader of the California State Assembly, said via statement “we hope this designation will bring more awareness to the issue of ocean pollution and help us take a more aggressive stance on reducing the use of things like single-use plastics that pollute our beaches and harm our ecosystem.”
