The 28th Annual Surfside 70s Surf Competition is coming this Saturday, July 18, on Surfside Beach at Anderson Street. It started in 1998 when Rick Blake and his friend Benny Bigler, who was the manager at Bruce Jones Surfboards in Sunset Beach, had the idea to ride old Bruce Jones 1970s surfboards that were returned by customers seeking to exchange them for brand new models.
“Every year we have a different theme and person we honor for the event,” said Blake. “This year we are honoring our friend, Tony Alvarado, who has been loaning his 1970s surfboard collection for the Surfside 70s riders to compete with every year. Tony has an aggressive form of prostate cancer so we created artwork of Tony riding a great wave and made t-shirts and posters with his image on them for all to enjoy.”
The public is invited to watch the event for free and surfers can contact Rick Blake at ri**********@***il.com for details on participating in the event.
2026 sponsors include Quiksilver, Katin Surf Shop and Inflight Surf Shop. Coffee Parlor of Long Beach is supplying breakfast burritos and coffee for all the contestants. After the contest, the awards ceremony will be held at Taco Surf.