COMMUNITY • U.S. Open Adaptive Surfing

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THE OSIDER JULY / AUGUST 2022

U.S. OPEN ADAPTIVE SURFING CHAMPIONSHIPS STOKED ON THE WAVES OF PROFESSIONAL ADAPTIVE SURFING

WORDS: ELIZABETH SCHWARTZE PHOTOS: ZACH CORDNER

On September 8th through 11th, 2022, Oceanside will host the world’s most elite adaptive surfing athletes. For three days, the waves of North Oceanside Pier will feature amazing feats on the water when it hosts the 5th Annual U.S. Open Adaptive Surfing Championships. Stoke For Life Foundation, and its founder Charles Webb are proud to partner with the City of Oceanside, and Visit Oceanside to recognize the impaired surfers that dedicate their lives to find the stoke on the waves and compete as professional athletes. The athletes are competing for the title of 2022 AASP World Champion, and a prize purse that equals over $60,000. It’s an honor for Oceanside to host such an elite professional sporting event.

Charles Webb is stoked, too. When he became a parapalegic at the age of nineteen, there were no adaptive water sports—and no ocean therapy. Thanks to the support of his family—and some open-minded shapers like Scott Chandler—he was able to ride the waves on an adapted paddleboard in 2013. It was life changing. “It was a gift for me to find a way to heal myself, and I wanted to find a way to give it away,” said Webb.

He attended the Battle of the Paddle at Doheny Beach in 2013, and competed with 500 able-bodied surfers. “The way the people reacted to it. I wasn’t prepared for the love and acceptance from the industry,” he remembered fondly. After that event, hashtags emerged, such as “#whatsyourexcuse” because of his inspirational performance. It was a transformative moment for the adaptive surfing world.

In 2015, Stoke For Life Foundation was created, and the first U.S. Open Adaptive Surfing Championship was held in 2016. Webb is incredibly proud of what’s been accomplished in that amount of time. “Our goal was never to be the paralympics. Our goal was to create a professional platform for adaptive surfers to become professional athletes.” The U.S. Open Adaptive Surfing Championships includes nine different categories for athletes to compete. The categories are: Upper Limb Standing (ULS), Below the Knee Standing (BKS), Above the Knee Standing (AKS), Any Knee Kneeling (AKK), Waveski (WSM/WSW), Unassisted Prone (UP), Prone Assist (PA), Blind/No Vision (BNV), and Blind/Low/Partial Vision (BPV). It’s very important to have an even playing field for each surfer—regardless of injury—since there are no two alike injuries.

Stoke For Life Foundation created the classification structure for surfing paralympics that’s now recognized worldwide, including by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). Thanks to Stoke For Life, the international governing body for professional adaptive surfing is now known as the Association of Adaptive Surfing Professionals (AASP).

JERRY JARAMILLO

There will be approximately 100 surfers from fifteen to sixteen different countries attending the 2022 U.S. Open Adaptive Surfing Championships. According to Webb, “Disabled athletes want the same things as able-bodied surfers. Adaptive surfing is full of acceptance with athletes that refuse to be less than. We want to foster the youth. There’s no cure, and every year there are 13,000 spinal cord injuries in the U.S. alone.”

It’s been an amazing collaboration with the City of Oceanside and Visit Oceanside. “I’m from Oceanside, and it’s good to know I can depend on my city to support me,” Webb noted. As locals know, September is usually picture-perfect weather in Oceanside with fewer people on the beach. This September will be the perfect time to host and support amazing surfing athletes at Oceanside Pier in the U.S. Open Adaptive Surfing Championships. Check it out!