Four days on the north side of the Oceanside Pier, and the waves belong to the most fearless surfers you've never heard of.
The 9th Annual U.S. Open Adaptive Surfing Championships brings athletes from across the country who surf with prosthetics, from wheelchairs, prone on custom boards, and through conditions that would make most able-bodied surfers paddle in. The competition is real — heats, scores, eliminations — but the thing that stays with you is how hard these athletes charge. No sympathy laps. No participation awards. Just surfing that redefines what the word means.
September 10-13, 2026. North side of the Oceanside Pier. Free to watch from the beach.
If you've spent enough time in the water to know what courage looks like on a wave, come watch people who have more of it than you.