International Surfing Day, held annually on the third Saturday of June,[citation needed] is an unofficial, environmentally conscious[1] sports-centered holiday that celebrates the sport of surfing, surfing lifestyle, and the sustainability of ocean resources.[2][3] Contests and prizes[4] are also part of the celebration, with surfing-related industries donating prizes such as surfboards and wetsuits.[1] Another purpose of the celebration is to promote the popularity of surfing and to attract new participants.[5]
International Surfing Day was established in 2005 by Surfing Magazine[6][7] and The Surfrider Foundation.[6][7] International Surfing Day closely follows the spirit and intent of the World Surf Day, established by the Usenet newsgroup alt.surfing in 1993.[8] International Surfing Day is a worldwide[9] celebration of the sport of surfing. The day is observed with surf contests,[7] barbecues,[10] film screenings[1] and other surf-related activities. Surfers also use the day to give back to the environment by organizing beach clean-ups,[6][7][11][12][13][14] dune and other habitat restoration[10] and other activities[3] such as lobbying to maintain the recreation areas in California where surfing occurs, or planting Naupaka (a flowering coastal plant) in Hawaii.[15][16]
Direct action was used by form of protest on this day in England to express opposition to sewage in the waters of the Gold Coast; a precarious problem for many surfers who become infected by the bacteria from open wounds from sports-related injuries.[17]
International Surf Day events have been held on all populated continents including South America where it is celebrated in Argentina,[9] Brazil,[18] and Peru.[18] Also in the Southern Hemisphere the holiday is observed in the Oceanian nations of Australia[19] and New Zealand.[18] The day is also widely observed in the American state of Hawaii, also in Oceania.[3][14]
In North America the surfing day is most widely observed and celebrations may be found in Canada,[18] Costa Rica,[18] the French Antilles,[18] El Salvador,[20] Mexico,[21] and in the majority of coastal states of the United States: California,[4][15] Connecticut,[18] District of Columbia,[18] Florida,[13][22] Georgia,[23] Maine,[18] Maryland,[18] New Jersey,[6][11] New York,[18] North Carolina,[18] Oregon,[10] South Carolina,[24] Texas,[18] and Virginia.[18] After North America the observance has the most popularity in Europe: including in most of the coastal European Union and it is held by surf enthusiasts in France,[5][18] Italy,[5] the United Kingdom,[17][18] Portugal,[5] Spain,[5] and Belgium.[18] Further European celebrations are held in Norway,[5] in addition to many of the EU nations overseas possessions.
In Africa, the two French territories of Réunion and Mayotte[5] hold annual festivities alongside Morocco,[5] the Spanish insular area of the Canary Islands[5] and South Africa. The day has also taken hold in some other countries such as Israel and Japan.[5][18]
