Anyone who is deeply involved in the sporting lifestyle of surfing knows the feeling. Surfers care.
Obviously, they care about swell, wind and tidal conditions. They are passionate about pursuing optimum wave-riding locations and thrilling rides.
These are a given, but surfers also care deeply about helping their environment. The current state of the world’s oceans is a unifying concern. Increasing urban development and the resulting runoff pollution draining straight into the surfers’ playground and home to so many sea creatures incites strong feelings within the surfing community. It affects their personal health.
They voice these concerns with passion and spirit and strive to improve the situation.In the past 40 years, surfing’s growing economic and political clout has also earned increasing respect in the business world.
Part of the surfer’s passion has resulted in the Rebecca and John Moores UCSD Cancer Center Luau & Longboard Invitational, a unique event aimed at a tremendous cause that affects so many lives, fighting and seeking a cure for cancer.
This year’s Luau & Longboard Invitational, to be held on Sunday, Aug. 20 near the Scripps Pier, is now in its 13th year and has raised more than $1.5 million in research money for the Moores UCSD Cancer Center thus far.
With “surfing for a cure” as the rallying cry, the event brings together legendary surfing celebrities, local business leaders, politicians, scientists, physicians and cancer survivors for a friendly, team-oriented surfing competition in the morning, followed by a lavish, tropical luau buffet, Polynesian dancing and an enthusiastic fund-raising auction that is full of island-style aloha spirit.
Twenty-seven teams, made up of different company sponsored-employee riders and a surfing legend each, will hit the waves south of Scripps Pier for a friendly, good-natured competition from 7 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. The public is welcome to watch.
Many thrill at the opportunity to chat, take pictures with and get autographs from some of the sport’s most classic personas, including Mike Doyle, Donald Takayama, Robert August, David Nuuhiwa, Skip Frye, Corky Carroll, Mickey Munoz, Hawaiian Jock Sutherland, Joyce Hoffman and Australian Peter Townend, to name just a few of the big names to attend.
Legendary surfboard makers like Bing Copeland, Mike Eaton, Larry Gordon, Don Hansen, Carl Ekstrom and Tom “Y” Morey, inventor of the boogie board, are among the usual attendees, and supreme stylists like Australian Nat Young, Robert “Wingnut” Weaver, Joel Tudor, Paul Strauch and Jericho Poppler-Bartow have all participated.
The luau portion of the event will be held under a giant tented structure adjacent to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography off of La Jolla Shores Drive. It is a ticketed event and will run from 11:30 a.m. till 5 p.m.
Growing like a rising tsunami from a 1994 Cancer Center fund-raising idea by John Otterson and Sam Armstrong, this year’s gathering is chaired by Paul Cleary, with assistance from Paul Grayson and Craig Knox. The title sponsor this year is Amgen, the world’s largest biotechnology company.
“The Luau & Longboard Invitational is a fun, grassroots event with a unique, San Diego style,” said Jay Hagen, managing director for Amgen Ventures, the corporate venture capital fund for Amgen. “This is a great way for Amgen to invest in the local region with others who are committed to the fight against cancer.”
Amgen will also sponsor a “Cancer Thrivers” team in the contest comprised of surfers who have successfully beaten the disease.
Part of the anticipation for the annual event comes from some of the stellar live and silent auction items on hand. Last year featured a custom Steve Walden-shaped longboard featuring Lance Armstrong’s “Live Strong” yellow band artwork and a signature by the seven-time Tour de France champion himself. The board sold in enthusiastic live bidding for an amazing $27,500 as the crowd erupted in loud cheers after every increasing bid.
This year features some stunning items sure to garner lots of interest. According to co-chair Grayson, items include a first-class airplane trip for two to Indonesia for a top-end surfing adventure on a 120-foot ship touring world-class surfing breaks, along with fishing, jet-skiing, five-course meals and more. Another trip features a week on the Fijian island surfing resort paradise of Tavarua with either the Rusty Surfboards surf team or world-renowned board builder Rusty Preisendorfer himself (who also surfs in the Longboard Invitational).
A Steve Walden-shaped 9-foot surfboard adorned with a fascinating body art-inspired island motif and featured on The Learning Channel (TLC) show “Miami Ink” will be another hot item up for bid. The one-of-a-kind tattooed surfboard was painted by “Miami Ink” artists Ami James and Tim Hendricks and TLC will be on hand to film the auction for broadcast sometime in September.
In honor of the 40th anniversary of the wide release of the iconic surfing documentary “The Endless Summer,” a surfboard featuring the movie’s classic colorful poster artwork by John Van Hamersveld and signed by him, film stars Robert August and Mike Hynson and film creator Bruce Brown, will also be on the docket.
“It’s unique, as the entire board will be the artwork,” Grayson said.
Artist John Van Hamersveld, who has more than 300 album covers to his credit, including the Beatles and The Rolling Stones, also designed the 2006 event’s brilliantly colored, wave-inspired artwork which will be used on posters, T-shirts and memorabilia and available at the beach site.
Also part of the Luau & Longboard Invitational program is the annual Rell Sunn “Queen of Makaha” Award that honors individuals who give an outstanding effort toward the battle against cancer and service to the community. This year, Dr. Georgia Robins Sadler, BSN, MBA, Ph.D., and associate director for community outreach and clinical professor of surgery at the Moores UCSD Cancer Center, will be recognized. She is also the incoming president-elect for the California division of the American Cancer Society.
Sadler is noted for her tireless work in bringing the message of cancer awareness and prevention to parts of the local community that may not have such information readily available. She has served on numerous voluntary leadership positions for programs dedicated to spreading important cancer prevention and treatment information.
The Rell Sunn Award is named after a much-beloved Hawaiian surfer and humanitarian who passed away in 1998 after a valiant 15-year battle against breast cancer. Rell Sunn’s incredible, upbeat and compassionate personality and freely-giving “aloha spirit” nature, even while dealing with this terrible illness, made a big impact on every life she touched.
“It’s humbling to receive an award named after such a remarkable woman,” Sadler said. “The award is also inspiring, making you want to serve the community even more.”
Previous notable winners of the Rell Sunn Award include Dr. J. Craig Venter, Dr. John Greif, Alex Szekely and Dr. Mark Renneker.
Funding raised at the Moores UCSD Cancer Center Luau & Longboard Invitational is truly significant.
“It really has a tremendous impact on the Cancer Center budget for director Dennis Carson,” co-chair Grayson said.Founded in 1979, the UCSD Cancer Center ranks among the top such facilities in the nation and is one of only 39 cancer centers to hold a National Cancer Institute (NCI) designation as a comprehensive cancer center.
For the numerous surfing legends, just participating in the event is an honor. “Endless Summer” film star August, whose mother died of cancer, never misses it.
“I adjust my entire schedule around the event,” he said. “It’s a great thing to do and a lot of fun every year.”
Local surfboard-building maestro Skip Frye, who also lost his mother to cancer, is in total agreement.
“The camaraderie and aloha spirit really flows at this event, and it’s the only time most of us ever get together every year and it’s such a good cause,” he said.
The words of the late Rell Sunn sum up why surfers come together and care so much about this outstanding event: “The aloha spirit is simple. You give and give until you have nothing else to give.”
For tickets and more information about the Moores UCSD Cancer Center Luau & Longboard Invitational, call the UCSD Cancer Center Foundation, (858) 822-0023, or visit www.longboardluau.org.