A Great Day in the Stoke, which sees the largest gathering of Black surfers in history, held its third annual event in Huntington Beach, California earlier this month. The event, which launched in 2022, offers Black surfers the opportunity to connect, show of their skills, and advocate for a more diversity in the surfing industry.

Black man surfing — Photo: Photo Provided

Some may consider surfing not a popular sport in the Black community, but the statistic prove that mentality wrong.

According to the Surf Industry Members Association, Black surfers are a popular demographic, seeing a nearly 50% increase in the last ten years. That means almost 500,000 Black people are catching a wave today. And A Great Day in the Stoke is making sure they have a place where they feel like they belong.

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The Sept. 14 event also included surf lessons, an awards ceremony for community leaders, and a photo opportunity to pay homage to famous pictures like 1958’s A Great Day in Harlem and 1998’s A Great Day in Hip-Hop. The picture included 500 Black surfers and 57 jazz musicians to help emulate the iconic images. A Great Day in the Stoke’s organizers hope “to show Black surfers worldwide that we exist in mass and give aspiring surfers permission to get in the water just as they are.”

A Black woman after surfing — Photo: Photo Provided

“This is something we all can enjoy and benefit from,” Black surfer and travel content creator Nathan Fluellen told BET, of the event. “Statistically 70 percent of Black people have low to no swimming skills. And that high statistic leads to high drowning rates; Black boys ages 11 and 12 are 10 times more likely to drown than their white counterparts. So if we can show Black people enjoying the water, living uninhibited, the pure joy and excitement that surges through your veins, we can show our community that we don’t have to live in the boxes mainstream media tries to say that we can only thrive in.”

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