In the waves, they are all surfers who have a shared passion for the waves they ride.
The salt-water sea doesn’t care if they are missing limbs or have impaired eyesight, a degenerative disease or paralysis that has stopped their bodies from moving. The ocean is their competitive arena, a place they can showcase their stellar surfing skills.
“Being on land is like walking on mud, but being in the water is weightless,” said Mark Hagger, a 49-year-old surfer from England who is losing the use of his legs due to a degenerative multiple sclerosis. “So you feel more unshackled when you are out there.”
The International Surfing Association’s World Para Surfing Championship, an Olympic-style event being held for the first time in Huntington Beach, has brought about 200 surfers from 30 countries to compete this week – and give a glimpse at how surfing could be added if it were to be accepted into the Los Angeles 2028 Para Olympic Games.
All week, surfers have been hanging out proudly near their country flags on the sand, surrounded by supporters and volunteers on hand to assist the athletes. The championship event kicked off with a parade down Main Street on Sunday, Nov. 5, and runs through Saturday, Nov. 11, with closing ceremonies to be held on the sand.
Life Rolls On founder Jesse Billauer is one of the more well-known Southern California surfers competing in the championships. A pro surfer who was paralyzed during a surf accident on his 17th birthday, Billauer was inducted over the summer into the Surfing Walk of Fame across from the pier in front of Jack’s Surfboards.
“It’s rad to have it in Huntington Beach, in Southern California, instead of driving far or flying somewhere,” said Billauer, from Pacific Palisades. “We’re lucky to have it here.”
He knows it was no easy task for those who came from overseas for the competition – from places as far as Israel, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Germany, Brazil, Spain and beyond.
“It just shows the dedication of all the athletes who travel so far to enter a contest where you don’t even win any money,” said Billauer, a longtime member of Team USA. “It’s amazing that they are dedicated to the sport.
“It’s cool to be able to see all the inspiration, all the disabilities that are able to surf, showing they are capable.”
Surfers have been competing in the qualifying rounds since Monday to make it into the final heats. The divisions are broken up into categories – some in a stand or kneel division, others in the prone or sit division. There is also a division for visually impaired.
A surfer’s highest two scoring waves out of their first two heats will register in a leaderboard. From there, the top competitors in each division will progress to the next round. Waves all week have been in the 2- to 4-foot range.
Brazilian and two-time ISA Para Surfing world champion Davi Teixeira, 18, is looking to defend his title.
Teixeira was born with a congenital birth defect called Amniotic Band Syndrome. He was 9 when someone on the beach offered to take him surfing and it was love at first ride, the person seeing his joy and giving him the surfboard.
“The ISA world adaptive surfing is an important event, not just for my career but for every surfer here,” he said. “When I’m in the sea, I feel so comfortable.”
Huntington Beach local Rocky McKinnon, who runs an adaptive surfing program year-round in Huntington Beach, was one of the volunteers helping athletes – hoisting those needing to transfer from wheelchairs to surfboards, catching riders in the water and helping if the surfers turned over on their board and went underwater.
The event is what Hawaiian surf legend Duke Kahanamoku meant about sharing surfing with the world, he said.
“These are people who have special needs, yet they have the desire to get into the ocean. And we have the opportunity in Huntington Beach and Surf City to showcase their talent, even though they may have issues with getting out in the water or riding waves,” he said.
The event is “absolutely inspiring,” he said. “I get choked up. It’s such an amazing thing to see, the draw of the ocean for everybody.”
With all the surfers from around the world who have come to compete, McKinnon called on fellow surfers or anyone who could help on the sand to come out to volunteer, with more support needed through Saturday.
There’s shifts open in the morning and afternoons, even just for a hours would help, he said. Some people have motor-skill issues that, without assistance, can’t swim.
“Everybody should be down here helping out and lending our expertise and showing them the true meaning of aloha here in Huntington Beach,” McKinnon said. “Lend your support, lend your help and your expertise – we need it. We need people here to add that extra layer of safety. I would really love to see more of my surfing brothers and sisters out down here helping out.”
Team USA surfer Jacob Pacheco, from Long Beach, is competing in his first ISA world championships. It has always been his dream to be an elite athlete, never knowing that taking up surfing 10 years ago would lead him to the world championships.
Born with cerebral palsy, getting to the beach to surf is no easy task. Every step he takes feels like he’s walking in wet sand, he said.
“At the end of the day, I’ve conquered a lot more than this in my life,” he said of the contest. “This is playing. This is surfing.”
It’s the volunteers and friends who help make it possible, he said, the ones who show up, help bring boards down the sand and help the athletes in and out of the water, ensuring they are safe.
“It is the heart of the volunteer that makes what we do possible,” Pacheco said. “To me, this is a validation for the hard work and commitment to make something you want happen.”
Hagger, who started surfing in England as an “able-bodied” teen, said many people don’t realize the challenges people with disabilities go through on a daily basis. They were little things he never thought of – walking up a set of steps, where to park, what’s going to be accessible for his wheelchair.
He was impressed by the temporary mats set out by sponsor Access Trax, a set up that allows athletes to get close to the water without having to trek through sand.
“You just want to get down, smell the salt down on the edge of the ocean. When that’s taken away from you or you’ve never had to worry about that, it’s quite hard to comprehend those little things,” he said. “I was able bodied, so I never thought about it … it’s exhausting to think about all the extra stuff you never had to. But those are your cards, you get on with it. That’s life.”
Being on the sand at the event, with people from around the world from all different backgrounds and abilities, was a breath of fresh, salty air.
“I think you look at everybody, whether you are in a chair, whether you have limbs missing, whether you are blind – that’s your package and no one looks at you differently. We are one the same,” he said. “That’s what I love about it, the uniqueness of everybody just being themselves, and no one is staring or looking at each other.”
Having the Access Trax portable walkways was an important logistical component to get down to the water, something he hopes to see at more beaches around the world.
Kelly Twichel, co-founder of the event sponsor Access Trax, said the product is currently in 17 countries and many in National Parks, to allow all people to access nature.
Access Trax is different from the permanent walkways already in Huntington Beach, with the ability for any user to store and transport the pathways wherever they go.
Twitchel, from San Diego, created the product as a school project and took it to market a few years ago.
“I was inspired by the stories of adaptive surfers, we wanted to try and solve this problem to help surfers who use wheelchairs or have other mobility, to cross the sand with independence and dignity,” she said. “It’s about helping these athletes feel like they are getting the tools they need to know they are being the best they can be in the sport.”
