Come 2028, the world’s top surfers will compete for Olympic gold at Lower Trestles, about an hour south of Los Angeles. “It’s just like a really perfect wave,” said local surfer Steve Nippel, after a dawn patrol session. 

“It’s called the skate park because it’s so consistent and playful,” said Jon Lodge, stretching on the beach before paddling out. 

This perfect wave, and the nearby town of San Clemente, have long been a hub for professional surfers. And the surfing industry is stoked about the prestige and the cash that’s likely to come with hosting the Olympics at their local break.

But an outside group is trying to drop in on this once-in-a-lifetime wave. U.S. Ski & Snowboard is making a bid to add surfing to its roster of Olympic sports. That would mean selecting athletes for the Olympic team, providing coaching, and helping athletes build their personal brands. 

So how can a group whose athletes wear goggles take over an ocean sport? 

“For us, it’s a very natural kind of extension,” said Sophie Goldschmidt, CEO of the U.S. Ski & Snowboard. The nonprofit already oversees a bunch of other Olympic action sports, including halfpipe snowboarding, aerials, and freeski. Adding a handful of elite surfers to the mix makes sense, Goldschmidt said. Those athletes can take advantage of the group’s hefty economy of scale. 

“The doctors, the medical staff, the rehabbing experts, the trainers — we have all the office and backend support,” she said. 

Plus, acquiring a non-snow-dependent sport like surfing would make U.S. Ski & Snowboard more attractive for marketing. “That only benefits the athletes in the sports,” Goldschmidt said. “It means that we can invest more back, deploy more resources to help at the grassroots level, and to help these elite athletes achieve their dreams.”

But a lot of folks in the Southern California surf community are not interested in what the Utah-based group has to offer. 

“ We wish you all the luck with what you're doing with ski and snowboard. Leave us alone. Thank you very much. Goodbye,” said Ian Cairns, a former champion surfer and coach. Cairns is backing a competing bid to oversee the Olympic team from the San Clemente-based nonprofit USA Surfing. 

In his view, U.S. Ski & Snowboard is trying to skim the cream off the top by only representing surfing’s top athletes. “They're going to take the commercial rights and they're going to put those dollars into their infrastructure,” Cairns said. 

That could mean millions — both in commercial rights and in direct funding from the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee — that would not go to support USA Surfing and its program of developing young athletes to compete on the world stage. 

USA Surfing helped get the sport into the Olympics in the first place, at the 2021 Tokyo Games. But then, the group had some financial troubles and they voluntarily gave up managing the U.S. surf team for the Paris Games. 

Now, USA Surfing says it’s cleaned up its books, has new management, and does not want to miss out on the world’s biggest spotlight on their home turf. 

“This is about local jobs, the local economy, local businesses,” said Vipe Desai, executive director of the Surf Industry Members Association, which is also backing USA Surfing.

“If this money gets transferred out of state, that’s not going to service the sport or the culture or the industry,” he said. 

Goldschmidt from U.S. Ski & Snowboard said if her organization does oversee the Olympic surf team, she wants to collaborate with USA Surfing, like the nonprofit does with other sports groups.

The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee will soon hold a hearing to decide which of the two organizations gets the bid, USA Surfing or U.S. Ski & Snowboard … & Surfing?