Surf City Splash participants welcome 2025 in chilly Pacific Ocean
Elizabeth Sutherland moved to Huntington Beach from La Habra last summer.
The beach was something that continued to elude her.
“All summer I tried to get in the ocean and couldn’t do it,” Sutherland said. “I chickened out every time. So I said, ‘I’m going to give it an honest try today.’ It’s New Year’s, and I’m trying to do something different.”
Jumping into chilly water with temperatures in the upper 50s certainly qualifies as something different. But the Surf City Splash has become a mainstay in Surf City on New Year’s Day.
Sutherland joined hundreds of others at high noon Wednesday, getting into the water on the north side of the Huntington Beach Pier as the event turned 25 years old.
Huntington Beach Mayor Pat Burns led the countdown before everyone got in, some in costume and some in swim trunks.
Burns said during pre-Splash festivities earlier that he looked forward to seeing people dive all the way in, though he stayed on the sand.
“I can guarantee that if I got down to my trunks, you wouldn’t want me to do it twice,” he quipped.
This year’s Surf City Splash served as a fundraiser for the Huntington Beach International Surfing Museum. The museum’s executive director, former world champion pro surfer Peter “PT” Townend, served as emcee, while Adam “Bushman” Orozco blew the ceremonial conch shell.
Burns honored Surf City Splash founder Lee “Love” Ghione and Zack’s at the Beach owner Mike Ali with certificates of recognition prior to Wednesday’s event. Ali, a longtime event supporter, offered a breakfast burrito and Bloody Mary special in conjunction with the Splash.
The red drinks matched the uniforms worn by a group of women from Fountain Valley and Lakewood, who entered the water for the Surf City Splash dressed as ladybugs. They held signs reading, “On Your Side in 2025.”
Louise Vandertuuk said the group has dressed up as jellyfish, Pandas and cowboys, among other things, in nearly 15 years of participating in the event.
“It’s so much fun down there,” Vandertuuk said. “Who else does this when they’re hungover? It’s Huntington Beach. It’s chilly, [but you go] in and out.”
Jennifer Smith wore a neon yellow outfit as part of a large group that took the splash with a “crayon box” theme.
Smith, who lives in Huntington Beach, said she stayed in the water about a minute but loved every second of it.
“It’s so wonderful,” she said. “Every year we just get teary-eyed as we wash the old year away. We love it, and the whole community gets together. This year, we have a bunch of new people doing it with us, and now they’re hooked. We have kids, and our kids grow up and the new ones come in. It’s great.”
Sutherland, 57, said she avoided five waves once in the water.
“Then the next one came,” she said. “I’m like, ‘If you don’t do it now, you’ve got to get out because you’re going to get hypothermia in your feet.’”
She said she felt a sense of accomplishment, even if it came with an assist.
“The ocean helped me,” Sutherland said. “I hesitated, but it got me, and then I kind of laughed.”
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