Black Surfers Come Together for ‘A Great Day in the Stoke

Huntington Beach Pier hosts inaugural celebration/competition Saturday, June 4

By Alexandria Bordas

This past weekend at Huntington Beach Pier, Nathan Fluellen achieved his goal of assembling the largest-ever organized event for black surfers: the inaugural A Great Day in the Stoke event.

“To be able to facilitate joy, happiness and peace — with no random acts of violence or arguments, further breaking stereotypes of what people think when a group of black folks come together — it was everything I’ve ever dreamed of,” said Fluellen.

The gathering summoned black surfers from all over the world to participate in a number of events including a surfing competition, free lessons for beginners, an awards ceremony, a dance party and community building through the event sponsors. Families gathered on the south side of the pier early Saturday morning to cheer on the male and female competitors, ranging in age from young grommets to old legends. And despite the tricky, windy conditions, the surfers had ample opportunity to dance on water — longboarders walked the nose, shortboarders spun 360s — as Fluellen watched on with pride.

“It’s important that the younger generation watches these older surfers,” Fluellen said, “to know that it’s possible for black surfers to be seen in the same way as the best of the best in the world. It’s a confidence builder for the youth to see black surfers compete at the same break where the US Open of Surfing was held.”

The seed for this event was planted back in 2019 when Fluellen surfed Pleasure Point in Santa Cruz with five other black people. While eating lunch afterwards, Fluellen looked around at his friends and felt a shift happening, that something big was eventually going to come out of this gathering. “I said to myself, ‘This is going to be the start of the black surf movement,’” he said.

Fast forward a year later, when Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery were murdered. Fluellen attended a number of paddle-outs in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and was surprised by how many people were in attendance. At these events he saw white people listening while the black ocean lovers took centerstage, insisting that the surf community do a better job of recognizing racism within its ranks. That’s when Fluellen knew it was time to plan his official event.

Fluellen used the network he’s built over the last two decades as a globetrotter and adventure vlogger (under the moniker World Wide Nate) to reach out to black surfing groups around the world and see if they would be interested in participating in the competition. He managed to recruit competitors from Jamaica, Senegal and South Africa, while members of the Huntington Beach City Council including the mayor herself showed up to support the surfers. Allies from all age groups and socioeconomic backgrounds gathered along the shoreline to cheer on the competitors.

When all was said and done, Divinity Gaines won the Women’s Overall division, Brandon Benjamin won Men’s Shortboard Overall, Julian Williams won Men’s Longboard, Gabe Smith won Youth Overall, and Rusty White won the Legends division.

The legendary Tony Corley, founder of the Black Surfing Association, spoke at the awards ceremony and was even brought to tears by what he’d witnessed. “This was his original vision and it finally came true,” Fluellen said. “Corley started surfing 50 years ago and now he’s in his seventies. He never gave up on this dream.

Sharon Schaffer, the first black female professional surfer in the United States, was given a special commendation during the event and, during her acceptance speech, encouraged young black surfers to continue breaking the mold.

Patagonia was among the sponsors of the event and repaired wetsuits for free while representatives from Black Girl Sunscreen handed out free samples and educated attendees about the importance of sun skincare routines. Kavata Swimwear was selling apparel while simultaneously raising money and awareness about breast cancer. Started by Fluellen and his team, the brand is dedicated to his sister Laini Kavata Fluellen, who passed away in 2009 from a rare form of breast cancer that disproportionately affects women of color.

Every aspect of A Great Day In The Stoke was in alignment with what Fluellen first conceived when coming up with the idea five years ago. People who were not even surfers told Fluellen that they’d traveled from out-of-state to attend the event — just because they had to see it for themselves. So, when looking ahead to the future, Fluellen has no doubts that this will become an annual event. His team is already brainstorming ways to make it even bigger next year.

“We always wanted to have an event where we came together to celebrate diversity in surfing,” Fluellen finished. “It all came together at the right time, and this is only the beginning.