During the Aug. 5 San Clemente City Council meeting, championship surfers, industry leaders and community members filled the Council Chambers to urge the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) to keep the sport’s national governing body with San Clemente-based USA Surfing, not Utah-based U.S. Ski & Snowboard.

The “Stop the SkiJack - Keep Surf in Surfing” coalition — a group led by world champions Ian Cairns, PT Townend and Shaun Tomson, as well as Surf Industry Members Association Executive Director Vipe Desai, SURFER magazine editor-in-chief Jake Howard and Kamaka CEO Kipling Sheppard, a USA Surfing investor — was joined by San Clemente businesses, local surfers, community leaders and supporters in making their feelings known. They argued that U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s bid threatens the culture, funding and athlete development pipeline USA Surfing has built over decades.

After the 2020 Tokyo Games, Surfing America — now USA Surfing — voluntarily decertified as the sport’s national governing body due to auditing issues under previous management. The organization worked with the USOPC to correct those issues with the understanding it would be eligible for recertification before the 2024 Paris Games.

In the meantime, USA Surfing continued to run its Prime Series, develop athletes and oversee longboarding, adaptive surfing and other programs. Earlier this year, it submitted its application for recertification, with the final funding requirement — $1 million to $1.5 million — met through an endowment from two San Clemente-based organizations: Kamaka Responsible Development and Resin Services.

While USA Surfing was working toward recertification, U.S. Ski & Snowboard, based in Park City, Utah, submitted its own bid to oversee Olympic surfing. Their proposal focuses on managing only the top shortboard athletes for the Games, with no outlined plan for grassroots or youth development, adaptive programs or longboarding. Opponents say the move would pull funding and recognition from the broader surfing community at a key moment, with the 2028 LA Olympic surfing competition set for Lower Trestles, in USA Surfing’s home territory.

Critics also point to legal and governance issues with the ski organization’s bid. Under the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act, an NGB is prohibited from overseeing more than one Olympic sport or representing multiple international federations. U.S. Ski & Snowboard is already recognized by the International Ski Federation (FIS) to govern skiing and snowboarding, which makes it ineligible under federal law to take over surfing.

The USOPC’s own bylaws require that an NGB be directly and exclusively recognized by the international federation for its sport — for surfing, that is the International Surfing Association (ISA). USA Surfing is the only U.S. organization holding that recognition. Supporters argue that manipulating NGB definitions to grant U.S. Ski & Snowboard commercial rights over the top Olympic surfers — while severing them from the rest of the development pipeline — would undermine athlete opportunities, Olympic participation and the sport’s long-term health in the U.S.

A letter dated Aug. 5 — signed by San Clemente Mayor Steve Knoblock, Mayor Pro Tem Mark Enmeier and councilmembers Victor Cabral, Rick Loeffler and Zhen Wu — was addressed to the USOPC and voiced the city’s strong support for USA Surfing’s application to remain the national governing body.

“The City of San Clemente is not only the epicenter of surfing in the United States, but also the home of USA Surfing. As elected officials in San Clemente, we fully support the application of USA Surfing to be recertified as the National Governing Body.  … Many Olympic and professional surfers call San Clemente home. Having a Governing Body that recognizes and understands the importance of surfing in San Clemente and is familiar with the community is crucial,” the letter stated.

The letter also warned that U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s proposal “would only extract Olympic revenue and recognition from San Clemente and the broader surf ecosystem, without reinvesting in the athletes, the sport or this special place that makes U.S. Surfing so great.”

USA Surfing CEO Becky Fleischauer Jewell called the council’s action “swift” and “strong,” praising the recognition of what is at stake for the city, the surfing community and the sport.

“Lowers is our backyard. It’s where USA Surfing has crowned under-18 champions for decades. It’s where our surfers train, coaches coach, filmers film. It’s a national treasure,” she said, adding that the council’s position helps protect “a once-in-a-generation opportunity to lift up and invest in our sport, surfers and community.” She said the letter was sent to USOPC decision-makers, Congressman Mike Levin’s office and others.

Fleischauer Jewell emphasized that Olympic surfing’s economic impact should benefit the people, programs and businesses rooted in the surf industry, from event management and media production to coaching, training, marketing and sponsorship. She noted that USA Surfing has been a member of the International Surfing Association for nearly six decades and is its exclusively recognized national federation for surfing in the U.S. She said new financial backing from San Clemente investor Kip Shepherd and others reflects the importance of keeping Olympic surfing under the stewardship of those embedded in the sport’s culture.

Fleischauer Jewell argued that U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s bid sets “a bad precedent” that violates the Olympic Charter and the intent of the Ted Stevens Act. If awarded governance, she warned, it could strip away funding for development programs and derail plans for initiatives like a High Performance Center, expanded coaching, more training opportunities and greater commercial opportunities that benefit surfers.

Fleischauer Jewell said community support at the meeting was encouraging, with athletes, coaches, parents and business owners speaking up — including recent U.S. Open of Surfing champion Sawyer Lindblad, a San Clemente resident who came up through USA Surfing’s Prime Series and championship events. Lindblad and her parents also submitted a letter of support included in USA Surfing’s NGB application.

Fleischauer Jewell said keeping USA Surfing in place would allow the organization to access high-performance funding from the USOPC, expand its athlete clinics and offer more opportunities such as wave pool training sessions, strike missions to competition venues and programming on nutrition, mental performance and career development. “With that kind of stability and resources, we could do so much more for our surfers,” she said.

The USOPC’s Certification Review Group will hold its final hearing this month before making a recommendation to the board in September on whether USA Surfing or U.S. Ski & Snowboard will govern the sport in the Olympics.