Brooks Street Surfing Classic

The Brooks Street Surfing Classic is a surf contest that the city of Laguna Beach administers with the Brooks Street Surfing Classic organization. It is meant to run once a year, is open only to Laguna Beach residents, and the city does not fix the date in advance. It names the weekend when the surf is forecast to be at its best. The city’s event page does not name a beach for the contest. The contest takes its name from Brooks Street Beach, one of four beaches where the city says surfing is allowed.

The contest

The city says the contest has age divisions and separate short- and longboard, paddleboard and bodyboard events. Contestants are also nominated for two named awards. The Cy Chambers award recognizes surfing, sportsmanship and academics, and the Thom Chambers award recognizes surfing and the arts.

The city counts the 2025 contest as the 58th annual Brooks Street Classic. It was held September 27 and 28, 2025, and the city’s page links the results.

When it is held

There is no calendar date to plan around. The city opens a waiting period in early June and holds the contest on a weekend inside it, when the forecast shows good surf. For 2026 the waiting period opened June 6; in 2025 it opened June 7. If the surf never cooperates, there is no contest: the city says it was not held in 2024 because of unfavorable surf forecasts. The page the city kept online through October 2026 still showed the 2026 waiting period and the 2025 results, with no 2026 result and no 2027 waiting period. That is why this page lists no dates. Because the contest depends on swell, the weekend varies: the 2023 contest was September 9 and 10, and the 2025 contest was September 27 and 28.

To learn the date, check the city’s page or call the contest number it lists, (949) 497-0788. The city’s page does not say how contestants register or prove residency, so ask the city before you plan to enter.

Brooks Street Beach and the surf

The contest takes its name from Brooks Street Beach, where the city describes a rocky reef with rock exposed at low tide. It says a good south swell can produce long lefts that start breaking at Second Reef, and that the beach is for surfing only in summer, not for swimming or body boarding. It advises extreme caution entering and leaving the water. The beach also has a skimboarding area on the city’s list. Another annual contest, The Vic, is a skimboarding event at Aliso Beach.

The surfing guide covers the other surf breaks and the city’s rules on where surfing is allowed.

If you go to watch

The city’s contest page says nothing about spectators, parking or a schedule, so the rules below come from the city’s general beach information:

• Beaches close from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m.
• Alcohol, smoking and fires are not allowed on the beach.
• From June 15 to September 10, leashed dogs are allowed only before 9 a.m. and after 6 p.m.
• Tents and umbrellas must be smaller than 6 feet wide and 6 feet tall.
• Parking is three-hour metered in some areas and very limited in neighborhood streets in others.
• Not every beach has a lifeguard at all times, and the rocks are dangerous.

The city’s beach information also warns that waves can be unpredictable, that it answers emergency calls from people hurt on the rocks every weekend, and that you should swim near a lifeguard and with a buddy. The ocean safety guide repeats the city’s guidance.

See the beach rules and the parking guide before you go. If the contest falls in September, the September calendar shows what else the month holds.