On Saturday, December 12th, the 27th Annual Venice Surf-A-Thon took place at the Venice Pier. This is Socal's longest running surf contest.

We are still waiting on the official results, so we can do like an official contest recap and all that, but here's the surf photos now. Because really, that's all most people want anyways.

We do know that Stephaine Wise took 1st in the Girls Division, her dad, Eric got 1st in one of the two divisions he surfed in. Brock beat Norm in the longboard division, with was the huge upset of the day. And a guy from the South Bay won the Mens.

This set of contest surf photos was shot by Six12 Media and brought to you by XCEL Wetsuits.

These are just a few of the 150+ photos from this contest. If you were out there surfing, you probably got some surfing shots, probably multiple photos, they will be in the complete photo galleries for this event, check them out, the link to the complete galleries is down below.








Ger-I Lewis, the guy who runs the Venice Surf-A-Thon.

Stephanie Wise, 1st Place Girls.






This is Brock, he beat Norm.

That's Norm.



Norm helps make these custom trophies every year.



Cole Sweeney successfully shooting the pier, the next try he ended up with a busted surfboard.


You can find over 100 more photos from this session, all full size and in high-resolution, in these two photo galleries:

Venice Surf-A-Thon 2020 Photo Gallery


If you were out there, we probably got some cool surfing shots of you, go check them out!

We also got non-contest surfing photos from the Venice Pier on this day.
Click Venice Pier - Saturday 12-12-2020 to see them.

On December 8, 2020, at approximately 9:20 am, the Santa Monica Dispatch received a call of an armed robbery in progress at the Wells Fargo Bank, 170 Pier Avenue. The robbery was reported to involve a male armed with a shotgun. The information was quickly provided to dispatchers who were able to quickly relay it to the officers. Santa Monica Police Officers were in the area and quickly arrived on scene. Officers observed the suspect inside a vehicle exiting the bank parking lot. Officers were able to conduct a high-risk traffic stop at the intersection of Neilson Way and Bicknell. The suspect into taken into custody without incident. Officers recovered a shotgun from the vehicle.

Arrestee: KOEHLER-MARSH, AARON,
Male from Dayton, Indiana.
DOB: 06/17/1993
Primary Charge: 211PC

Love the beach? Show your love and come down and support the cause! Always leave it better than you found it.

Hosted by Rip Curl Malibu and Finn Murphy

The Santa Monica based WSL is now coming under fire for not only allowing one of their CT Surfers who tested positive for Covid-19 to travel to their Hawaii event, but for also helping him do it.

A few days ago, the WSL suspended the Billabong Pipe Masters competition at Oahu’s Banzai Pipeline after having received confirmed, positive COVID-19 test results for five WSL staff members, including CEO and standup paddleboarder extraordinaire Erik Logan.

WSL officials said in the announcement they are working closely with the state Department of Health and “prioritizing the safety of the athletes, staff and surrounding community above all else.”

But, Brazilian News Network, Globo has reported that Yago Dora had been testing postive for Covid-19 in several separate tests right before getting on the plane to Hawaii.

Yago posted about it and mentions that the WSL helped him get an exemption to travel. He origianlly posted about it on a now deleted Instagram post.

Globo has reposted:



Via google translate:
"On November 26th I started my trip from Florianópolis towards Hawaii. The day before, November 25, I did a PCR test from Covid to make sure it was not contaminated before boarding, the result came back NEGATIVE. It seemed to be all right for the trip, but on the 27th morning when I arrived at Dallas airport, where we are asked to do another test in order to be able to board for Hawaii and avoid the 14 days of quarantine required by the government, in this test unfortunately my result he returned POSITIVE, and since then I have been isolated in a hotel room in Dallas and trying thousands of ways to get there in time for the Pipe Masters, which is the most special event on the entire circuit for me and the first event of the 2021 season. Luckily I do not feel any symptoms of the disease and yesterday I had a medical consultation after the tenth isolated day and I am released from isolation, but to embark for Hawaii it is necessary to test negative for Covid (I repeated some tests during these 11 days and I did not get one NEGATIVE) or obtain a quarantine exemption letter from the Hawaiian government. After a lot of effort and a lot of faith, with the help of my team, the WSL, WPS and a medical team today we got the exemption and I'm going to Hawaii! The day before the event starts! I have no words to thank everyone involved in this very intense 11-day battle. You know who you are! THANKS!"

As of now, there is no word if Yago is the one who spread it to the WSL people who are now positive.

Also, the reason why the Pipe Masters competition had to be cancelled was because WSL used a film permit instead of the usual event permit this time. The film permit allowed them to close the beach off, whereas the event permit doesn't. And by using the film permit, they have diffrent CDC guidelines to follow, such as having to stop production when a Covid outbreak takes place.



News Source:Globo: Mundial De Surfe
Top Photo Source: Posted Anymously On the INterWebz
Bottom Photo Source:Yago's Instagram

Here's some surfing photos from Saturday, December 12th at the Venice Pier.

This set of surf photos was shot by Six12 Media and brought to you by XCEL Wetsuits.

These are just a few of the 150+ photos from this session. If you were out there, you probably got some surfing shots, probably multiple photos, they will be in the complete photo galleries for this day, check them out, the links to the complete galleries are down below.



















You can find over 100 more photos from this session, all full size and in high-resolution, in these two photo galleries:

Venice Pier - Saturday 12-12-2020 Photo Gallery #1
Venice Pier - Saturday 12-12-2020 Photo Gallery #2


If you were out there, we probably got some cool surfing shots of you, go check them out!

Wanna see photos from previous days at this and other local surf spots?
Click Surf Spot Galleries and look for the spot and then the date.