Santas surf, shark bites, Texas lagoons, EOS archives, and Point Breaks

One week before Christmas, but surf news roundup is not slowing down.

thousands of ‘surfing santas’ return to cocoa beach

One of Florida’s most cheerful surf traditions is back. 

On Christmas Eve morning, thousands of surfers dressed as Santa, elves, and reindeer will paddle out at Cocoa Beach for the annual Surfing Santas event. It’s free, supposed to be pretty chaotic, and it’s become one of Brevard County’s most beloved holiday gatherings.

Expect festive costumes, live music, and Santas. Loads of Santas.

shark bites surfer in northern california—third reported incident this year

A surfer was bitten on the hand by a shark while surfing at North Salmon Creek in Sonoma County on December 12.

The surfer made it out of the water on their own, declined treatment at the scene, and later went to hospital. No life-threatening injuries were reported, and authorities did not close the beach.

This marks the third reported shark bite in California this year, following incidents at Montara State Beach and near Catalina Island. None were fatal.

Context matters here: globally, shark attacks remain extremely rare, averaging around 65 reported incidents per year worldwide, with only a handful resulting in fatalities.

In other words—sobering, yes. Statistically alarming, no. Unless of course you used to surf in those parts like yours truly. Yikes.

texas is getting a $200m surf lagoon (opening as early as 2027)

A $200 million surf and adventure resort called Cannon Beach is planned for McKinney, Texas—yes, Texas—with phased openings starting as early as 2027.

The project promises artificial waves, lazy rivers, cliff diving, a hotel, and retail space, all built largely underground on a 35-acre site. Developers say the goal is to bring a “beach-like experience” to families who may not have easy access to the coast.

Still, it’s a wave pool innit. Bleurgh. But by now, it’s big business, and it’s not slowing down. I guess we gotta learn to live with it.

encyclopedia of surfing goes on hiatus, eos archive—full steam ahead

End of an era. Instead of spending 10 hours a day working on the Encyclopedia of Surfing, Matt Warshaw—the ultimate surfing custodian—will be hunting down objects of value (print, audio, video) from surf history and culture, cataloguing and digitizing them.

Matt’s new baby is the EOS Archive. He describes it as a Vatican Library of surf history and culture: a huge, organized, searchable collection of digitized surf media, with a focus on material that is in danger of being lost, damaged, or forgotten. This is going to be immense!

Also, it will have zero commercial value, as Matt says—so please support his fundraisers and subscribe to his newsletter.

point break is getting a tv series (yes, really)

The 1991 surf–crime cult classic Point Break is officially being resurrected—this time as a TV series set 35 years after the original film. Or so says Deadline.

Rather than a straight remake, the show will follow a new heist crew with ties to the infamous Ex-Presidents gang. Expect masks, moral ambiguity, and surfing as metaphor—not instructional content.

The original film, directed by Kathryn Bigelow and starring Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze, has long occupied a strange cultural space: half action movie, half surf mythology. You know you love it.

One thing’s clear: Hollywood’s appetite for surf-flavored nostalgia seems to be back on. I don’t think we have forgiven you for cancelling Rescue: HI-Surf yet.