San Diego’s surf community will get a rare close-up look at the people—and equipment—pushing big-wave safety forward when Patagonia, the Big Wave Risk Assessment Group (BWRAG) and STAB Magazine converge on the city September 9–13. Centered around Patagonia Cardiff and Mission Bay Resort, the program brings together some of surfing’s best-known big-wave names, including Greg Long, Paige Alms and Annie Reickert.
Alongside film screenings, live music and surfboard demos, the week has a more serious purpose: sharing the training, rescue skills and technology designed to help surfers better prepare for what can go wrong in powerful ocean conditions. Festivities begin September 9 at Patagonia Cardiff with the free world premiere of a new STAB Magazine film. A post-screening “Talk Story” and Q&A will bring Long, Alms and Reickert together with Patagonia designers and STAB filmmakers, with food, drinks, live music from Austin Burns, screen printing with Sean Tully and giveaways—including FCD surfboards and Patagonia’s latest Regulator wetsuits—round out the evening.
Patagonia keeps the community element going Friday and Saturday with free wetsuit repairs at its Cardiff shop from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Surfers can bring in clean, dry suits from any brand, making it ideal timing to revive a favorite suit before Southern California’s cooler-water months arrive. The weekend’s centerpiece shifts to Mission Bay Resort on September 12 and 13, where BWRAG will host its two-day Surf Responder & Ocean Safety Summit. Led by instructors Greg Long, Jon Hoover and Kaipo Kelley, the Patagonia-supported training combines classroom learning with hands-on sessions covering ocean risk management, emergency response and practical surf-safety skills.
Participants who complete both days leave with CPR/AED certification and a BWRAG Surf Responder Certificate—and become eligible to purchase Patagonia’s new PSI Vest 2.0. Designed specifically for big-wave surfing, the inflatable safety vest is the result of more than a decade of development in some of the world’s heaviest surf. Patagonia began work on the original PSI Vest in 2011, testing prototypes with hundreds of big-wave surfers before releasing it publicly in 2017. The new 2.0 version builds on nearly a decade of feedback from athletes in the water.
