UCSD’s 14th annual Luau and Long board Invitational will take place Sunday, Aug. 19, at Scripps Pier in La Jolla.
The event, sponsored by the Rebecca and John Moores UCSD Cancer Center, is one of the most successful surfing-related fundraisers in the world. Each year, professional surfers, surfers who have survived cancer and surfers from the general business world come together to celebrate surfing and raise money for cancer research.
“We try and have a very visible and loud symbolic representation that thrivers are still thriving,” said Paul Grayson, one of two chairs for the event, mentioning that many of the competitors are cancer survivors.
The Long Board Invitational runs from 7 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Scripps Beach. The public is welcome to watch the sponsored teams of five vie for traditional trophies. Along with the trophies, the tournament emphasizes participation and support of the cause rather than an individual’s surfing ability.
As part of the competition’s entertainment, The Professionals “” an adrenaline-driven surf guitar band started by UCSD’s Todd Everett “” will perform from 7 a.m. until 10:30 a.m.
The Luau, running from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Pawka Green, near Scripps Pier, features Polynesian dancing, bands, opportunity drawings, live and silent auctions featuring surf memorabilia and a ceremony to honor the winner of the Rell Sunn “” Queen of Makaha Award.
The award, established in 1998 to honor the memory of Rell Sunn, the Queen of Makaha, recognizes an individual for his or her dedication to helping others in the fight against cancer in ways that embody the true “aloha” spirit.
Sunn, who was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was just 32, was given only months to live. However, rather than submitting to the disease, Sunn chose to live life to its fullest, living each day as if it were her last, according to the event’s Web site.
Tickets for the Luau are $150 each. VIP sponsor tables are $2,000 each and honorary team captain tables are $5,000 each. For more information or to purchase tickets, tables or to donate, please contact Moores UCSD Cancer Center at (858) 822-0023 or visit www.longboardluau.org.