In a sport known for turf battles, SoCal surfing is facing perhaps its most epic turf challenge yet — all the way from the ski slopes of Utah. U.S. Ski and Snowboard, the Olympic organization for those sports, is making a bid to add surfing to its roster.

The San Clemente City Council joins a growing global coalition of organizations, surfers and community leaders working to protect surfers’ on the pathway to U.S. Olympic surfing. The council’s unanimous support following statements from the “Stop the Skijack – Keep Surf in Surfing Coalition” raises the stakes for this moment in the sport’s future — and for the region’s surf-centric economy, culture, and global profile.

USA Surfing has been making a comeback, of late. The most recent step in the direction of certification comes in the form of an endorsement from the city of San Clemente, California. In a formal letter to the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC), the San Clemente City Council expressed full support for USA Surfing’s application to be re-certified as the National Governing Body for Olympic surfing.

The L.A. Summer Olympics are less than three years away, but a related competition over which organization will oversee Olympic surfing is already heating up.

San Clemente, which will host Olympic surfing in 2028 at Lower Trestles, backed local nonprofit USA Surfing with a resolution in support of its bid to govern the sport. Headquartered in San Clemente, the group faces a challenge from U.S. Ski & Snowboard in Park City, Utah.

US Ski has applied to represent surfing at the Olympics in an unprecedented move that would deprive USA Surfing of its elite athletes while giving nothing back to the program.