Liam Ely, a 17-year-old San Mateo High School student, suggested a county proclamation designating October 2026 as Surfing Appreciation Month.

The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors approved it Tuesday, Oct. 20. Supervisor David Canepa credited Ely with the idea, according to the county. Canepa and Supervisor Ray Mueller co-sponsored the measure.

The proclamation recognizes surfing as California’s official state sport and describes October as the beginning of the county’s fall and winter surf season.

Ely attended the ceremony with surfer Jeff Clark and longtime surfing advocate Marty Phelps. Ely said the sport connects him with other people and teaches him respect for the ocean.

Clark, 69, is credited as the first person known to have surfed Mavericks’ outer-reef waves at Pillar Point. The proclamation describes waves there sometimes exceeding 100 feet.

He first paddled out alone in 1975, when he was a 17-year-old student at Half Moon Bay High School, according to Mavericks Surf Company’s history. That account says he surfed those waves alone for 15 years before other surfers began riding them.

Clark recalled a friend declining to accompany him on his first attempt.

“He said, ‘I’m going to call the Coast Guard and tell them where I last saw you,’” Clark said, “because he didn’t think I was coming back.”

More than 50 years later, Clark is still surfing. He described catching a wave as a way to recharge. He contrasted the sport’s outsider reputation during his youth with school surfing programs that he said encourage discipline and academic effort.

Mueller said surfers’ attachment to the ocean motivates them to protect it. Canepa praised local surfers’ character and contributions to their communities.

Phelps co-founded the Half Moon Bay High School Surf Club with photographer Doug Acton in 2007. He said helping students become good community members was central to the club’s purpose.

Students developed the saying “Show Up and Be Kind,” which Phelps said now appears on bumper stickers around Half Moon Bay.

The proclamation encourages residents to protect the beaches and use them safely. Among the county surf spots it recognizes are Rockaway Beach, Linda Mar, Montara State Beach, Mavericks and Surfer’s Beach.