Nick Gabaldón Day: Celebrating 10 Years of Partnership

(From left) Jeff Williams, Andrea Kabwasa, and Rick Blocker attend Nick Gabaldón Day at Bay Street Beach — June 18, 2022.

CELEBRATING OUR 10TH YEAR in partnership with Black Surfers Collective (BSC) and The Surf Bus Foundation, we only have to thank Rick Blocker. For over 50 years Rick has been a powerful advocate for diversity and inclusion in surfing. Rick is an original member of the Black Surfing Association.

Fifteen years ago Heal the Bay had a table next to BSC at community resource fair at the Crenshaw Mall. I had the privilege of meeting him then. We got to talking about beach access and how to diversify the beach. He told me about what the Collective had started with Nick Gabaldón Day. I told him, Heal the Bay has an Aquarium, bus money, and a lot to learn. He said, “your hired”.

He arranged a meeting with African American historian Alison Rose Jefferson as well as Jeff Williams and Greg Rachal from the Black Surfers Collective, and the rest is a joyous history. I am eternally grateful and humbled to stand with this group.

Check out more photos and stories from Nick Gabaldón Day 2022.

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Nick Gabaldón Day celebrates the incredible life and legacy of the first documented surfer of color in the Santa Monica Bay. Gabaldón (1927-1951) was a pioneering surfer of African American and Mexican American descent whose passion, athleticism, discipline, love, and respect for the ocean live on as the quintessential qualities of the California surfer.  This year, Black Surfers Collective, Heal the Bay, Surf Bus Foundation, Santa Monica Conservancy, Color the Water, and devoted community members gathered at the Historic Bay Street Beach to honor these tenets followed by a screening of Wade in the Water and story time at Heal the Bay Aquarium.

Join us in sending a big wave of thanks to our 2022 sponsors:

Thanks to the Tuesday Night Ultimate Frisbee Group affiliated with LA Throwback Foundation, folks that are interested promoting civic engagement and history through sports, for funding support of Nick Gabaldón Day.

Written By Meredith McCarthy. Heal the Bay’s long time Programs Director has recently shifted to the Director of Operations. Meredith now oversees the organizational health and wellbeing of all programs and staff. As an avid scuba diver she has seen firsthand what putting too much in, taking too much out and ignoring the edge of the ocean has done to our coastal systems.