If you’re looking to get outdoors or to soak up some surf culture, there’s a ton of events happening this weekend. Check it out:

Contests:

The NSSA contest will bring some of So Cal’s best 18 and under amateur surfers to battle it out at  54th Street in Newport Beach. It’s the sixth stop of the National Scholastic Surfing Association Southwest Conference Open Season. The event will have a special air show division, with cash up for grabs for the surfer who can pull off the most radical aerial.

 Keep an eye out for these OC names:  Huntington Beach’s Kanoa Igarashi and Christian Saenz, Capistrano Beach’s Luke Davis, Costa Mesa’s Colin Moran, Newport Beach’s Tyler Gunter and Kaleigh Gilchrist.

Read more about it here.

 Volcom contest:

If you’re an amateur or pro competitive surfer, then here’s your last chance to qualify for Volcom’s big championship event next year.

The third and final stop of the Volcom Totally Crustaceous Surf  Tour, Orange County Starfish Series is happening next weekend.

The one-day event, held at River Jetties in Newport Beach, will likely draw lots of top talent from up and down the California coast. 

Read more about the event here. Next weekend’s Volcom contest takes place at River Jetties in Newport Beach. Check out more info here.

Beach clean up:

Save Our Beach in Seal is hosting its monthly beach clean up starting at 10 a.m. on Saturday. Meet at 1st Street Beach lot at the corner of Ocean and 1st near River’s End restaurant. They usually go until about 1 p.m. 

They provide parking passes, garbage bags, protective gloves and certificates if you need it for school or community service credit. They are also asking that people bring at least one canned good, so they can take some grub to the local food bank. More info: www.saveourbeach.org

Surf shop openings:

There’s a couple of grand opening parties for surf companies that are a bit off the OC coast, but it sounds like they will be worth the drive.  

Here in Orange County, Faction Surfboards is opening shop and factory in Santa Ana and is throwing a party on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Faction Surfboards was launched in 2007 by local Huntington Beach shaper Mike Huseman. There will be tons of giveaways and free Wahoos fish tacos.  Click here for Surf Junkie Jeff’s write up about it, or check out factionsurfboards.com for more info.

Address:  1981 Ritchey Street, Santa Ana 92705

A bit up the coast in Santa Monica, Hurley and ZJ Boarding House are hosting a grand opening party in Santa Monica on Saturday.

There will be live music, drinks, food, and plenty of prizes. If you purchase any goods from the store, you’ll also get a free “Drifter” tee, the new Rob Machado, Taylor Steele movie. Check out more info here.

Celebrate Surf:

If you’re in the Oceanside area,  swing by the California Surf Museum for the second annual Surf Festival. The  surf culture festival will feature performances, speeches and slideshows from three of the most talented people to bubble up from the surfing world: Evolutionary surfer and author Nat Young, master ukulele strummer Jake Shimabukuro and Clark Little — whose shorebreak art photography offers stunning views of surf and sea.

There’s a full weekend of festivities, including Surfer Magazine’s 50 year anniversary tribute party on Saturday night.

Check out more info here, or to purchase tickets  go to the California Surf Festival website at www.californiasurffestival.com or call 760-721-6876.

A different kind of contest found its way to Orange County last weekend, the first time the Australian contest – which started in 2001 – has made its way to the United States.

Overseas, there are about 70 teams that compete in the Jim Beam SurfTag event – and organizers are hoping the Cali event will one day be as prestigious as the one Down Under, where surfers such as Mick Fanning, Joel Parkinson and Taj Burrow join the event

The contest is a team format, with five surfers per team who each have an hour to try to get three stellar waves for points. As soon as the third wave is caught, the teammate runs up on the sand to slap hands with the next surfer.

CHECK OUT A SLIDESHOW FROM THE EVENT.

Donny Wilson knew his second wave had to be a good one.

The waves weren’t anything special, 2-3 foot on the south side of the Huntington Pier on Friday, the first of the two-day Jim Beam SurfTag contest.

With his teammates holding their breath on the sand, Wilson crouched down into a wave, and suddenly found himself getting barreled.

His teammates cheered from the sand. The second wave out of three the surfers had to catch – called a “power wave” – is worth double the points.

“Where did he find that wave?” an announcer asked over the loudspeaker.

Surfer Wayne Kelly, on team “Safety” from Santa Cruz, stacked up major points for his team after pulling off an aerial maneuver.

“I find myself rooting for my guys, and really wanting my friends to do well,” he said. “Usually during competitions, I want them to go down.”

In the end, Carlsbad’s Team Reef took the win and now holds the title of “Best Surf Team in California.”