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Christmas

‘Surfing Santa’ shreds waves in Cocoa Beach

Rick Neale
Florida Today
It took Santa a while to make his way up the beach posing for photos and giving kids candy. At 2:00 p.m. Friday after noon, Surfing Santa arrived at Shepard Park in Cocoa Beach, surfing in on eight foot waves with hundreds onshore cheering him on.

COCOA BEACH, Fla. — Santa Claus appeared atop a surfboard Friday afternoon — in red board shorts and red long-sleeve shirt — amid an Atlantic "washing machine" of pounding 6-foot waves, eliciting shrieks from hundreds of children and spectators.

After coasting to the beach on his chest, Santa — a.k.a. Melbourne professional surfer Corey Howell — quickly donned a red cap, white beard and sunglasses. Then he grabbed a basket and started handing out candy canes to kids and posing for photos.

"So, one of my little evil elves and Rudolph got taken out on a jet ski and caught as many waves as we could," Howell explained to a group of wet-footed television camera operators.

Jolly St. Nick's aquatic appearance kicked off Cocoa Beach's Christmas season and served as a teaser for next month's Surfing Santas event.

"Show up at the beach Dec. 24 in a Santa outfit and your surfboard, boogie board, stand-up paddleboard, whatever you want to go surfing, to be counted in a world-record attempt for the most Santa Clauses surfing on Christmas Eve," said Hunter Joslin, a longtime Melbourne Beach surfer who will be inducted in the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame in January.

Holiday carols blared from loudspeakers on the beach. That's where hundreds of people stood in line for free photos with a second Santa Claus: Rockledge surfer Cliff Keuhner, who sat in a lifeguard chair. Beneath a tent, M.J. Twinley, a Palm City surfer and author of children's books, autographed copies of her latest tome, Surfing Santa.

Last year's event in downtown Cocoa Beach attracted nearly 300 surfing Santas, 18 skydiving Santas and more than 4,000 spectators.

Proceeds from next month's event will benefit the Florida Surf Museum; Grind for Life, a nonprofit that helps cancer patients make long commutes to medical facilities; and the Life is Good Kids Foundation, said George Trosset, who founded Surfing Santas in 2009.

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