Thousands gather in Pacifica for World Dog Surfing Championships despite rough surf

Thousands of people converged on the small town of Pacifica on Saturday morning to witness an event that has become an annual phenomenon: dog surfing.

Combine that with a dangerous surf warning for the coast, and there was even more drama than usual.

Now that the World Cup is over, we can get back to what is really the most popular sporting event on the planet: the World Dog Surfing Championships. At least, that's how it felt by the size of the crowd at Pacifica's Linda Mar Beach.

"I love World Dog Surfing," said contestant Sophia Sadlowski from Huntington Beach. "They are the best event out of all the events that we do. This is the best event. The crowd is the best."

Fourteen dogs showed up for this 10th annual competition. Winning is a bit subjective, with the canine contestants judged on how long they stay on a wave and how happy they seem to be about the whole thing.

Sadlowski said her small miniature pinscher, Rusty the Surfing MinPin, won't let her leave the house alone if he thinks she's about to hit the beach.

"Whenever I get ready to go surf, and I don't take him, he gets very upset," she said. "He runs up and down the stairs going, 'ooh, ooh, ooh.' And if I make it to the garage door, he's there."

But there was more drama than usual this year. With a hazardous surf warning in effect for the entire coastline, the waves were larger than usual and caused a few of the later heats to be cancelled.

"It was rough," Sadkowski said. "A little too rough for that size dog. Yeah, I mean it's rough for the other dogs, but when you're 12 pounds, it's just too much."

"The surf was great this morning. Just for the last half-hour to hour, it started picking up and getting a little rough," said event crew member Laura Cass. "So, we definitely want to keep the dogs safe..."

But a few intrepid canine surfers gave it a try anyway. One of them was crowd favorite Rippin' Rosie, a fearless yellow lab who normally surfs Pleasure Point in Santa Cruz. She managed a couple of short runs in the crashing waves and got a hero's welcome back on the shore.

"That was not Pleasure Point. That was pretty brutal, but hey, it was super fun, challenging, a great event. Look at all these people cheering us on. It's amazing," said Rosie's surf partner, Steve Drottar. "She's a fearless beast. She just goes. It's scary for me. I'm the one that's exhausted and she's like, 'ahh let's go' "

The competition was free to the public, so there were no official estimates of the crowd's size. But the event has grown to the point that it was being recorded for an upcoming ESPN broadcast.

When the awards were handed out, Rusty and Rosie were both winners in their class. But friends Debbie Cohen and Tina der Torossian, who witnessed the spectacle, considered themselves among the winners, as well.

"And it's an excuse to get up, and dogs are great!" said Cohen. "Just something about dogs in the water is a kick."

Or as the surfers like Drottar might put it: "It's just nothing but good vibes out here. It's the way surfing's supposed to be, just good vibes!"