This past weekend was about legends. It was about honoring the old guard and celebrating one sport’s superstars. As you can obviously tell from the banner image, that sport is dog surfing. On Saturday, the 6th annual Surf Dog Surf-A-Thon competition took place in Del Mar, California, and the event, hosted by the Helen Woodward Animal Center, raised more than $100,000 for orphaned pooches. And I like to imagine that they all live in a really cool surf academy called “Surf’s Pup!” because that would be awesome.

The star of the weekend was Buddy, the 14-year old Jack Russell terrier, who not only became the first dog inducted into the Surf Dog Hall of Fame, but also won his fifth Surf-A-Thon title. He’s like the Boston of dogs.

“That last heat was probably the best of Buddy’s life,” Bruce Hooker, Buddy’s owner, said during the ceremony.

(Via Ohmidog)

Adding: “But it still wasn’t as good as the heat he got from those poodles after the event, AMIRIGHT?” Who doesn’t love a good dog sex pun?

Other highlights included the first-ever dog surfing world record, which was set by Australian Kelpie Abbie’G when she rode a wave 65-freaking-yards, as well as a failed attempt for most dogs on one surfboard. Better luck next year, adorably terrified dogs!

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Our typically dependable With Leather Left Coast Bureau took the week off so our California news has been rolling in a bit slower than usual (did you know the Lakers won the NBA Championship???) but that’s no excuse for missing out on the biggest surfing competition of the year – Surf City Surf Dog. For the past two years, the city of Huntington Beach, California has hosted this charity fundraiser at which our four-legged canine friends show off their gnarliest surfing skills. You know, I just have to say that someone in history was the first person to ever dress a dog like a human, and it’s just a shame that we don’t have a holiday for that hero. Then again, it was probably a woman, so we’re better off as is.

Surf City Surf Dog raises money for a variety of animal rescues and organizations, as dog owners help their pooches compete in two types of canine surfing contests – GROMS and SHREDDERS. The GROMS competition featured dogs of all sizes competing in standard heats (Ed. – That’s when puppies are made!) and the SHREDDERS competition featured pooches vying for style, tricks and surf length. This event is much different from my annual competition, “Which cat will drown the fastest?”

Videos and gallery after the jump.

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