US Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach attracts the largest crowds to the beach that the location can handle. Parking and walking from miles around, the beaches are simply swamped with people on the closing days of the event.

The first week's events involve surfing, but with so much interest and pent-up energy and enthusiasm, it makes more sense to open up the skateboard and other competitions on the opening weekend as well.

Pictured above is a typical US Open of Surfing Crowd waiting to see the winner of the competition in the 6 star world qualifying series surfing event. While the star rating of the HB event is under scrutiny, merely from the fact that the waves typically are small and even flat, the power of the crowd alone makes it necessary to maintain the rank of this surfing competition, one of many around the globe, for importance to the 9-day surfing and beach games event that draws close to a million people, some claim.

Sand madness might well describe this exciting beach vibe. But the crowds aren't wild. They are simply packed...people and skin wall-to-wall.

In this picture, you can see the crowd on the south side of the beach and Huntington Beach Pier. Notice the massive crowd on the pier looking down for the final heats of the surfing contest. This is a final Sunday scene.