Surf Park Summit 2026 brought around 400 senior leaders together in Virginia Beach, VA, USA, this September for the largest gathering in the surf park industry’s history. The annual event continues to draw international attention as real estate developers, equity and debt investors, operators, technology companies and industry leaders come together to shape the future of surfing outside the ocean.
Recap of Day 1 of Surf Park Summit
For the second consecutive year, Summit kicked off at Atlantic Park Surf in Virginia Beach for a first-hand look at the dramatic realities of surf park mixed-use real estate operations, including an on-site hotel, live concert venue, apartment building, and 110,000 square feet of retail and dining space. Guests toured the facility and its surrounding amenities with its project leaders, who shared how Atlantic Park has evolved over the past year, what the team has learned since opening and the impact the project has had on the surrounding community.
After the tour, attendees gathered for a welcome reception on site and had the opportunity to check out the Chlorine Clash. This invitational surf competition brings some of the best surfers in the world to Atlantic Park to showcase their skills.
Day one also featured a developer-focused workshop led by Chris Ryan, an architect and designer focused on the concept of “Third Places.” The discussion explored how destinations can create spaces outside of the traditional environments of home and work or school that encourage community, connection and repeat visitation.
Surf park operators also gathered for a closed-door meeting. Operators from Australia, Europe, the Middle East, South America, and the U.S. had the opportunity to speak candidly about the state of the industry and work together on initiatives designed to maximize the safety of surf park visitors across all surf parks.
From exploring new safety initiatives, including making helmets freely available to anyone who wants to use them, and mandatory in some instances, to supporting sustainable efforts in ocean surfing destinations, the annual operator meeting has become an important part of Surf Park Summit and the broader surf-anchored real estate industry.
Recap of the Conference Days 2 & 3
The following two days, Surf Park Summit conference and member programming kicked off at the Marriott Virginia Beach Oceanfront Resort for a packed schedule of panels, presentations, workshops and networking.
A major theme of this year’s event was the industry’s shift from simply building surf parks to making them work better, including improving utilization, creating stronger business models and integrating surf parks into larger real estate, hospitality and destination developments.
Day two opened with Surf Park Central CEO Jess Ponting. Up-to-the-minute 2026 consumer trends survey data were featured, AND, in a first for Surf Park Summit, real aggregated surf park utilization data developed in partnership with Flowstate was shared. The presentation touched on universal surf park utilization rates, seasonality across seasons, days of the week, and times of day across multiple user personas. The presentation deck has been shared with members of Surf Park Central’s Insiders community. The session ended with the launch of the Surf Conservation Fund, a new initiative making it easy for surf park users to contribute to both local and global surf ecosystem conservation. See the launch video:
That was followed by keynote speaker Cole Cannon, the developer behind Cannon Beach in Arizona and Revel Surf in Texas. Cannon spoke candidly about the trials and tribulations of building a surf destination in a market where the industry is still relatively new. He also shared updates on the company’s second project in McKinney, Texas, and the lessons learned from developing surf-anchored destinations.
The first full day of panels and discussions was capped by Surf Park Sharks, a fan favorite that allows early-stage developers to pitch their projects in front of a panel of industry professionals and investors.
This year’s winner was Hidden Lake Surf Resort in Buckeye, Arizona. Led by Drew Boyles, sponsor and managing partner of the project, the team presented plans for the 120-acre destination, which includes an existing lake. The proposed surf-anchored development will feature a 12.5-acre Endless Surf lagoon, resort hotel, beach club, marina, villas, casitas and glamping accommodations.
Other finalists at this year’s Surf Park Sharks include Ida Surf Park in Boise. Founder Brandon Watson took attendees on a tour about how Idaho’s outdoor focus is the perfect destination for a surf park. We also heard from Daniel P. McDonough with PA National Surfing Club at Montage Mountain in northeastern Pennsylvania. He explained how the destination is a unique market with plenty of tourists flowing from New York City and Philadelphia. One final unique development team included Cleora, a housing project near Salida, Colorado. They want to further build up a 3D-printed home destination with a standing wave.
See all of this year’s Sharks finalists and semifinalists.
Following Surf Park Sharks, the annual Surf Park Awards were presented to a packed audience — a day earlier than usual this year — recognizing the people, projects and companies making a positive impact on the growing industry.
The 2026 winners include:
- Leadership Award – Shaun Hutchinson
- Sustainability – DSRT Surf
- Community Impact – Lost Shore Surf Resort
- Best Surf Park Event – URBNSURF Sydney x STAB
- Developer of the Year – Hidden Lakes (Drew Boyles)
Day three opened with a brand-new discussion featuring the World Surf League. WSL’s Graham Stapelberg and Dave Prodan sat down with Sam McIntosh, co-founder of Stab Magazine, to discuss the growing relationship between surf parks, professional surfing, competition, media and the future growth of the sport.
The final day continued with conversations around capital, development, operations, technology and real estate, giving attendees a look at the challenges and opportunities facing the industry as more surf-anchored projects move from concept to reality.
Across the final two days, the message was clear: surf parks are becoming more than wave pools. They are evolving into sophisticated real estate, hospitality, recreation and entertainment destinations — with surfing serving as the anchor. A quantum shift in the industry’s willingness to share real surf park data to better serve the industry as a whole, from feasibility, investment, and operations perspectives, was one of the most exciting developments.
“This was the best Surf Park Summit we have ever staged in terms of sheer attendance but also content quality and opportunities being progressed in real time,” said Surf Park Central’s Jess Ponting. “A new era of real surf park data sharing is upon us. For the first time, we were able to show actual surf park utilization data broken down by user groups. The investor and developer community have been crying out for this information and finally we have been able to bring it to Surf Park Summit thanks to our friends at Flowstate. But this is just the beginning. We plan to provide regular data updates throughout the year to our Insiders members and really drive the value of that membership in the coming year.”
Surf Park Summit 2026 brought together the global community of people building the future of the surf-anchored real estate industry. The 16 surf park openings in the past 24 months and the conversations and deals struck in Virginia Beach showed just how quickly the industry continues to evolve.
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Stay tuned for panels and Summit talks to be released as future Beyond the Ocean podcast episodes.
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The Summit doesn’t have to end when the conference does. Become an INSIDERS member for year-round access to session recordings, our new quarterly data and insights reports, and access to a community of surf park developers, operators, and industry professionals. For further details on INSIDERS please contact [email protected]
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