CITY FOCUS:Celebrity Surf Jam sidelined

The annual Surfrider Foundation Celebrity Surf Jam wiped out this year.

The event, scheduled for Saturday at the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier, has been canceled. Matt McClain, director of marketing and communications for Surfrider Foundation, said Monday that several factors led to the cancellation of the event, which was entering its third year.

“The individual issues weren’t that big, but it was a cumulation of things that led to us having to put off the event,” McClain said. “It wasn’t up to our standards.

“In our first year, we held the event in September. Last year, as was to be the case this year, it was held in June. We were going to push it back to the fall this year, but now we’ll stage it in 2008, probably in the fall. Our plans are to step it up and surround the event with a concert. It should be great.”

The Celebrity Surf Jam pits three teams composed of eight professional surfers, eight celebrities and eight Surfrider Foundation activists from around the nation, in a National Surf League four-quarter competition format.

Summertime schedule conflicts for several of the celebrities who had expressed interest in competing in this year’s event was one of the key factors that led to the event’s cancellation, McClain said.

Actor David Chokachi (“Beyond the Break” and formerly of “Baywatch”), members from the band Switchfoot, and Jim Lindberg, frontman of the band Pennywise, were the celebrities who were “definitely in” this year’s event, McClain said.

Actors Minnie Driver, Dominic Monahan (“Lost”) and Dominic Purcell (“Prison Break”) had also expressed interest in competing. He said that actor Matthew McConaughey was also “a possibility.” Driver was part of last year’s jam.

“The cool thing about this is you can be up on the beach watching the event one year and could be competing in it the next,” McClain said. “All you need to do is join your local Surfrider chapter.”

On June 21, Surfrider Foundation will stage International Surfing Day. Created by Surfing magazine, this unofficial “official” surfers’ holiday gives surf enthusiasts the chance to promote and celebrate the sport of surfing while bringing awareness to the state of our oceans and beaches.

More than 49 chapters across the U.S. are scheduled to participate as well as supporters of the foundation in Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Canada and Japan.

For more information and beach-site locations for Surfing Day, visit www.intlsurfingday.com.