Playa Cerritos will trade its usual lineup of longboarders and sunset watchers for a world-class surf contest later this month. The third edition of the Pacífico Surf Open Cerritos runs November 19 to 22, bringing more than 120 competitors from a dozen countries to the beach near Todos Santos for a stop on the World Surf League’s Qualifying Series.
The event was officially announced at the gardens of SantaTerra in Todos Santos, with state and municipal tourism officials joining organizers from Boardwalk and the Baja California Sur Surf Association. It builds on a run that began in 2024, when the contest first put Playa Cerritos on the map as a destination capable of hosting international-caliber surf competitions.
How the WSL Qualifying Series Works
For readers unfamiliar with competitive surfing’s structure, the Qualifying Series is the tier below the WSL’s top-level Championship Tour. Surfers earn points at QS events to climb toward the Challenger Series and eventually the sport’s elite circuit. Cerritos carries QS 2,000 status, meaning the points on offer are significant enough to shape a competitor’s ranking for the season.
The timing isn’t accidental. Surfing is heading into a period of global growth ahead of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics, and regional stops like this one give North American and Latin American athletes a chance to rack up points closer to home.
Who’s Competing
The field includes surfers from the United States, Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, Israel, Italy, Germany, Finland, Chile, Sweden, Puerto Rico and Barbados. Confirmed names include Jhony Corzo, an ISA gold medalist and Mexico’s first-ever world surfing champion, along with Sebastián Williams, one of North America’s top-ranked surfers. Also competing is Lucas Cassity, a Cerritos local who reached the semifinals in the event’s inaugural year.
The 2026 edition also features a national women’s division, giving Mexican female surfers a competitive platform in front of both local and international audiences — a category organizers hope grows alongside efforts to support women’s surfing in Baja California Sur.
A Free Festival on the Beach
Competition days come wrapped in a four-day public program, and admission to everything is free. Expect surf short-film screenings, a market featuring local producers and artisans, live music, a closing concert, and organized beach cleanups. The event continues a zero single-use plastic policy in partnership with Cero Basura BCS, with waste-sorting stations and environmental education activities set up along Playa Cerritos.
“This event was born with a clear vision: to leverage the extraordinary natural conditions of Playa Cerritos to create a high-level surfing competition,” said Abelardo Juárez of Boardwalk, one of the event’s producers.
Why It Matters for Baja California Sur
State officials are framing the contest as part of a broader push to spread tourism revenue beyond Los Cabos’s traditional season and into coastal communities like Cerritos, El Pescadero and Todos Santos. “Events like this strengthen the surf culture in our state, foster local talent, and help us build a promising future for the sport,” said Alejandro González of the Baja California Sur Surf Association.
Agustín Olaceha, president of Todos Santos’s hotel association, EMPRHOTUR, added that the growth needs to stay tied to what makes the area appealing in the first place. “This growth must remain aligned with the identity that defines us: our authenticity, our respect for the natural environment, and the laid-back lifestyle that makes Todos Santos such a unique place,” he said.
Visitors to Cerritos during the November 19–22 window can expect a busy beach scene, with all events remaining free and open to spectators. The full daily schedule is expected to be released soon through the official channels of the Surf Open League, the World Surf League and title sponsor Cerveza Pacífico.
