East Coast Surfing Championships

The event originated in a summer 1962 beach and surf party organized by a group of teens at Gilgo Beach on Long Island, New York. It moved to Virginia Beach the following year, and is now the longest-running surfing contest in the world and a major source of tax revenue for Virginia Beach, attracting more than 100,000 people a year. In 2011, the Association of Surfing Professionals designated the pro division a 4-star event and the junior division a 4-star junior qualifying event. The 2020 ECSC was not canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but took place with health precautions including live-streaming. However, the 2020 and 2021 events were not World Surf League qualifying series championships. In 2022, a women's World Surf League qualifying series event was added.

Men's and women's professional and amateur surfing events are held throughout the week, plus other beach sporting events such as volleyball, a 5k oceanfront run, and a swimsuit competition. The ECSC also includes live music, BMX, skateboarding and skimboarding exhibitions, and in some years freestyle motocross.

The ECSC is organized by the Virginia Beach Jaycees, a chapter of the United States Jaycees; its primary sponsor is Coastal Edge Surf Shop, which became name sponsor in 2013. The Jaycees established the ECSC Legends Hall of Fame awards in 2005.

Past winners