Surf’s up, Santa! Hundreds of festive surfers hit the Florida shore

Surf’s up, Santa!

Hundreds of surfers dressed as Kris Kringle dashed through the waves at Cocoa Beach, Fla. Sunday for a swell celebration of Surfing Santas.

As red suits over wetsuits and bodacious white beards filled the beach break of the Atlantic Ocean, thousands of spectators gathered in the sand to guzzle Bloody Marys and watch a surfeit of Santas hang ten, footage showed.

“We started Suring Santas back in 2009,” George Trosset, 70, told Florida Today after being named “Citizen of the Year” by the local outlet.

“This will be our 15th year of holding the event. If you told me 15 years ago that Surfing Santas was going to be a viral news event, creating billions of smiles around the world, I’d have looked at you like you’re crazy, but it’s happened.”

The annual event raised $100,000 for the Florida Surf Museum and Grind for Life, which helps people diagnosed with cancer travel to seek treatments, according to Trosset.

It cumulated with a noon “paddle out” in honor of Jimmy Buffett, Florida’s bard of tropical recreation and relaxation, who died earlier this year.

It was set to move up the shore to Shepard Park near hotels this year, but organizers reversed course after a public outcry by locals from Cocoa Beach, which is filled with lively beachside bars and restaurants.

“Before Santa delivers toys and gifts, he’s been breaking away to catch some waves on Christmas Eve morning. Pretty cool, right?,” promotional material for the event read.