Official Media Sponsor

Santa Cruz Works and the Blue Innovation team are proud to announce Santa Cruz Waves as the Official Media Sponsor of Blue Innovation. Look for social media content and coverage in the October-November edition of Santa Cruz Waves.

First swell

In 2007, Tyler Fox, a regular surfing contest competitor, was at a nightclub with friends one evening when a photographer offered to take their picture. After the photo was taken, the photographer gave him a business card that featured a link to view the photographer’s website. Fox visited the website and realized the photographer’s method of using photos to draw visitors to a website was one that he could apply to his passion for surfing. Fox partnered with surfer and friend, Chris Curtis, to bootstrap and brainstorm a business plan for how to use surfing photos to generate website traffic, and profit through advertising.

Surf’s Up

After 6 months of going through several website iterations and thousands of dollars out of their own pockets, they finally came up with a website they were happy with. In 2010, Santa Cruz Waves was born. From there, they began taking photos of surfers, handing out cards with their website information, and getting about 400 views a day. Fox added Jon Free to support local businesses with ad sales through and though they finally began to bring in profits through banner ad sales, it all went right back to growing the business. Fox and Free added new members to their team, rented office space, and saw traffic to their websites grow exponentially.

Second Wave

After some time, Fox had a new idea simmering in the back of his mind for another way to share the photographs they had compiled: a magazine. Santa Cruz Waves released the first issue of their magazine in June 2014 with the goal of offering a high-quality free publication with an emphasis on community and sustainability matched with incredible images and world-class journalism.

Since then, the organization has hosted numerous events to support the local businesses and community such as The Swellie Awards, Beer Week, and the Sandbar Shootout surf contest. SCW has grown to be a household name in the area with people religiously collecting each issue. The company's social media has also grown leaps and bounds with over 460k followers on Facebook and over 80k followers on Instagram.

Santa Cruz Waves remains dedicated to "Showcasing the Santa Cruz Lifestyle" through sharing photos, shop reviews, band reviews, food reviews, and interviews, all from Santa Cruz County. However, soaring inflation, recessionary fears, employment challenges, and increased production costs have put Santa Cruz Waves in a precarious situation. If you are interested in supporting Santa Cruz Waves and their efforts to showcase the Santa Cruz Lifestyle, please consider donating to Santa Cruz Wave’s Patreon.