Get ready for Surf Week!

Surf Week, hosted by the Allegria Hotel and presented by NY Sea Productions, will take place July 11-14, and feature an array of events, including several benefits, parties, concerts and assorted contests.

The event, which is open to the public, kicks off on Wednesday, July 11, with the NY Sea Open dedicated to George Geiser, a surf contest featuring well-known local pro surfers — including Balaram Stack, T.J. Gumiela, Richie Bogart and Leif Engstrom — who will compete for a $3,000 prize purse. They are among 48 surfers ranging in age competing in four-man heats, in a contest that takes place over a four-day waiting period.

“We have a good variety of surfers lined up — there’s going to be 12 guys who are main pros, and anyone else who can try to beat them,” said Will Skudin, who founded the event. “Who doesn’t like winning events in their home town?”

NY Sea Productions, a New York-based company created by local surfers, developed the concept of an annual Surf Week, according to Skudin. The company was founded, Will Skudin said, in order to tell the stories of New York surfers and to showcase the work of photographers and videographers.

Each year, Surf Week serves as a tribute to the late George Geiser, a Long Beach resident considered by many to be a local surfing legend, who died in an auto-related incident in Puerto Rico in 2009 at the age of 29.

The third annual George “Geeza” Geiser memorial paddle-out will be held at National Boulevard beach on July 14 at 8 a.m., as part of Surf Week.

In the years since his death, the memorial paddle-out has become a prominent event in Long Beach, where many come together to share memories and stories of Geiser with one another, and to ultimately honor a man who left an indelible mark in the community.

“That’s a key reason we started it,” said Will Skudin. “It was a memorial contest and still is, but like anything, it’s just growing. We will always be thinking about him and it’s a key part of Surf Week.”