Record Number of Surfing, Skydiving Santas Storm Cocoa Beach
By Space Coast Daily // December 24, 2013
uniquely celebrates Christmas on the Space Coast
ABOVE: A record number of “Surfin’ Santas” took part in the Christmas Eve morning event.
BREVARD COUNTY • COCOA BEACH, FLORIDA – “Surfin’ Santas” and “Skydiving Santas,” will highlight the fourth annual Cocoa Beach Christmas Eve event that uniquely celebrates Christmas on the Space Coast – and with a philanthropic and historical bent.
The waterborne Santas will take to the waves at 9:30 a.m. at South 24th Street, and the airborne Santas will drop in at about 11:30 a.m. from the D-Day Veteran C-47, Tico Belle, flying out of the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum in Titusville.
The Tico Belle flew in support of the Normandy landings on June 6, 1944, as one of 52 C-47s that towed troop-carrying gliders containing elements of the 82nd airborne infantry.
This veteran military aircraft also participated in some of the most important battles of the war. From the Normandy invasion to Cherbourg, to Arnhem, to Bastogne, to the Berlin Airlift and much more.
The event benefits Grind For Life, a non-profit organization helping people with cancer that was founded in 2003 by Mike Rogers, a pro skater and cancer survivor. GFL makes cancer patients’ lives easier one step at a time by assisting them with the cost of transportation to and from the hospital, which for a vast amount of people can range from one coast to the other.
