The sand shifts underneath a saddle bronc horses’s hooves as the horse settles into the bucking chute. The rider grips the rein as a silence settles over the crowd, the only sounds heard are waves of the Pacific washing ashore. The shoot opens, and the eight second countdown begins — the crowd is not only watching a feat of Western culture and bravery, but watching one of the only rodeos to ever be held on a beach.
If one missed the third annual Break-A-Wave competition last September, the “Break-A-Wave” documentary premiered May 23 at the Cal Poly Performing Arts Center and gave rodeo fans a chance to relive the experience. According to Cal Poly Rodeo’s Production Manager Jack Busch, the premiere offered a unique showing of the documentary due to the sound effects and music done by the producers of the film, MakeLine Productions.
The 2023 Break-A-Wave event saw an audience of over 2,500 and amassed an average of $80,000 in sponsorships, according to Busch.
Busch, who is currently an agricultural business senior at Cal Poly, has been a part of Cal Poly Rodeo’s Production and Leadership class since his sophomore year. Three Poly Royal Production classes at Cal Poly — AG 212, AG 412, and AG 413 — are available for student enrollment.
According to Busch, the idea for Break-A-Wave stemmed from the Covid-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, rodeo team members weren’t allowed to formally gather in the rodeo arena, so they took to the public Pismo beach to practice. From there, the idea grew to host a competition on the beach.
When asked about how the Western way of life intersects with the coastal lifestyle, Busch said that Break-A-Wave is the “biggest point of connection that you will find anywhere in the world.”
“Break-A-Wave, in particular, we’re the only people on this planet that do an event like this,” Busch said. “We’ve started to see other people pop up copycat events here and there, but to the extent of what we do, we are the largest and most pronounced version of combining the coastal and the cowboy, or cowgirl.”
Busch said that in 2022, Yeti sent out their marketing team from Texas to film a short promotional video on Break-A-Wave and the Cal Poly Rodeo Team. From there, Busch said that the Rodeo Team hired MakeLine Productions to film the event, which was then pitched to the Cowboy Channel.
The Cowboy Channel, a Western cable network spanning 42 million homes, premiered the documentary in March of 2024.
“Not just through this event (Break-A-Wave), but through the entirety of our program, Cal Poly’s rodeo team is always breaking barriers,” Busch said. “We’re always doing things differently. We’re trying to showcase the rodeo way of life, while also conforming to 21st century changes in people’s idea of entertainment.”
Pushing the boundaries of the sport can also come with its difficulties. Busch said that while putting on the event on the beach, he learned that nature can be unforgiving.
“We got there 12 hours later, and the beach had changed entirely,” Busch said. “We had to move our event 100 yards south of where we had originally planned the footprint. Everything we had planned for changed drastically. Our arena shrank down to a third of the size of the plan, which changes your score, and changes everything you can imagine within rodeo.”
However, the challenges that come with putting on an event like Break-A-Wave can be worth it to showcase the values and mission of the Rodeo Team.
“The Rodeo Team is always breaking barriers, and this event is no exception,” Busch said. “The heart and drive that is in every student athlete, animal athlete and everyone that’s involved in it, really comes together for this event because it’s such a quick turnaround from set-up to tear-down.”
Correction: This article has been updated at 9:55 p.m. to correct a misspelled word.