Groms

On any given weekend you'll probably find our Oak Street surf crew loading up the van and hitting the coast, looking to participate in a surf contest. This weekend we're headed south with a bunch of mini-groms (kids 10 and younger) to Ocean Beach in San Diego to shred the Christian Surfing Federation's Freedom Surf Series. My son George, who's 8, is super excited to get down there, too, as he noted, "The waves are gonna be 2 to 3 foot and super clean. Dad, that's overhead for me. " The CSF is run by John Lindsley, who for the past 15 years has organized family-style surf contests with an easy going vibe that suits new surf competitors.

Fresh off of his recent win at the Katin Team Challenge, Chris Waring of Seal Beach continued his competitive surge with a huge win at the San Diego Pro-Am surf event. ?I?m so stoked to surf in a local California contest with a lot of my friends and top pros like Timmy Reyes and the boys,? Waring said. ?I had a really good time today. The groms were ripping and the vibe was all around perfect; I?m excited about this series!? However, Waring wasn?t the only competitor loving life, as the Freedom Series also featured ?

With so many surf trip locations available today, it's sometimes easy to forget about the one surf trip that is arguably still required for all surfers to take: Hawaii. Expensive, crowded and overrun with tourists, you say? Check, check and check. But I would argue that once you've navigated the rental car counter, the crowded single-lane highways and overpriced restaurants, there are still two things that are worth the hassle: aloha and waves. I recently took a handful of Laguna Beach high school surfers on a such a trip.

With so many surf trip locations available today, it's sometimes easy to forget about the one surf trip that is arguably still required for all surfers to take: Hawaii. Expensive, crowded and overrun with tourists, you say? Check, check and check. But I would argue that once you've navigated the rental car counter, the crowded single-lane highways and overpriced restaurants, there are still two things that are worth the hassle: aloha and waves. I recently took a handful of Laguna Beach high school surfers on a such a trip.

On any given weekend you'll probably find our Oak Street surf crew loading up the van and hitting the coast, looking to participate in a surf contest. This weekend we're headed south with a bunch of mini-groms (kids 10 and younger) to Ocean Beach in San Diego to shred the Christian Surfing Federation's Freedom Surf Series. My son George, who's 8, is super excited to get down there, too, as he noted, "The waves are gonna be 2 to 3 foot and super clean. Dad, that's overhead for me. " The CSF is run by John Lindsley, who for the past 15 years has organized family-style surf contests with an easy going vibe that suits new surf competitors.

More than $25,000 in cash and prizes await the pros, groms, juniors and other family division competitors Saturday in Huntington Beach. Laguna groms Adam Mejia, Zach Williams, Tyler Cassil, Bud Kuhn and others plan to compete alongside some of the world?s best surfers. The juniors are ready to mix it up with the pros for the $5,000 first-place prize. ?Surfing against some of the top pros like Timmy Reyes and Chris Waring is intimidating but also really exciting,? said Team USA member Trevor Thornton, 15. ?