With a fresh crop of untested talent, this year’s middle school Scholastic Surf Series kicked off at San Onofre State Park with a solid southwest swell coached by Bobby Lockhart and Jeff Booth.
Six county middle schools field a roster of short and long boarders and body boarders. They compete individually and their scores added up make the team score.
Surfers compete in six person heats of 15 minutes with the top three advancing in each round until the final. Surfers are scored on each wave on a scale of 1 to 10 and their top two scores determine their total score for the heat. Waves are scored on the size and quality of the wave and the style, flow and number of maneuvers the surfer can complete on the wave.
Despite discrepancies over the contest boundaries that disqualified some rides by Laguna surfers, the team finished second with nine surfers making the finals in their division.
Boys shortboard: Kiko Nelsen, second; Sam Nelsen, sixth. Girls shortboard: Grace Fink, first; Tess Booth, second. Boys longboard: Zac Henderson, fourth; Sam Nelsen, sixth. Girls longboard: Grace Gilles, fifth. Boys bodyboard: Andrew Shutts, fifth; Spencer Collins, sixth.
