JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. — Women of all ages and surf levels hit the water Saturday morning for this year’s Super Girl Surf Pro competition.
The three-day event is said to be the largest all-female surfing competition in the world.
Held at Jacksonville beach, organizers had to work around Tropical storm Nicole, some spending the morning picking up debris and making the beach safe for spectators.
“The future is coming, so we better watch out," Erin Brooks, a 15 year old surfer who competed this year, said.
A future with more female surfer is the vision behind this all female Super Girl Surf Pro”event.
Erin Brooks was one of 64 competitors who took to the waves for day two of the event, winning her heat and moving on to the finals.
“There’s a lot of young girls here, watching this competition and it’s very cool to see them all cheering for us and I bet one day they’ll be on this level with us, competing with us," Brooks said.
This year the U.S. Air Force sponsored the event, and brought out female aviators and a virtual flight booth to encourage female recruitment.
“We have these patches, so it’s called fly like a girl, we have several of these that we’re giving away. We also have air force branded super girl capes," Major Matthew Roland, Air Force, said.
Due to Tropical Storm Nicole, the start of the competition was delayed and day two saw more heats of competition than initially scheduled.
The storm also left debris on the beach. One group of ladies spent the morning cleaning up the sand.
“Good luck to everybody in the competition, anytime you feel the need you should go out and just pick up trash, you don’t know the difference you can make to the environment. And as always take care of each other," Twilla Burns, a member of an environmental group, said.
The three day event also has an all-female DJ competition, free fitness classes, food, gaming booths and more.
The final day of competition with kick off at 8am on Sunday, the Festival Village will open at noon.