All the girls were ripping

“All the girls were ripping,” said 24-year-old Sara Taylor, who won her round during the first day of the 2014 Supergirl Pro, a three-day all-women’s surf competition in Oceanside on August 8, 2014.

Taylor, who is from Huntington Beach, remarked of her competition, “One of the most impressive rounds I’ve seen.” She liked the conditions near Oceanside pier. “I think the waves are similar to Huntington, they’re both a beach break.”

Taylor has been surfing professionally since she was 14 and is sponsored by Huntington Surf & Sport. “They’re like family now,” she said. Taylor won her round Friday morning with a score of 8.0., besting three others, including Sophia Bernard from Australia who scored 7.0 and Malia Ward with 5.43.

The second-place finisher was 11-year-old Kirra Pinkerton, who is the youngest competitor this year, at the international event. Pinkerton said she started gathering points fast. “I caught a couple insiders, just to start my heat, it gets me warmed up.”

She said she has been surfing “since I was two. Like, my dad would push me in.” She lives with her family in San Clemente.

The announcer for the surf competition declared the tiny competitor “a powerhouse.”

“For her age, she has a very established technique and that helps her impress judges,” her dad, Jim Pinkerton, said after the competition. 49-year-old Pinkerton was a professional surfer from 1987 through the '90s. He said his sponsors included O’Neill and Town & Country Surf.