Santa Barbara’s Conner Coffin, Parker Coffin and Lakey Peterson are in Peru for the ISA World Junior Surfing Championships this week, representing the United States in the Olympic-style competition.
Both are giving updates on Twitter. Follow the Coffins @Youngwisetails and Lakey @LakeyPeterson.
Much of the contest is being broadcast on the web, where you can follow the heats live. Both Coffins won their first heats on Sunday on the event’s first day to get things going.
All three surfers are veterans of the contest, which was held last year in Piha, New Zealand. Peterson and Conner Coffin also competed for the Americans in 2009 when the contest was also in South America in Ecuador. The three are part of a 12-man roster comprised of the country’s best surfers under the age of 18, split into three groups competing in Under-18 boys, Under-16 boys and Under-18 girls.
Team USA finished third last year overall, unable to unseat the Australian team which has won the gold medal at five-straight world championships.
This year’s world championships feature a record 276 competitors from 27 different countries. The competition is fierce to crown a champion, as all of the world’s best surfers under the age of 18 are present. No American (Hawaii has a separate team) has won a gold medal since Ben Bourgeois won in 1996. Santa Barbara does have a successful history at the event, however, as Tom Curren won the inaugural event in 1980 and Chris Brown was champion in 1988.
