Local Professional Surfer Hosts Inaugural Surf Competition at Leadbetter Beach
Young surfers or “grommets,” as some people call them, swarmed Santa Barbara’s Leadbetter Beach Saturday.
A total of 168 surfers ages 4 to 14 took part in the inaugural Lakey Peterson Leadbetter Classic surf competition.
“We knew it would be like a hundred or so people signed up but this morning, more people showed up. It’s super cool to see people supporting surfing, the beach and community and that’s what I really wanted it to be about,” said Lakey Peterson.
Leadbetter beach was packed and looked more like a contest at Pipeline.
Local surfers were excited to have a surf competition in their own backyard.
“In all my contests, I have to drive and its a long drive so it’s nice to have a contest in my area,” said Alanna Moore of Carpinteria.
“The waves are really mellow here and they are not as rough,” said Kira Cope of Santa Barbara.
Lakey Peterson is a professional surfer who grew up in Santa Barbara. She is currently ranked no. 6 in the ASP Women’s World Championship Tour.
Peterson partnered with Chris Keet, owner of Surf Happens Surf School, to host the free event.
The two have known each other for a long time.
“With Lakey, she’s a surf happens alumni. She and I are buds going back 12, 14 years. She was just like all these kids learning to do a surf contest with us,” Keet said.
All of the young competitors got to surf at least twice.
“We kind of just thought what if we do two rounds and everyone gets to surf two times and everyone sorts of gets a trophy. There might be someone who wins the main event, but at the end of the day there are no losers,” Peterson said.
Peterson and Keet say they hope to put on the Lakey Peterson Leadbetter Classic again next year.
“We want to make it an annual thing. So as long as the city is happy with us and as long as everyone is enjoying themselves, I want it to continue to grow and get bigger and bigger and get more kids in the water surfing and having fun,” said Peterson.
“The dream is to do it every year. We’ve already got the funding to do it next year,” Keet said.
