The Southern California grom circuit kicked into high gear last week as the western regional of Rip Curl's grom search went down in Huntington Beach. The hottest young surfers on the west coast and Hawaii lit up the shifty peaks of 9th Street in HB, which was firing thanks to an early season combo swell. As reported earlier, Taylor Thorne, Colin Moran, Kanoa Igarashi and Lakey Peterson took top honors after some hard fought battles.

Rip Curl's Grom Search does live up to its billing. It's by far one of the best events to seek and find the surfers of the future. Last weeks winners were but a sliver of the talent on hand which we're all likely to be hearing about in the near future. Each division is stacked, but what's most surprising these days is just how much talent resides in the 12 and under division, which, frankly, the Hawaiians have a major grip on right now, as proven in Huntington as three of the four finaalists call paradise home. Kanoa Igarashi, Kalani David and Landon McNamara were all gunning for the win over the lone Californian, Jacob Davis.




Of course the 16 and 14 and under divisions were pretty damn impressive as well, with the move of the event belonging to Malibu's Andrew Jacobson, who pulled a ridiculous aerial reverse. The move earned him the "H20 Overdrive Maneuver of the Event" which was good for an extra $100 cash. This week, they're all heading down to Lower Trestles for the NSSA Nationals, which got underway Tuesday in glassy 3-foot conditions. The fireworks show will be going all week.

Nationals will be followed up next week with the Nike 6.0 Pier Presssure Pro Junior. The 4-grade event is the biggest Pro Junior event of the season in North America, and will feature the likes of Kai Barger, Dillon Perillo, Nat Young, Kolohe Andino and Andrew Doheny to name a few. Naturally, the scouts will be out in force taking notes.