Day 3 Of The World’s Best Grom Contest: Young Guns

Barron Mamiya just landed a flip. And now, a minute later, Barron and a throng of groms are dripping water on Jimmy Graham’s feet as they hover around his RED camera for another look. Their behaviour changes with each replay of the clip. First they yell. Then they yell louder. Then they analyse. And finally, they paddle back out with a bit more flame in their eyes. 

They know they’re going to have to do better in order to beat Barron’s air, but that’ll be impossible — the wave was scored a 10. As a result, Barron won Mikey Wright’s approval for the best air surfer of the event. Rail judge Zeke Lau gave the nod to Sammy Pupo, and Jeremy Flores knighted Rio Waida for combos. While respect from some of the world’s best surfers ain’t too bad, a thousand dollars is arguably better. Not a bad payday for the Young Guns. Especially because the event isn’t even over. 

Over the past two days, Marco Mignot and Sandy Whittaker earned enough points to join Sammy and Rio in the hour-long final tomorrow. It won’t be a heat like any other you’ve seen. The dry criteria that governs our sport? We’ll be ignoring that. Instead, it’ll be judged from feeling. Four kids surfing. Three professional surfers watching. Ten thousand dollars waiting on the beach for whoever surfs the best. Things should get pretty interesting. 

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