2024 Beach 'N Boards kicks off five-day event Wednesday at Shepard Park in Cocoa Beach
Surfing's stars of the future hit the waves at Shepard Park in Cocoa Beach this week as the highlight of the five-day Beach 'N Boards Fest.
Action begins Wednesday and Thursday from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. with early rounds in the Ron Jon Quiksilver/Roxy Surf Men's and Women's Pro divisions and the Junior Pro Men's and Women's competitions.
Also on tap during the weekend will be men's and women's skateboard competitions, the largest high school beach volleyball tournament in the state, wakeboard demonstrations and even a session of beach yoga.
Bella Kenworthy, 17, of San Clemente, Calif., ranked second on the North America Junior circuit, is back to defend her double women's titles from last year, hoping to earn valuable points on the World Surf League's Qualifying Series toward earning sports on the Challenger Series.
"That was such a special day. I didn't go into that day expecting to get my first two wins there. ... Cocoa Beach is a fun wave," she said. "I just try to have fun and learn."
Sofia Gamboa, 14, of Deerfield Beach also is a solid contender and will have her entire family as her support team.
She recalled the days when she had "no stickers" on her surfboard, and now she's stoked to have Roxy as her main sponsor.
"I loved the whole idea of pushing women's surfing to the maximum," she said. "It feels really cool to compete against girls I that I've watched growing up with."
Now, she said, her generation is beginning to crack the lineups. "It's so exciting," she said.
Will Deane, 16, of the Outer Banks, N.C., enjoys competing in contests on the East Coast, and he's had plenty of success in Cocoa Beach.
His goals this year? "Just making as many heats as I can, and learn," he said.
This week's contests, which conclude with Sunday's finals, is the final North American stop before the series moves to Barbados.
A full calendar of events can be found at http://www.beachnboards.com.
Follow https://www.worldsurfleague.com/ for live coverage and daily results.
Marks in the spotlight
Former Melbourne Beach resident Caroline Marks, 22, the defending WSL women's world champion, sits fifth in the current Championship Tour standings after a semifinal showing at Sunset Beach, Hawaii, as the series shifts to Portugal later this month.
NBC Sports will be spotlighting the two-time Olympic qualifier during a documentary in one of the six taped highlight shows from each of the WSL's first six events this season. The shows are on CNBC on Sunday afternoons with reruns later in the evening on ESPN2.
Cocoa Beach's Kelly Slater, 52, is ranked 26th on the men's side as a wildcard entrant, dropping third-round decisions in each of his first two events in Hawaii, just a few months following hip surgery.
Hall of Fame duo
Satellite Beach's Ricky Carroll, who has established a legacy as one of the world's top surfboard shapers, and Melbourne Beach's David Speir, a veteran surfer who made a name for himself during the tradition-rich years of Florida pro surfing, were among 13 new members inducted into the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame earlier this year during Surf Expo in Orlando.
Carroll said he was "truly honored" to join the impressive list of inductees and explained that some people think it's a glamorous job making surfboards when, in fact, he said, "It's a lot of hard work."
But, he explained that when his father passed away, he made the right decision to pursue the career he always had imagined, even if his father had questioned it.
"Now, I can say, 'I told you so,'" he said, jokingly, and gave a big thank you to his wife, Carol, for being by his side on this journey.
Speir called it a "pretty incredible list of surfers I get to join," but said he always respected the "pecking order" in contests or even during a surf session at Sebastian Inlet, in which guys like Mike Tabeling and Matt Kechele set the pace.
There are now 188 members in the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame.
Board shorts ...
Teddy Wittemann rallied with a 9.6 score on an alley-oop to nudge past Beckham McCart last weekend at Ponce Inlet to win the East Coast Prime Series Boys U-16 title ... Palm City's Zoe Benedetto is ranked 18th on the WSL's women's Challenger Series ... 2001 world champion CJ Hobgood, who is expected to be at this weekend's event signing autographs under the Salty Crew tent in the Shepard Park festival lot, said he plans on moving back to Brevard County this year.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: 2024 Beach 'N Boards begins Wednesday at Shepard Park in Cocoa Beach
