Local girl surfs to first NSSA win

Taylor Pitz, a Thurston Middle School eighth-grader, won the girls’ division at the second contest of the National Scholastic Surfing Assn. Southwest Conference Explorer season.

More than 350 surfers from all over Southern California competed in conditions with 2- to 4-foot surf at D Street in Encinitas on Oct. 1.

The victory was the first for the 13-year-old in the association’s competitions.

Pitz surfed her way through two opening heats to advance to the girls’ division final. Six finalists competed in glassy conditions in a 20-minute heat to determine the winner. After a slow start, the waves picked up and Pitz was able to catch two outside set waves all the way to the shore, rides that earned her the division title.

“The final was a strange heat,” Pitz said. “For the first 10 minutes, there hadn’t been anything to take. My dad told me to move over to this other spot, so I paddled over to it, and sat there.

“I was sitting there when this big set came in and I took it and rode it all the way in. I was the only one to get it. It felt great. I paddled back out, and then the same thing happened again.”

The association will host 10 contests during the current Explorer season, leading up to the West Coast regional championships next spring. The Explorer program includes 10 divisions of competition for surfers who compete for individual rankings, as well as the chance to compete at the association’s Nationals at Lower Trestles in June.

Pitz will compete at the next Southwest Conference Explorer event, which will be Saturday and Sunday at Ponto Beach in Carlsbad.

The standings

Explorer Girls: 1. Taylor Pitz, Laguna Beach; 2. Tara Franz, San Juan Capistrano; 3. Chandler Parr, Santa Monica; 4. Marissa Shaw, San Clemente; 5. Kallee Krebs, Mission Viejo; 6. Kendall Krebs, Mission Viejo