Florida Pro surf contest opens a new era

Hillard Grossman
Florida Today

Space shuttles were still soaring from nearby Kennedy Space Center the last time Sebastian Inlet hosted a men's and women's international pro surfing event. 

And, just like the space program a decade later, a new era also is launching on the waves.

The inaugural Florida Pro, featuring a star-studded $50,000 women's event and an accompanying $25,000 men's event, begins Thursday at 8 a.m. with a window extending through Jan. 24. Forecasts call for 3- to 4-foot swells most of the week.

Melbourne Beach native Caroline Marks, 15, is the youngest surfer, male or female, to qualify for the world tour.

"New Zealand, France, Japan, Hawaii - a little bit of everything," said event director Mitch Varnes. "You're going to see some impressive surfing, especially the women."

The women's event, titled the Ron Jon Florida Pro presented by Sunshine State Florida Lager, will be the largest in North America this season and offers the biggest World Qualifying Series payout in history after Varnes adds a $1,000 bonus to the $50,000 total prize.

Fourteen of the top 22 women in the world will be competing, including top-seeded Tatiana Weston-Webb and fellow Hawaiian Coco Ho, along with veteran Silvana Lima of Brazil. 

Tatiana Weston-Webb, born in Brazil and raised in Hawaii, is the top women's seed in the Florida Pro.

But expect a big splash from the youth movement. One-fourth of the 168 surfers lined up for the two events were born in the "Y2K era" - 2000 or later - including Melbourne Beach native Caroline Marks who, at 15, recently became the youngest male or female surfer ever to qualify for a full-time spot on the World Surf League (Cocoa Beach's Kelly Slater, an 11-time men's world champion, was 19 in his rookie WCT season).

"I super love Sebastian," said Marks. "I probably surfed it every day, growing up. Really cool, fun waves, fun peaks." 

More:Pro surfing resurgence to hit Brevard, Sebastian

Marks said she's "super excited" about the upcoming WSL circuit, a 10-event tour from Australia to Hawaii, featuring the top 17 surfers. She'll be the only true rookie this season - and the first Florida surfer to make the women's tour since four-time world champions Frieda Zamba in the '80s and Lisa Andersen in the '90s - but she's already handling nerves like a true pro.   

"I think you can look at 'rookie' two ways - one with no experience and a lot of pressure or, with me being just 15, there really is no pressure. It'll be a learning experience, and being around that environment will make me better, I am sure. I also know what I can do."

Marks has a long list of accomplishments, 17 national titles in all, including two U.S. Open junior titles and a gold medal at the International Surfing Association’s World Junior Pro Championships. But what happened last year at the Pantin Pro in Spain really put her age into perspective.

"So she and Coco are on the stage, and Tati (Weston-Webb) and Bronte (Macaulay) are spraying Champagne all over them," said Marks' father, Darren. "There literally are 10,000 people there. And they're all yelling, 'Take a sip, take a sip!' I'm pointing to her, 'No, no, no, don't even think about it.' Finally, Caroline walks up to the announcer and tells him she's only 15, and he was like,  'Wow, really?' The took the bottle away immediately. It was pretty hilarious. They had no idea."

More:Brevard tourism sector invests in sports, ranging from softball to surfing

 Florida Pro contest director Matt Kechele, a former world touring pro, has always been impressed with Marks.

"I think she was about 6, and we'd go with her family down to Ponce de Leon Park, a little south of there to a little sandbar," remembers Kechele. "We're all joking, 'Get on out there.' And she's like, I don't really surf, I surf for fun, but my brothers do. And all of a sudden she's doing all these progressive moves, and I'm like, wait, didn't she just say she didn't surf?"

"Caroline is gonna have a lot of girls on their toes, pushing the level; she really attacks the wave, and she's in her backyard now. She's the new girl, right? It's awesome to see another surfer coming out of Brevard to enter the world surf stage."

Seven current WCT surfers are in the women's field, including Paige Hareb of New Zealand, as well as four others with WCT experience, including Barbados' Chelsea Tuach. 

Hawaii's Brisa Hennessy, 18, raised on Costa Rica waves, not only eliminated veteran Sally Fitzgibbons from the world title race in Maui, but also won the Vans U.S. Open of Surfing Women's Jr. title in California last year.

Keep an eye on Hawaii's Brisa Hennessy, 18, who just last month, as a wild card, ended Sally Fitzgibbons' world title bid with a Round 2 victory in the Maui Women's Pro. Earlier last year, Hennessy won the Vans U.S. Open of Surfing Women's Junior event in Huntington Beach, California, preventing - you guessed it - Marks from capturing her third straight U.S. Open.

Melbourne Beach's Rachel Presti, 15, who trains in Costa Rica with former four-time world champion Frieda Zamba, is one of the event's wild cards.

A couple of young wild cards also could weave their way far through the bracket - Melbourne Beach's Rachel Presti, 15, (who defeated Marks for the NSSA East Coast Open Women's title in 2017) and super grom Zoe Benedetto, just 13, of Palm City.

 

Evan Gieselman of New Smyrna Beach is the top seed in the men's portion of the Florida Pro.

New Smyrna Beach's Evan Geiselman, 24, is the top seed in the men's event, the Florida Pro presented by Sunshine State Florida Lager. The 12-time East Coast champion, who starred in country star Luke Bryan's "Roller Coaster" video, bounced back from a frightening wipeout at Hawaii's Pipeline in 2015 and finished as high as 19th the following year on the WQS.  Last March, he won the Ron Jon Vans Pro in Cocoa Beach. 

 

Nathaniel Curran of California captured the 2009 Sebastian Inlet Pro title, the last major men's international event at First Peak.

Also in the field is California's Nathaniel Curran, who won the 2009 Sebastian Inlet Pro - the last event of that five-year international men's series - and he’ll be joined by a handful of fellow surfers from that era, including California's Cory Arrambide, Jacksonville Beach's Asher Nolan, Vero Beach's Travis Beckmann and St. Augustine's Gabe Kling, who spent part of three seasons on the world circuit.

St. Augustine's Gabe Kling spent parts of three seasons on the world circuit.

"I'm stoked," said Kling, 37, who considers himself "retired" and working in residential real estate. "I was down there for the King of the Peak, and you see a lot of old friends. This is great for Florida surfing, in general. A lot of young talent, a lot of cool things. I like the vibe there."

Also in the men's field are Vero Beach's Tommy Coleman, seeded 12th; Floridana Beach's Chauncey Robinson, seeded 13th, Luke Marks (Caroline's brother, seeded 34th); Melbourne Beach's Blake Speir (60th) and Merritt Island's Sam Duggan (61st).

"There definitely is a lot of young talent out there, a bunch of rippers," Kechele said.

So, when it comes time for the awards ceremony, they just might have to leave the Champagne on ice.

Specialty event

One of the additions to the Florida Pro will be "Champions and Icons," a $15,000 bonus event to possibly be run on Jan. 24, the final scheduled day. Among the surfers who are slated to appear: Pat Mulhern, Matt Kechele, Paul Reinecke, Wes Laine, Ben Bourgeois, C.J. and Damien Hobgood, Cory and Shea Lopez, Shane Beschen, Taylor Knox and possibly Josh Kerr. 

If you go

What: The Florida Pro begins each day at 8 a.m. Jan. 18-24 (there are built-in lay days if wave conditions deteriorate). 

Where: First Peak, on the north side of Sebastian Inlet. 

Parking: Because of limited parking on-site, please park at the South Recreation Department, 6.5 miles north of the inlet on A1A, where a shuttle takes you to the site. Cost is $5 a person (cash only).