Corey Howell of Melbourne surfs in the AAU National Surfing Championships in the Men's Open in Cocoa Beach. (Rik Jesse, FLORIDA TODAY)
Shane Holmes It was rainy, gloomy and gusty at the beach behind Coconuts on the Beach, and George Seguna could not have been any more pleased.
A quick look at the ocean would tell you why.
Waves were breaking 3 to 5 feet in glassy offshore sets -- and they didn't stop all day long, rain or not -- and the roughly 135 surfers who invaded Cocoa Beach for the AAU National Surfing Championships were taking advantage of it.
"Cocoa Beach is absolutely pumping," Seguna said. "This is a dream come true for us."
Seguna is the contest director of the tournament, which is sponsored by Bright House Networks and the World Skin Cancer Foundation.
The tournament's main event is the Open Shortboard and Longboard competitions because the top four from each will be awarded a slot in the Sean and Skippy Slater Invitational behind the Cocoa Beach Hilton.
The event will be Nov. 7-9, and Cocoa Beach native and nine-time world champion Kelly Slater is expected to compete.
Saturday, both events completed preliminary heats, and the semifinal and final heats will be conducted today. Multiple other age groups and divisions also finish today.
Ten surfers from the Open Shortboard event, who either finished first or second in one of the five heats, will surf today.
Cocoa Beach's Danny Cruden, who finished first in his respective heat, was a judge for last year's AAU tournament and said the surf could not have been better.
"Usually we don't get surf like this here," he said. "These are blessed conditions."
From the Open Longboard competition, 10 surfers from five heats also advanced and will compete today for one of four spots.
Because the tournament is all amateur, no money will be awarded, except for the opportunity to surf in the same competition as Slater. Star surfers C.J. Hobgood and Cory Lopez are also likely to attend, Seguna said, but that has yet to be confirmed.
"This is an unbelievable opportunity for these surfers," Seguna said. "Normally, they would have to go through multiple levels of surfing competitions to get a chance to compete with those guys."
Cruden said he'll just focus on today's competition.
"I'm trying not to think about that possibility (of competing against Slater)," he said.
The competition features about 135 surfers from all over Florida, the Bahamas and Puerto Rico. The age groups ranged from Super Menehune (6 and under) to Super Men's (46 and over).
The semifinals and finals for those events are also scheduled for today.
Blake Sands, a 23-year-old surfer who was born and raised in the Bahamas but has lived locally for the past four years, won his heat in the Men's division Saturday. He praised the level of competition.
"I feel really, extremely good about winning," he said. "That was a tough heat, everybody was really tough."
Sean Hayes won the Super Men's event, Joey Rosadio won the Open Bodyboard, Korey King won the Junior Women's, Julie Stine won the Masters Women's, Jasset Umbel won Women's Shortboard and Crystal Duff won the Women's Longboard.
Aside from the Open Shortboard and Open Longboard competition, today's action will also include an X-Games-style high school team competition between Satellite, Cocoa Beach and Jupiter.
Surfers enter the water at 8 a.m.
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