Isabelle Kryger Wins Big
Tesoro student Isabelle Kryger is making big waves in surfing. A sophomore, Isabelle started surfing at the age of three, and her skill is hard to miss.
Recently, she won the Western Surfing Association (WSA) state championship for the under sixteen (U16) division. She also placed second overall in the under eighteen (U18). Both of these awards earned her a spot in the national championship, which takes place at Lower Trestles beach in San Diego County.
An Intro to Surfing
The Western Surfing Association (WSA) is the oldest surfing organization in the United States and easily the biggest on the West Coast. Established in 1961, the WSA is a non-profit California corporation dedicated to promoting and preserving the art of surfing through fun, family friendly competitions. The WSA is also a member organization of USA Surfing, and WSA competitors can even gain entry into USA Surfing Prime and USA Surfing championships.
USA Surfing is the official surfing organization of the United States. Recognized by the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and the International Surfing Association (ISA) as the national governing body for surfing within America, USA Surfing is responsible for holding national surfing championships each year. The organization chooses the official USA Surf Team that competes internationally at the ISA championships, Pan American, and Olympic games. Their mission is to promote the growth, positive image, and competitive success of surfing in the USA.
Many may not know, but the scoring system in surfing competitions is quite complex. A surfer can score one to 10 points on an individual wave, but for each wave, the highest and lowest judge scores are discarded. The remaining three scores are then averaged. A surfer’s overall score is determined by the combining of their two highest scoring waves.
To actually decide these scores, judges take several factors into account. Firstly, the speed, power, and flow are considered when determining a wave score, so the amount of maneuvers a surfer executes does not matter as much as the quality of the maneuver. The difficulty of the stunt is what really scores the points. Lastly, wave size plays another important role in the scoring process as a trick on a small wave doesn’t really compare to a trick on a big wave.