Bryce Pinkerton. Photo by Jeff Davis
By Andrea Swayne
Age 7. Clarence Lobo Elementary
Bryce Pinkerton has been surfing since he was two, and he has a picture to prove it, he said. He does, and he did. It hangs prominently in his house and he enjoys pointing out the photo that shows him riding a longboard in Hawaii after being pushed into a wave by his dad. Bryce has loved surfing ever since. He’s currently ranked No. 8 in the WSA Micro Grom U9 Push-in Shortboard division and earned his second ever win—and a big trophy—last month at the Grom Bomb Surf Contest in Oceanside in the Mini Grom Push-in 8U division.
He enjoys contests, especially the excitement of advancing through to the finals.
“It’s really awesome when I advance but I don’t really care so much now if I don’t because I just won that huge trophy and I can just try harder next time,” Bryce said.
He also likes music, plays the bongo drums and hopes to learn to play the guitar before traveling the world on his quest to become a pro surfer.
“I practice surfing every day. I’m trying to read the waves better, get down the line more, work on my snaps and get enough speed to land airs when I’m 10,” Bryce said.
What is Bryce’s idea of the perfect ending to a day of surfing?
“I will catch a bomb set, make it all the way through, do a couple round houses, a couple snaps and kick out. Then I like to eat steak, read and then go to sleep,” he said.