By Mike Latronic – A cool current flows through the morning air and it’s still relatively dark, with just a glint of light and color barely visible. Visually it’s another somber morning in Punta Negra, Peru. I say that without malice the landscape is just flat and barren compared to most places you’d expect elite surfing. Small hills and dusty cliffs back the ocean, and here the Pacific is always active. The waves are rarely under three feet, but grey skies and low-lying clouds are almost constant perhaps why the world rarely sees an abundance of surf photography from Peru. The wind lies calm though, and there’s promise in that stillness.
On this particular morning our house is already buzzing. Polarizing the grey skyscape are bright sounds, laughter, and the hustle of the Hawai’i Junior Surf Team preparing for their first day of competition at the ISA World Junior Championships. It would be romantic to say that ukulele sounds and Hawai’ian music filled the air, but in a house full of a dozen teenagers you more often heard modern rock, rap, and pop. Youth is king, and tech is the temple.
Nearly 450 of the world’s top junior surfers gathered to vie for gold medals and team dominance at one of Peru’s premier reef breaks — Punta Rocas — where long rights and sculpted lefts frame one of South America’s oldest competitive surf stages. The ISA World Junior Surfing Championship is a launching pad for future stars, first held in 1980 as part of the ISA World Surfing Games and spun off as its own event in 2003.
The opening ceremonies seemed like a traveling United Nations, with flags from every corner of the surf world and smiles radiant across all cultures. The actual competition zone was incredible: several peaks around a central lineup that offered variety — long walls on the rights and the left. Even when the swell went smallest, the venue kept providing ample surf.
Head coach Jason Shibata, with team coach and seasoned former World Tour competitor (and classic fun-lover) Sebastian Zeitz, corralled and guided the twelve kids from Hawai’i with fierce dedication. It was telling that Zeitz, a Kauai resident, was on the program — and that a majority of this year’s team list was also from the Garden Isle: Jacob Turner, Legend Chandler, Tiger Abubo, Kahanu Rangel, Leah Turner, Ione Laturner, and Elliamna Grubbs. Mana Cazimero, Sunny Giles, and Zoey Kaina came from Oʻahu, and Kalei Rivas was what they call “FBI,” aka from the Big Island. Gotta give gratitude to official team parent Buck Giles and the other parents who traveled south to help! It was a fun-filled, feisty 12-day adventure with plenty of great surfing, a world of aloha, and of course a little intensity to keep things interesting.
When the finals day came, the global nature of junior surfing was on full display. Two Spaniards would rise to claim the elite U18 titles — a major moment for Spanish surf development. Dylan Donegan (ESP) took gold in the Under 18 Boys, surfing with precision and heart to score 17.50 in the final and hold off Hawai’i favorites Jacob Turner and Tiger Abubo for the title. On the girls’ side, Sol Borelli (ESP) claimed gold in the Under 18 Girls, finishing with a 15.33 total over a stacked field. These results marked a historic double for Spain and underscored how European surfers are rapidly rising in junior rankings.
In the Under 16 divisions, Ocean Lancaster (AUS) displayed powerful, committed surfing to earn gold for Australia, posting one of the highest heat totals of the whole event. Bailey Turner (USA) took gold in the Under 16 Girls, while Thiago Passeri (ARG) and Caden Francis (AUS) earned silver and bronze respectively in the Under 16 Boys. In the girls’ U16, Catalina Zariquiey (PER) thrilled the home crowd with a silver medal, a historic result for Peru — their first junior ISA podium in many years.
Australia’s incredible depth across divisions helped them once again secure team gold at the ISA World Juniors, defending their title and showing how strong their developmental pipeline continues to be. The USA took silver, Brazil bronze, and Peru — buoyed by Zariquiey’s breakthrough — finished comfortably in fourth.
For Hawai’i, while the team didn’t reach the podium, individual performances were nothing short of impressive: Jacob Turner scored silver, Tiger Abubo hauled bronze, and Zoey Kaina earned a copper in the girls’ U16. The way these young athletes battled in the surf says a lot about their grit and future potential.
The ISA World Junior Championships have long been recognized as a cradle for future elite surfers. Champions from past ISA events went on to success in the World Surf League and in global professional surfing — names like Gabriel Medina, Filipe Toledo, Tatiana Weston-Webb, Stephanie Gilmore, and more cut their teeth in ISA junior competitions.
Looking back on those 12 days in Peru, what stands out most isn’t just the medals or podiums, it’s the collective energy of young surfers from every corner of the planet, all riding the same swell, all chasing their dreams and mixing it up to forge lifelong friendships and rivalries.
Congrats again to all the competitors and to Team Australia for taking home gold and to every kid who paddled out, surfed with heart, and represented their home with pride. You truly are the future of surfing.
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