Road Trip from the South Bay to San Diego - Holly Beck and Friends Meet Up With Lauren Sweeney - Story & Photos by Chris Grant/JettyGirl.com

5:53am, incoming text message from Holly Beck... "Driving down south with some high school girls from around here, let's surf."

8:01am, after rolling out of bed... "Hey Holly, when are you getting down here?"

8:02am..."We're already here!"

After the usual deciding-where-to-surf routine, we ended up meeting up with Encinitas ripper Lauren Sweeney at a temperamental little beachbreak in North San Diego County.

The South Bay struggles during the summer months with the local beaches largely blocked from receiving south swells, so the girls were amped to get out there for a surf. Although we were greeted with gray skies and onshore winds, there were a few peaks rolling in so I decided to break out the camera gear anyway.

Emily Wratschko caught the first good wave of the session, a nice little right that she rode with her trademark smooth style. Emily has really good body positioning when she surfs, shoulders parallel with her board at all times and she punctuated this wave with a solid lip bash at the wave's conclusion.

Next up was Lauren Sweeney on a lined up left, throwing buckets and ending with a sliding hook off the closeout. Lauren is an amazing surfer and even if she hasn't had big results on the world stage yet, it's definitely not for lack of talent. I'd place Lauren in the same category as Shea Hodges, Silvana Lima, Melanie Bartels and Claire Bevilacqua as far as pure surfing progression is concerned. I would not be surprised at all to see Lauren pulling a mind-bended air that lands her in the mainstream surf magazines within the next few years.

Literally seconds after Lauren's left, Holly Beck scored an unusually long left with over a half-dozen clean turns. I've often mentioned to my wife that if my life absolutely depended on getting a shot of someone and I only had one hour to do it, Holly's the one I'd call. She's always on time (most of the time even early), loves the dawn patrol, surfs for hours at a time, rides colorful boards, throws tons of spray, and keeps her sponsors in the spotlight with an ultra-dependable approach to her job as a professional athlete.

Next up was Natalie Anzivino, surfing a right with a crisp, powerful style ending the section with a frontside alley-oop attempt. I hope I'm there the day she pulls her first one off. Natalie is a really strong surfer and is a fixture in the NSSA contest scene each season.

The final member of the South Bay crew was a young South Bay goofyfoot named Jessica Rodgers. Jessica rode more waves than anyone that day and it is clear that she's progressing really quickly. She approaches each wave with a quick down-the-line style and has a fantastic frontside snap in her possession. Although I didn't get to see it on this day, word on the street is that she's a really good skater too.

After a bit, the tide started to fill in and killed the break the girls were surfing. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Lauren sneak over to the inside shore dump just south of us. It didn't look like much of a wave until she stood up, raced down the line (narrowly missing a tourist in a Speedo®) and launched a solid backside air. It didn't take long before the whole crew was down there exchanging waves and having a blast. From my vantage point on the beach, the session became extremely fun to watch...airs, slides, fins-free snaps, and the occasional over-the-falls onto almost dry sand.

Two highlights stick out in my mind when the session moved over into the shorebreak. Lauren pulled an amazing frontside spin in the shorebreak, throwing her tail all the way around, then rotating back around to complete the move. The second highlight wasn't a specific ride but Holly's overall performance in the shorebreak lefts. I think Holly received a bit of inspiration from Lauren's aerial approach because I have never seen her hit the lip so well...she pulled airs, big lip slides and her fins were barely ever in the water.

I hate to admit this but sometimes I feel like falling asleep while I'm standing on the beach shooting photos. Not this time though, this day was really special to me because it was an unexpected treat. I had just had multiple sessions with some of the world's top surfers...sessions where I anticipated amazing things but came away feeling empty after witnessing jaded attitudes, yelling, screaming and flipping off waves, and a general disregard for anything resembling a classy approach to life or their professional careers. In contrast, this gray summer day provided inspiration, a pushing of personal limits by the girls, and amazing energy. It was wonderful to watch.

Upon exiting the water I told Lauren that I thought she had inspired Holly because I had never seen her rip so hard.

Lauren replied, "That's all I want to do...inspire! That's the best thing I could ever hope to do with my surfing."

The world tour surfers might have already left for Europe, but on that day, in those waves, this was the best surfing I had seen all summer long.