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By Bret Putnam, STAFF WRITER
PACIFICA -- The heat was on and the surf was up Saturday, as dozens of young women gathered at Linda Mar Beach for a landmark surfing competition.
The NorCal Women's Surf Fest drew nearly 60 surfers from Bolinas to Santa Cruz, and points in between, for Pacifica's first all-women surfing contest.
Linda Mar is known for consistently fine waves and Saturday did not disappoint, with swells coming in four to five feet high -- sometimes glassy, and sometimes choppy.
Good waves, combined with hot weather, made for a perfect day.
"There's some pretty good surfers here," said Aimee Luthringer, a 28-year-old Pacifica surfer. "It's competitive, but it's fun."
The Surf Fest featured longboard and shortboard competitions for three different age groups, and a style contest that was open to men -- so long as they surfed in drag. In each heat, surfers were given 15 minutes to ride six waves -- and show the judges their stuff.
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"The goal is to pick quality waves," said Luthringer, who competed in the longboard and shortboard contests. "It the wave is well-formed, well, you can do a lot of maneuvers."
Surfing in the cool waters off the Northern California coast is strenuous, but according to Asi Ghiassi, a 33-year-old Pacifica surfer who competed in longboard Saturday, the primary challenge is mental.
It's about "being relaxed and not having anything else on your mind when you're surfing," Ghiassi said. "You go with the wave, rather than fight the wave."
Pacifica surfers agree that Linda Mar -- a long crescent-shaped bay -- is a great place to take up the sport. The surf is gentler than at other popular Northern California locales, such as San Francisco's Ocean Beach.
Linda Mar is attracting many novice surfers, as an explosion of sorts is taking place in women's surfing. More girls and women -- of all ages -- are riding the waves, and magazines and movies are documenting the phenomenon.
On hand to emcee Saturday's event was one of surfing's new celebrities, Mary Osborne, a 21-year-old from Ventura who won MTV's Surf Girls longboard competition this year.
The event also featured surfing clinics, yoga exercise sessions, and a smattering of merchandising.
"There are more and more women surfers everyday," said Izzy Szczepaniak, a 35-year surfing veteran whose 15-year-old daughter has recently taken up the sport. "There are a lot of great women surfers in Pacifica."
You can reach Bret Putnam at 348-4330 or by e-mail at bputnam@angnewspapers.com .
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