Georgia Brown and Lukas Petrillo take on Florida
by Liz Wolf | Contributing Writer
Ten minutes had passed during the first heat of the Women’s Pro Surf Division finals at the Tommy Tant Surf Classic in Flagler Beach, Florida, and there wasn’t a wave in sight.
Fortunately, James Island Charter High School (JICHS) senior Georgia Brown was used to making something out of nothing, having grown up surfing on Folly Beach. Brown ended up working some magic on two little waves that rolled through and went from last place to first in the final 30 seconds of her heat.
“It was one of the most difficult heats I’ve ever been in,” says Brown. “In my head, I was just thinking that I couldn’t give up and I needed to make it out of that heat even if it took till the last second to prove it.”
And prove it, she did. Brown ended up winning second place in her division as well as a cash prize and bragging rights to bring back home to Charleston.
But Brown wasn’t the only Folly surfer to show off their skills that day. Lukas Petrillo, a classmate of Brown’s at JICHS, also came to win. Petrillo not only defeated the current USA Men’s Longboard Champion in the Men’s Open Longboard Division — a rematch from this summer’s South Carolina State Championships — but he also won his Men’s Pro Division quarterfinal and placed third in the semifinal.
“I’ve surfed against all the guys in my heat before, and they’re all extremely talented, so going into [it] I had doubts, but I told myself ‘to just surf and relax,’ and I think that helped me,” said Petrillo. After securing a comfortable lead straight out of the gate, Petrillo says he was able to focus on having fun, which ultimately got him the scores he needed to advance to the semifinals.
While Brown, who is the daughter of Shaka Surf School owner and local ripper, Jenny Brown, has been surfing since she was four years old, Petrillo has only been surfing for six years. The secret to both of their successes? Dedication and repetition.
“I’ve been really just practicing more and surfing as much as I can,” says Petrillo. “I think that the best way to get better is just spending time in the water.”
Similarly, Brown says it’s important to get out there every day no matter the conditions. A lesson she learned from her parents, who first inspired her to get into the sport.
It’s this kind of determination and commitment that landed Brown a place on the pro tour.
A week prior to her all-star performance in Flagler, Brown was in Jacksonville Beach, FL, competing in her first World Surfing League Qualifying Series event, The Super Girl Surf Festival. Brown not only advanced through her first pro heat, but she also got to compete alongside some of the best female surfers in the country.
“It was so amazing to see the level of competition and how good the girls there were,” said Brown. “I think it’s a really special event because it’s just a bunch of girls supporting each other, and I was so happy to experience it.”
She says the competition taught her a lot and made her want to train even harder. It’s this mentality that has caught the eye of judges, spectators, and sponsors alike. Brown is currently sponsored by Ocean Surf Shop, Rusty Surfboards, Play Salty, Free Fly Apparel, Nectar Sunglasses, Surfer Betty, and Hed Hi Studio.
Petrillo, who is also sponsored by Ocean Surf Shop and Free Fly Apparel, has two goals for the immediate future: more contests and more travel.
Brown plans to do some traveling as well, eventually making her way to California after graduation to continue her pro tour training. From there, she says she’d like to move to Hawaii to keep challenging herself and improving her surfing.
“We’ll see what happens from there,” she said.
For now, both surfers will return to what they know best: early mornings, inconsistent waves, and countless hours in the water. But after this fall in Florida, it’s clear that Folly Beach is no longer just where Georgia Brown and Lukas Petrillo learned to surf — it’s where two of the East Coast’s most promising competitors are being shaped.
And if their performances are any indication, it won’t be long before the rest of the surfing world is paying attention, too.
