Tatiana Weston-Webb of Hawaii and Leonardo Fioravanti from Italy have been crowned the Rip Curl International GromSearch champions for the 2012 series.
The Rip Curl GromSearch is an international series that sees over 2,000 junior surfers (16 years and under) compete to represent their country at the International final as part of the Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach each year. It all started as a one-day event at Jan Juc beach (Torquay, Australia) back in 1999 and is now in its 15th year. It has expanded from that small event to into an International series held in key surfing regions around the globe including the USA, Brazil, Europe, Indonesia, South Africa, South America and New Zealand.
Many current surfing champions began their competitive careers in the Rip Curl GromSearch series including Gabriel Medina (Brazil), Owen Wright (NSW), Jordy Smith (South Africa), Kolohe Andino (USA), Matt Wilkinson (NSW), Steph Gilmore (NSW), Sally Fitzgibbons (NSW), Tyler Wright (NSW), Malia Manuel (Hawaii)