I told my Minnesota friends we had a surf contest. They asked "are you going to be suntanning when your son is surfing?"

No bikini's today Minnesota friends. This is contest middle school surfing. Serious, cold, foreboding with your cred and rep on the line.

We woke up early and it was windy cold and ...well windy and cold.

Lucas is all in. He is getting ready for his first heat.

Here is his coach Mark Brolski giving some last minute instruction. Mark is a great guy who is successful and can rip surfing. They are lucky to have Mark and his wife Liz as coaches.

The horn blows twice and they are in!

Here is Lucas on his last wave with a bottom turn in this slop. He came in second and wins a berth in the Semi Finals.

Surfing is an interesting sport in that you don't need to be big to be good. Collin is about 4'5" and the best surfer at the contest.

Record high tides and storm surge.

7 schools and 100 surfers.

Waxing up for the semis.

The horn blows for the semis. I was too excited to take any pictures.

The waves were just stormy and closed out. In his semi final heat the surfers got caught inside for most of the 15 minutes. Lucas got outside and got a good wave. He was in position to take the heat but did not catch another wave.

The other surfers took whitewater reforms but Lucas did not get the memo. I was trying to call his cell phone (yes really I called maybe in my wacky state of mind I thought he had a bat phone or water proof cell that he could answer while 6 foot waves were breaking on his head).

He did well and will keep his top ten ranking for the San Diego Region.

No sleep the night before, 4 hours of cold, 31 set waves to the head, advancing to the semis. Here is the best part of coming home. 14 minutes after his shower, fast asleep.

Whatever I have tried to do in life, I have tried with all my heart to do it well; whatever I have devoted myself to, I have devoted myself completely; in great aims and in small I have always thoroughly been in earnest- Charles Dickens from David Copperfield