The EPIC surf competition from Namiko Surf Co. will take place tomorrow, April 14 at 1:00 pm SLT on Moana'Ina Beach, Weather Island .

Twenty-two surfers were registered to compete as of Thursday morning, for lindens and prizes from sponsors Namiko Surf Co., GR Boards, Reaction, Sport2.de and others. Keala Mimistrobell, the creator of Namiko and organizer of the event, said that one of her main goals with her company is to create events like this.

“Right from the very beginning, the goal with the company has been to build up a surf community with regular events that can either be social or competitive, it's really all about building community,” she said.

Surfing in SL has grown in popularity recently. On March 23 Mimistrobell organized the first Namiko surf competition, which drew 60 spectators and 17 competitors, and saw SamyJo Ah crowned as SL’s first surf champion. Ah will be returning to defend her title on Saturday.

Valent1ne Apogee, a surfer for Team Namiko who directed a machinima about the competition, said she thinks Mimistrobell’s work with Namiko has something to do with the recent surge of interest.

“I've seen a big rise in the popularity of surfing, especially after Namiko came about,” she said.

Mimistrobell attributes much of what she does to the work of Sebastian Saramago and Heather Goodliffe of Surf Systems Inc., who develop the waves used for surfing at many locations around the world, including Moana’Ina Beach. Namiko has worked with Surf Systems to create designs for a series of surfboards compatible with the waves they created.