The rising stars of surfing got to strut their stuff at this years Billabong Grom Series today.

The two day series which began yesterday is presented by Oceanbridge and is held at Tay Street, Mount Maunganui.

Some of the action from today's event. Photos: Cameron Avery.

Day one of the event produced clean waves up to 1.0m with light variable winds in the morning and offshores in the afternoon. Conditions were perfect for the grommets including the youngest of the pack in the Under-14 Boys Division.

Gisborne's Finn Johnson stunned his opponents with a 17.0 point heat total out of a possible 20 points. The natural-foot surfer picked off two of the best waves of the day for his massive heat total.

'Yeah pretty happy with how I went. I felt like I was surfing well because the waves were fun” the 13-year-old says.

'If your first turn is good then you get confidence for the rest of the wave and that was what happened to me out there today” Finn says. 'Finn Vette ripped and so did Riaka (Ruru).”

Whakatane's Jack Lee was impressive in his Under-14 Boys Division heat surfing to a 10.93 point total as were the two Jai's, Mount Maunganui's Jai Parr with a 12.17 point total and one of the youngest competitors in the event, 11-year-old Jai Wallis (Piha) who won his low scoring match up.

Joining the fresh faces were all the top seeds including national champion Thomas Robinson (Whangarei), Tom Butland (Tara), James Ririnui (Mount) and Josef Jungwirth (Gis) who all took heat wins to move through to the quarter-finals.

The Under-17 Boys Division was dominated by a strong contingent of Bay of Plenty surfers who took five of eight wins in the first round. New Zealand representative Jonas Tahwharu led the way with a 15.57 point heat total. Tawharu was joined by the smooth surfing Jared Gebert of Ohope who took apart the reforming right-handers posting a 15.60 point heat total.

Young Luke Griffin was competing in the Under-17 Boys Division for the first time this year and that was no deterrent for him as he went on to win his heat against surfers three years his senior. Other winners in the Under-17 Boys Division that are from the Bay region included Thomas Carter (Waihi Beach) and Lee Ririnui (Mount).

The Under 20 Boys kicked off the day utilising the clean morning conditions. Kerikeri surfer Joe Palmer and Tauranga's Callum Chuter both posted 16.0 point heat totals.

Both are goofy foot surfers and took a liking to the left hand rip bowl in front of the competition site, hitting clean lips and flying across fast sections through to the inside shore dump. Palmer and Chuter missed the National Championships held in Dunedin earlier this month so will be looking to make up for their absence at that event.

Last year's Under-20s Champion Taylor Hutchison (Rag) continued where he left off with a comprehensive heat win to move through to the semi-finals alongside fellow New Zealand representative Manu Scott – Arrieta (Sandy Bay).

Fifty young girls took part in the Billabong Girls Get Out There Day surf and yoga lessons with coaches and a guest appearance from Jamie McDell who delighted all the attendees. The competition continues today. SunLive will bring you the results as they come to hand.

Under 20 Boys Round of 20

Heat 1Ben King (Tara), 11.6, 1, Travis Morton (Waihi Beach), 9.3, 2, Ihaia Ngata (Mnt), 8.17, 3, Ben McCulloch (Gi), 7.97, 4

Heat 2Isaac Kettle (Tara), 14.7, 1, Max Dicken (Auck), 8.57, 2, Kobe Jonson (Gis), 7.47, 3, Matthew Jensen (Whngrei), 7.1, 4

Under 20 Boys Round of 16

Heat 1 Joe Palmer (Kerikeri), 15.8, 1, Jack Wilson (Chch), 9.07, 2, Fraser Falconer (Auck), 6.57, 3, Ben King (Tara), 5.77, 4

Heat 2Taylor Hutchison (Rag), 13.2, 1, Manu Scott Arrieta (Sandy Bay), 11.2, 2, Zac Curle (Waihi Bch), 10.2, 3, Travis Morton (Waihi Beach), 5.07, 4

Heat 3Callum Chuter (Tau), 15.7, 1, Harry Macintosh (Rag), 10.1, 2, Jacob Warnes (Mnt), 8.1, 3, Max Dicken (Auck), 7.73, 4

Heat 4Jordan Griffin (Mnt), 13.6, 1, Andrew Fraser - MacKenzie (Tau), 10.2, 2, Isaac Kettle (Tara), 10.1, 3, Riccardo Lucibella (Tara), 6.47, 4

Under 17 Boys Round of 34 Heat 1Tanner Hayes (Katikati), 8.80, 1, Cameron Hankins (Waihi Beach), 7.37, 2, Jack Rosewarne (Ham), 6.33, 3, Reiki Ruawai (Rag), 5.40, 4

Under 17 Boys Round of 32 Heat 1Thomas Cater (Waihi Bch), 11.90, 1, Shane Kraus (Piha), 10.40, 2, Joel Clegg (Tara), 7.90, 3, William Barnes (Mnt), 4.67, 4

Heat 2Reef Matthews (Tara), 12.83, 1, Lockie O'Connor (Mnt), 9.57, 2, Caleb Moratti (Tara), 7.50, 3, Jack Cederman (Ohope), 5.87, 4

Heat 3Elliot Brown (Dun), 11.3, 1, Connor McLennan (Chch), 11.23, 2, Sam Dingle (Tara), 7.47, 3, Jamahl Moselen (Whangarei), 6.5, 4

Heat 4 Jonas Tawharu (Mnt), 15.57, 1, Riaki Ruru (Gis), 10.00, 2, Max Brunker (Whngrei), 9.33, 3, Cameron Hankins (Waihi Bch), 4.10, 4

Heat 5 Lee Ririnui (Mnt), 12.40, 1, Caleb Cutmore (Ham), 10.07, 2, Tanner Hayes (Katikati), 8.47, 3, Alex Edrich (Auck), 5.87, 4

Heat 6 Luke Griffin (Mnt), 14.1, 1, Jay Piper Healion (Whiti), 9.87, 2, Jack McLaren (Mnt), 7.97, 3, Tom Norton (Waipu), 7.97, 4

Heat 7 Jared Gebert (Ohope), 15.60, 1, Dylan Preston (Whmata), 13.77, 2, William Van der Beek (Mnt), 8.73, 3, Ayrton Yarrell (Waihi Beach), 7.10, 4

Heat 8 Joseph Critchfield (Mangawhai), 8.03, 1, Samuel Sands (ChCh), 7.73, 2, Sonny Rapira - Martin (Tara), 7.20, 3, Alex O'Dwyer (Whaka), 6.67, 4

Under 14 Boys Division Round 1

Heat 1Tom Butland (Tara), 11.7, 1, Finn Vette (Gis), 10.7, 2, Kava Matthews (Tara), 7.27, 3, Taj Broughton (Kaitaia), 6.33, 4

Heat 2Finn Johnson (Gis), 17, 1, Myka Black (Chch), 11.6, 2, Jack Hinton (Mnt), 9.6, 3, Cassidy Mann (Auck), 4.93, 4

Heat 3Jack Lee (Whakatane), 10.93, 1, Kora Cooper (Rag), 7.47, 2, Ben Smith (Coro), 6.33, 3, Manawa Ruru (Gis), 5.5, 4

Heat 4 Tom Robinson (Whngrei), 14.3, 1, Navryn Malone (Rag), 9.07, 2, Daniel Robertson (Lower Hutt), 4.8, 3, Ollie Quinn (Auck), 4.27, 4

Heat 5 Jai Parr (Mnt), 12.2, 1, Taylor O'Leary (Mur), 12, 2, Ryder Pennington (Tara), 7.2, 3, Ben Robertson (Lower Hutt), 4.07, 4

Heat 6 Jai Wallis (Auck), 5.53, 1, Ben Moir (Ohope), 5.3, 2, Nathan Gebert (Ohope), 3.87, 3, Luke Gilbert (Auck), 3.2, 4

Heat 7 James Ririnui (Mnt), 11.5, 1, Reef Newdick (Mnt), 8.83, 2, Cory Vercoe (Mangawhai), 7.53, 3, Ben Storey (Te Awa), 3.97, 4

Heat 8 Josef Jungwirth (Rag), 13.2, 1, Geordie Boon (Auck), 7.13, 2, Jayden Willoughby (Rag), 6.17, 3, Leo Gerrie (Mnt), 3.1, 4