Pushing limits against fear

When world-renowned surfer Courtney Conlogue goes paddling out into the ocean, she tries to push herself a little further each time. The “gnarlier,” the better, she says.

“It is really important to see girls push their limits,” the 15-year-old Huntington Beach surfer Courtney said at a Girls Inc. event in Costa Mesa on Monday. “They should push their limits any time they seem scared — when it’s fear holding you back.”

As adult professional action sports athletes converge in Huntington Beach this month for the U.S. Open of Surfing, girls from throughout the Southland and the world will meet just down the beach for an event of their own.

The second annual S3 Supergirl Jam has returned after a one-year hiatus to host the world’s best young female surfers, skateboarders and snowboarders.

Four athletes — snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler, skateboarder Lyn-Z Adams Hawkins, surfer Kassia Meador and inline skater Fabiola da Silva — will host the free event.

A skateboarding bowl jam contest and free skateboarding clinics will be Friday, followed by skateboarding bowl and vert ramp best trick contests, inline skating rail jam best trick contest and street skateboarding preliminaries Saturday.

The main activity Saturday will be a new element, when the best young female surfer will be crowned Saturday in the Assn. of Surfing Professionals-sanctioned Supergirl Junior Pro, which carries a nearly $60,000 purse.

The Junior Pro competition will highlight up-and-coming world professionals, including Courtney. Sunday will bring 15 tons of snow to the beach for the snowboard rail jam contest; the day also will feature skateboarding street competition finals and vert ramp demos.

With 100,000 visitors expected, the event will attract a quarter of the U.S. Open’s patrons, organizers expect.

Six of the event’s top competitors in skating and surfing came to the Orange County Girls Inc. center in Costa Mesa to talk to girls and show off some of their skills.

Along with Courtney, da Silva, 29, spoke about her career as one of the world’s top inline skaters, and skating competitors Lauren Perkins, Alize Montes, Allysha Bergado and Leticia Bufoni answered questions from the crowd and signed autographs.