VIRGINIA BEACH, VA (WTKR) - The sound of crashing waves at the end of August usually signals it's time for the East Coast Surfing Championship.
10-year-old McCauley Hoover barely remembers what life was like before she took on her first wave.
"My sister, she's a big surfer," Hoover said. "I just started to see her like have fun with all of her friends and stuff and here I was just sitting on the beach so I decided to go out and try it."
She started surfing regularly, as did two other Virginia Beach natives in Story Martinez and Saydee Stiles.
"Just saw my brother doing it and just wanted to try it and fell in love with it," Martinez said.
"My parents just took me in the water and put me on a board and then boom," Stiles remembered.
The three met each other at various surf sessions and competitions, but those random meetings turned into more time spent together and soon after, the three became almost inseparable.
"We just kept building friendship and hanging out and now we're best friends," Stiles said.
The trio have taken surfing to new levels since beginning. Martinez won eight medals at last year's ECSC, and became the youngest girl to compete in the Women's Pro event.
"Being in the ocean, it's my passion and I love doing it," she said. Martinez took home the junior wahine longboard 17 and under division title on Sunday, and surfed in three other finals that day as well.
Both Hoover and Stiles made the 17 and under longboard final as well, and Hoover won the Coastal Edge Spam Jam street and ramp skate contests.
They rooted for each other as loud as anyone else.
"(Surfing) is like a glue, because we all get along while doing it," Hoover said.
They don't hide the face that things can get a little fiery if they're in the heat of battle.
"It gets pretty competitive," Martinez said.
"We'll be fighting and blabbering," Hoover added.
Those moments are worth it for the trio of friends to be standing next to each other on a podium or paddling out for their next big wave.
"It is way better than going out there without any of your friends," Stiles said.
