Margaret River surfers Ily and Leila Fraser ‘Seas The Day’ at east coast women’s surf competition

Young surfing sensations Ily and Leila Fraser have had the chance to rub shoulders with the country’s leading female surfers during a flying visit to the east coast.

The juniors attended Surfing Australia’s Seas The Day event at Kingscliff Beach in northern New South Wales at the weekend.

Ily triumphed as part of girls’ team Mini Micro Power in the Salty Girls Surf School U12 Mini Shredders division.

“I love hanging out with my friends, meeting new friends, and getting to surf in a tag team,” she said.

“It’s a pretty cool event. I met Layne Beachley, we’ve been surfing a lot, and there’s heaps of cool stuff to do here.”

Ily and her sister also came fourth in the under-18s event, surfing under the team name Alley Kittens.

Mother Yvette Fraser said she appreciated the team spirit and community feeling at the event and it was great for her daughters who made the trek.

“It’s been a fun weekend getting the girls involved,” she said.

“We don’t really have board rider team events like this in WA, so it’s been cool to see the clubs sticking together, everyone out with their tents, cheering each other on.”

Seas The Day, which will return next year, drew an estimated crowd of 15,000 people over the two days from June 21-22.

Surfing Australia chief executive Chris Mater lauded the change to highlight the role of women in the popular sport.

“It has been an incredible two-days celebrating women in surfing at Seas The Day, the world’s largest female participation surf event,” he said.

“A huge thank you must go out to all of the hub hosts, guest speakers, female commentators, photographers, and judges, as well as the families, board rider clubs and friends who put teams together and competed over the weekend.”

The festival also featured workshops designed to support women in the sport.

The event finished with a Celebrity Surf Challenge involving AFLW players.