Tina Wood is one of the few local female surfers to be surfing after 5 decades – starting in 1969 @ 13 years old. She was a competitive swimmer along with her brothers, Dirk and Kevin. Her dad would get them up at 5:00am and have them swim from Quietwater Pier to the bridge and back. Then at night, they’d have swim team practice. He also took them body surfing, and that’s where she got accustomed to waves and currents in the gulf, which was super helpful when she started surfing. She doesn’t remember any other girls surfing consistently when she began.