This weekend's International Beach Festival in Sydney has the biggest all women's surfing field in the world this year.
For Coco Ho, the chance to compete at a place where her father Michael surfed in the 1980's means a lot. The Chinese-American is proud of her cultural heritage and her father's achievements.
Coco Ho began surfing in her native Hawaii when she was seven. She turned pro in 2009 and won the rookie of the year.
Her father Michael was a legendary Chinese-American surfing figure in the 1970’s, and Coco’s brother and uncle were also both good surfers and her rise had an air of inevitability.
"My Dad has done a great job in teaching us about our heritage. It's nice to follow in his footsteps."
"I'm really, really stoked to see how beautiful Cronulla actually is."
Coco will be lining up in the largest all women surfing event in the world this year with around 100 established and rising stars in action. The event has been organised by her rival and friend, Australia's Sally Fitzgibbons.
And she told SBS, competing at her friend's event will be a great experience.
"I'm really, really stoked to see how beautiful Cronulla actually is," she said.
Fitzgibbons and Ho are now both 25. As the world number eight, Fitzgibbons is ranked just five places higher than Ho - but their goal remains the same.
Sally Fitzgibbons [centre left] and Coco Ho [centre right] at the launch of the International Beach Festival in Cronulla Source: SBS
"We both want to win that world title so bad," she said.
"To be able to have this friendship but also be competitors is really unique and special."
The four day event gets underway on Thursday, with an Iron woman race, an ocean swim and a one mile run also being staged to help showcase Cronulla's beach lifestyle.
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