It's going to be a Ripper

Petite junior surfers Sarah Baum and Heidi Palmboom are confident they have what it takes to defeat their more experienced competitors at this weekend's Rip Curl Gromsearch grand finals at New Pier.

Baum, 10 years old, and 11-year-old Palmboom, are the youngest invitees at the prestigious annual two-day contest.

They will compete against 10 of South Africa's top under-16 surfers: Tarryn Chudleigh (Western Province), Kate Goldreich (KwaZulu-Natal), Lisa Mace (Boland), Alice McGregor (Border), Laetitia Lee (Eastern Province), Nikita Robb (Border), Julia Morris (Southern KwaZulu-Natal), Chloe Humby (Border), Lesley Salzman (KwaZulu-Natal) and Fiona Camden Smith (Border).

Baum said she felt confident going into this weekend's contest and fancied the thought of winning a trip to surf in Australia.

"It's great to compete with really good surfers like Nikita Robb and Kate Matthews. I think Nikita will be the one to beat," she said.

Earlier this year, Baum won back-to-back under-14 division titles at the first two Roxy Surf Jam Series contests in Durban and at St Mikes and was also crowned the under-12 Billabong "I'm a surfer" girl division champion.

Bluff surfer Palmboom said she was unfazed by her more experienced and older competitors.

"I don't focus on who I'll be competing against. These contests are good experience for me."

She said she planned to give it her all.

"When I go out for a heat, everyone is my rival. I'll take each heat as it comes and my goal is to reach the final where I plan to finish in the top two."

The Rip Curl Gromsearch grand finals will see South Africa's top 16 under 16 boys and top 12 under 16 girls vying for top honours.

The under-16 boys and girls division champions will walk away with an all-expenses paid trip to surf at the Rip Curl World Gromsearch finals at Bells Beach, Australia, next Easter. The contest takes place from 8am to 3pm on Saturday.

The girls finals are at 11.40am on Sunday, followed by the boys finals at 12pm.