What’s your name and what fills your time?
Kayla Durden. Right now my time is filled with work, surfing, my puppy and personal training. I was fortunate enough to be born and raised on the First Coast. My dad grew up surfing so naturally he passed it on to my brother and I. I’m an insanely competitive person so when I saw my brother surfing I knew I had to try it. From the age of 5 I was hooked and I knew surfing would be what I did forever! I competed in the amateur ranks on the first coast and started to really improve quickly working with the help from my coach Mitch Kaufmann. From there, I started to travel to the West Coast to compete and turned professional at 16. I decided to attend college at UNF before going full time into professional surfing – after I graduated I began competing on the world qualifying series full time until I was selected for ABC’s The Ultimate Surfer in 2020. After filming I landed a job at the World Surf League and moved out to Los Angeles. I’ve had the privilege to travel the world as a professional surfer and nothing compares to the First Coast!!
Anything special happen over the summer?
I was promoted to the Associate Commissioner position at the World Surf League and I got to surf some insane right point breaks in El Salvador.
Any hobbies or interests worth telling us about?
Cooking and creating new recipes has become my favorite hobby since living in Los Angeles. I’ve really begun prioritizing my health and love sharing it with others through food!
What’s one thing (funny, different, cool) that many might not know about you?
I speak Spanish!
What’s the best part of living here on the First Coast?
Honestly EVERYTHING! I currently live in Los Angeles but the First Coast has my heart .. it’s the community and the feeling of home every time I’m in town. It’s the feeling of running into friends in the parking lot before a surf, seeing friends and family in coffee shops and celebrating the success of others in our community who are doing amazing things all over the world.
Anything else that you would like to tell the community?
I bring the First Coast with me everywhere I go and all I want to do is make my hometown proud.
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Mike is a native First Coaster and was a leading figure in surfing and skateboarding for most of his life. After promoting music for many years on the local music scene, Mike now brings a unique perspective to FirstCoast.Life as a contributing writer.
