Salted Magazine: A Review

Women's surf magazines have not had an easy time, briefly burning bright and then disappearing. Some tried to broaden their appeal by focusing on topics with no relevance to surfing (and no interest to me), like fashion and makeup. But none lasted long in the U.S. and for years we've had only the sporadically-published online Jetty Girl.

Sadly, mainstream surf magazines give almost no consideration to female surfers, unless they're doing a frontside bottom turn in an itsy-bitsy bikini.

When Surfer Magazine announced the upcoming release of a women's surf mag, I was cautiously optimistic. The day Salted: A Surf Magazine for Women hit newstands, I stopped by a bookstore to pick up a copy. I was not disappointed. In fact, it exceeded my low expectations by a lot.

Glossy and uncluttered by the ubiquitous ads of Surfer itself, Salted seems to aspire to the format of The Surfer's Journal or Surfer's Path. There are plenty of photos of girls in bikinis, but many are actual surfing scenes, and they are generally tasteful rather than prurient (for example, there are no headless body shots). Although Laura Enever talks about her favorite foundation and a handful of pages near the back highlight terrestrial clothing, the main focus is on surfing.

Can it be? A woman surfing in a wetsuit!

There is even a full article on Canada's best female surfer, Leah Oke, who most definitely does not go out at her home break in a bikini.

It's not clear to me what Surfer has planned for its new women's surf magazine. I can't find any way to subscribe or information about when the next issue will be released. But I'm looking forward to seeing more of Salted.