Inspiring Generations of Surfer Girls

This post was published in The Inertia on 10 August 2013. 

Two things Paige Hareb sets: good examples and a solid rail. Photo: ASP / Shadley

Blue Crush.

I can hear your eyes rolling, but that thinly-plotted movie, along with Step Into Liquid, got me to the beach and signed up for my first surf lesson on an old ten-foot foam board.Seeing women surf, and surf well, inspired me to try. Would it have mattered if I’d known that women did not actually compete at Pipeline, as depicted in Blue Crush, until three years after the film’s release? I doubt it. From the moment I stood up on that water-logged log, I was hooked. If those girls in the movies could rip, maybe I could too, one day.

It’s been over ten years since I rode that knee-high wave, and I’ve just stepped down to a 5’4” shortboard. I’m so close to ripping I can almost taste it. For another dose of inspiration, I drove up to Oceanside to watch the best of a field of about 100 female surfers tear it up on mediocre waves at the Ford Supergirl Pro. One might bemoan the contest’s excessive use of pink on its website, or that the winner is made to don a pink Supergirl cape, but there is no denying that it is quite refreshing to have a contest that shines a spotlight on the best talent in women’s surfing today – not as a sideshow to a men’s event, but as a three day main event itself.

I arrived just in time to watch Paige Hareb ride from the quarterfinals through to the final with Malia Manuel. Last year, Paige was the only goofyfoot to make the top ten in the world rankings. Since that’s my stance too, seeing her surf provides both inspiration and education. When Paige left the water after winning a heat, I felt a bit like a silly fan girl waiting on the beach in the t-shirt I got as a reward for contributing to the crowdfunding she used to help finance her tour this year. It reads “Winners never quit. Quitters never win.” Still, I figured she’d appreciate the support so far from home. And I wasn’t the only fan. Little girls darted around her in the sand, smiling and awed, before she was corralled for an interview.

Paige Hareb and an adoring young fan

The scene was the same for the other competitors; and everywhere there were aspiring surfer girls seeing what was possible as their role models made the most of the summer waves on offer. It wasn’t just the great maneuvers they landed, but also the ones they didn’t, that made an impression. Even the best fall sometimes, but they still paddle into the next wave and try again.

Chris Grant of online women’s surf magazine Jetty Girl captured the spirit of the event: “Watching hundreds of young girls cautiously approach their favorite pro surfers only to be welcomed with graciousness, smiles and thoughtful words was not only heart-warming, but it was extremely inspirational as well. The ear-to-ear smiles, the sparkling eyes of youth, and the skips down the beach clutching a newly autographed hat or piece of paper would have warmed the heart of even the most grumpy… [T]he surfers didn’t only showcase the current state of women’s high performance surfing, they also inspired an entire generation of girl groms who no doubt are dreaming of riding waves of their own one day soon.”

Just as they inspired this older surfer girl. Thank you, ladies!

North vs. South: How the Two Californias Stack Up

This post was published in The Inertia on 22 July 2013.

Dawn at San Diego's Ocean Beach

After living and surfing in NorCal (the Bay Area) for seven years, I moved to SoCal (San Diego) six months ago and have inevitably been comparing and contrasting the two regions. One obvious difference is the water temperature. In NorCal, I wore a 4/3 wetsuit year round–always with booties and often with a hood and gloves too. Although the winter water was cooler, mid-summer in SoCal has allowed me to surf in a 2-mil shorty while there are plenty of other folks who have dispensed with rubber altogether on sunny afternoons. One element of surfing is the same wherever you go: the tribe extends throughout the world, and I’ve found surfing buddies down south just as I did up north. Yet there are a few things that surprised me.

Everybody surfs. Or so it seems.

Unlike the Bay Area, which as its name suggests hugs the bay and not the beach, San Diego sprawls alongside the ocean. It’s hard to drive anywhere without seeing a car (or bicycle or skateboard) carrying a surfboard. Grocery stores in beach neighborhoods sell surf wax at the checkout next to the mints. And there are a plethora of surf clubs: town clubs, company clubs, even a women’s surf club, the San Diego Surf Ladies. Many of my co-workers surf, or used to, and stop by my desk for a post-dawn report. Living in Silicon Valley, I never saw this level of wave engagement. I felt like more of an oddity as a surfer, while here, it’s all too common.

It’s harder to surf alone. But not impossible.

With so many surfers living a short distance from the beach, I never expected to be able to enjoy any solitary surf sessions in SoCal as I had at the Jetty in Half Moon Bay. But that magic can still happen here if you’re willing to get to the beach when night is just yielding to morning and paddle out on days which the oracle at Surfline has forecast as less than fair. Of course you understand that I’m not going to tell you where I’ve surfed alone, but I will say that it’s within the San Diego city limits.

I’m still often the only female in the lineup.

One thing I thought might be different in SoCal, due to easier access and warmer water, is the number of women surfers. To some extent, I think there actually are more – enough to form a large and successful women’s surf club – but they generally don’t come out to play when and where I do. At dawn, at the intermediate breaks, I’m still typically the only surfer girl in the water. And I’m rather at a loss to explain this.

People are friendlier.

The first spot I surfed when I moved south was Windansea in La Jolla and the few other surfers in the lineup tried to pretend I didn’t exist. It was not unlike my experiences at the point breaks of Santa Cruz and spots just north. Closer to San Francisco, the lineup would figuratively thaw a bit, but I wouldn’t describe it as particularly friendly unless I’d brought a pack of buddies out with me. Happily, my second San Diego break was Tourmaline Surfing Park, where strangers smile and say hello as soon as you get out of your car in the parking lot. This friendly vibe exists at the majority of breaks in San Diego County. I’ve been called into waves even at competitive spots where I’d anticipated a more aggro vibe like Blacks and Trestles. Yes, Trestles is actually in north San Diego County despite Surfline’s puzzling placement of it in south Orange County. With a larger community of surfers in closer proximity to the coast, it seems counterintuitive but there appears to be a general spirit of surfing aloha in the far south of California that doesn’t come together in the north.

While NorCal surfing certainly had its unique charms and challenges, in six months I have been assimilated and reborn as a SoCal surfer girl. Although I’m still not blonde.

Sex Doesn’t Always Sell, Roxy

This post was published in The Inertia on 4 July 2013. 

“I have a dream that one day a female pro surfer will be judged not by the tightness of her ass but by the greatness of her surfing.” @Waves_SD on Twitter

Since #WhoAmIJustGuess’s derriere seared my eyeballs far too many times without touching surf, I wanted to write a post on Roxy’s awful teaser for the 2013 Biarritz Pro contest. But my thoughts wouldn’t cohere past “Grr!” and “Ugh!” Fortunately other strong voices stepped in. Twitter and Facebook are all over it, and there’s a hilarious parody video. The furor eventually prompted Roxy to offer an unsatisfying response on its Facebook page.

Former pro surfer Cori Schumacher has decided to do more than talk. She’s started a petition asking Roxy to stop using sexy marketing to promote contests and sell product. When it reaches 1,000 signatures, she’ll personally deliver it to the Roxy/Quiksilver headquarters in Orange County.

Dear Roxy, 

Roxy is the world’s most visible and well known women’s surf brand. Recently, Roxy released a trailer for the 2013 Roxy Biarritz Pro contest that showcases a style of marketing women’s surfing that is not conducive to a healthy, empowered vision of women. Instead of women surfers being presented as an alternative to the sexualization and objectification of women in the culture-at-large, this campaign succumbs to the lazy marketing that is already so prevalent. 

As the most visible and well known women’s surf brand, Roxy has a unique opportunity to truly make a difference in how women and girls are represented in the world. 

We ask that you stop the sexualization of women in your marketing and advertising and instead, help to present women surfers in a light that women can be proud to be associated with and young girls can truly admire.

Add your comments and sign the petition here.

Aloha

It's almost time to point the Surfmobile south and begin a new chapter of my life in San Diego. Rocket and Nemo will be strapped to the roof, ready for a coat of warm(er) water wax. And thus ends my sojourn as a NorCal surfer girl. I'll miss my local breaks, especially the solitude of crisp dawn patrols in Half Moon Bay with only one or a few of my surfing buddies. (Although I fully expect that they'll come visit me.)

This also brings to a close the wave journal of a norcal surfer girl, since after a 500-mile drive down the state, I'll be transformed into a SoCal surfer girl. We'll live near the beach and I'll be surfing much more often, so blogging each session would become repetitive and tedious for both writer and reader. But my main reason for resigning from a non-lucrative stint in blogging is an oft-cited one: I want to spend more time with family. Hopefully on the warmer waves, if I can entice him in. Look for me in my new Roxy 3/2 in San Diego-area lineups (I'll finally get to surf Trestles!), on Twitter, and in occasional posts on The Inertia.

Goodbye, NorCal. I'm leaving a piece of my heart behind and taking many salty and sand-encrusted memories with me. Keep warm and stay stoked!

Bittersweet (HMB Jetty)

Fun backwashy waves under crisp sunny skies this morning at the Jetty. But I couldn't help feeling a little melancholy and pre-nostalgic. This was the last surf at my home break, and the last surf with my buddies, before the big move south. And also the last surf of 2012.

Luke, J-Bird and Marcia getting ready to paddle out

Waiting for waves

KOOK

Jacob pondering the meaning of life, the universe and everything

Surfline: Overlapping WNW swells are in the water today. Surf is a little slow this morning with the new swell filling in and a rising high tide. Still, better spots are in the head high range with standouts going a couple feet+ overhead on sets. Winds are light offshore and surface conditions clean. Buoy 46012: (Wave) SWELL: 5.9 ft at 19.0 s NW / WIND WAVE: 1.0 ft at 3.8 s WNW 117 / WVHT: 5.9 ft / APD: 7.9 s / MWD: 317° (Met) WSPD: 6 kn / GST: 8 kn / WVHT: 6.2 ft / DPD: 19.0 s / WDIR: 80° / ATMP: 51° F / WTMP: 53° F. Tide: 5' rising slightly to high.

Moonrise (Cowells)

A strong current made it nigh impossible to get and stay where I needed to be on the fish, but a few fun waves and watching from the water as the full moon rose over the wharf made it worthwhile.

Surfline: Clean conditions through town with NW winds. Fun, consistent surf prevails with primary WNW swell and minor SW swell providing waist-head high waves at good spots and 1-2'+ overhead sets at standouts. Dropping tide. Buoy 46012: (Wave) SWELL: 9.8 ft at 13.8 s NW 116 / WIND WAVE: 4.9 ft at 6.7 s WNW / WVHT: 10.8 ft / APD: 8.2 s / MWD: 306° (Met) WSPD: 17 kn / GST: 21 kn / WVHT: 12.1 ft / DPD: 13.0 s / WDIR: 320° / ATMP: 52° F / WTMP: 55° F. Tide: negative low.