It’s a cool 75 degrees and the water is crystal clear at Makaha, a surf spot popular with the locals on the west side of Oahu, Hawaii. As I make my way out through the channel, psyched to get in some surf, I suddenly notice everyone in the water is staring at me. Uh-oh. Is my barely-there bikini top falling off, or is it just that I am a woman in the male-dominated world of surfing?
My guess is the latter. Okay, I’ll admit I am hardly the type of person you’d normally see surfing at Makaha. At five-foot-one, a little overweight and Caucasian, or ‘howley,’ I expect the traditional you-don’t-belong-here glances, but when a male surfer splashed me with water while riding his wave, I finally got it — I’m in the middle of a challenge.
“Alright,” I thought to myself. They want to see if the white girl can surf.
Bring it on.
The first few waves I went for were disastrous. You know, the kind of scenario in which a girl who has a lot to prove gets in over her head and completely falls off her board, momentarily losing her bathing suit bottom and a heck of a lot of self-esteem.
“It’s okay,” I told myself. “Just get back up and do what you love to do.”
And then it happened — I saw my perfect wave heading straight towards me.
The only problem is five other guys saw it too and they were paddling with everything they had inside in of them to beat me to the wave … except that I was already perfectly lined up for it.
In a matter of seconds, I realize I am standing on my board, on top of a wave taller than I am and as I look back, expecting to see scorns from the men I beat to get here, I suddenly hear cheers.
“Go sista!” says an older local, probably 65, rooting his hands in the air.
“Ho, get it girl!” I hear from some of the surfers passing me by on their way back out to the break.
And I have done it. I have gained the respect I needed to surf among the men.
Okay, the battle was probably mostly in my head, but can you really blame me?
I mean, the role of women in the water has changed so much in the past few years, one can only expect mixed reactions.
We’ve come a long way from the days of the Beach Boys in the 50s, when surfing was restricted to, well, the boys.
Following the example of women like Margo Oberg, who tried to break into the professional surfing scene in the 1970s, and Lisa Anderson, who transformed women’s surf into a full-fledged sport in the late 80s, women are breaking into the water with force.
From the five-year-old girl surfing on a longboard with her mother to the 85-year-old aunty giving everyone a run for their money, it’s hard to deny that women are changing the sport for the better.
You see, women seem to carry with them something men don’t — a strong sense of friendship in the water.
Sure, there are the occasional spats over who gets what wave, but for the most part, women seem to embody the idea that surfing should be fun. And it’s about time!
Even surf companies that previously carried only board shorts and wetsuits for men have started to take notice, expanding their lines or creating a sister branch devoted entirely to women’s surf apparel, such as Roxy, the sister brand to Quiksilver.
Movies like “Blue Crush” have begun to show how surfing is no longer restricted to bulky men, and women’s-only surfing schools have started popping up across the world.
On Oahu, there is even a women’s only surf-spa called Kelea surf-spa (keleasurfspa.com) , where women of all levels can take surf lessons (from fellow female surfing divas) and be pampered with massages and spa treatments.
Perhaps the best thing about the number of women emerging in the water has to do with shattering the mentality that surfing should be a solo activity, pitting one surfer against the next.
More and more, ladies are paddling out with their friends, putting their energy into making the water a more positive and loving place. And really, who doesn’t want to surf like this?
If you are ready to get out there in the water, here are a few tips:
- For beginners, try to rent a board before purchasing one. Foam boards are typically given to beginners, but without wax, they are often more difficult to center your feet on. If you ask, many places will rent a fiberglass board to you for the day and longboards are usually easier to learn on than shortboards.
- First, put your leash on your back foot. To tell which foot is your back foot, have someone push you from behind and see which foot you step forward with. The foot you’ve left behind is your back foot.
- Center your body on the board so the nose is sticking out above the water about 3 inches. Any further up on the board and you will nose dive when the right wave comes (picture the board going in nose first and you flying into the water) and any further back and it may be more difficult to gain the momentum needed to actually catch a wave.
- If you aren’t ready to paddle out, try taking the board out to a place where you can still stand up and sit on the board, letting your feet dangle in the water. If you’ve never surfed, you will feel wobbly, but finding your balance on the board through sitting is the first step towards finding your balance when it comes time to try to stand up.
- If you want to start paddling out towards the waves, experiment with different techniques to help you get past the break (meaning, where the waves are crashing on you).
- If you have a longboard, try turtling: when you see a wave coming, before it breaks, flip your board over and hang onto it, with the bottom of your board facing up and your board on top of your body. When you feel the wave pass, flip the board back over and resume paddling.
- If you have a shortboard, your best bet is to duck dive, which will take some practice. Basically, the idea is to use your knees and feet to help push your body and board underwater, beginning with the front of your board. It looks kind of like a seal or swan dive, beginning with submerging the front of your body and ending with submerging your feet, and popping back up after the wave has passed.
When it comes to actually catching a wave … try, try again.
If you’ve never surfed, you’ll fall and feel a little silly, but with some determination you’ll pick it up in no time.
When you’re near someplace with a coast, you’re near someplace with a surf school. Even states you’d never expect, like Texas, offer different types of lessons, gear and support, all of which can be found by doing some online research.
Gone are the days of women sitting pretty on the sand, restricted from the water. These days, women’s surf is one of the fastest growing sports in the country creating the expansion of surf companies and the formation of communities all devoted to getting women in the water.
So put on your best and most sturdy bikini, grab a pal and hit the water … your wave is waiting for you!