Women’s surfing is in a good place. There are more women making a living from surfing than ever before, and there are more girls in the water, too. Sometimes when I paddle out at Malibu or San Onofre, there are more women out there than men.
There’s something to be said about a strong woman who can hang with the boys but still has a feminine edge. Like Linda Benson — she was a boss. She hung with the boys but acted like a woman. She was the first woman to ride Waimea at just 15 and could barely carry a board down to the beach.
Surfing shouldn’t be defined by numbers. To reduce it to just numbers takes away from the multi-faceted experience that it truly is. Surfing is a sport, a lifestyle, a creative expression. It really straddles so many lines.
To say someone is the “best surfer in the world” is way too broad of a statement. It’s like saying someone is the best musician in the world, when there are so many types of musicians–pianists, trumpeters, guitarists. You can’t say someone is the best musician, but you can say they’re the best at their specific instrument.
Surfing is about enjoyment. The one thing I always say to people, even though it’s kind of cheesy, is, “the best surfer in the water is the one having the most fun.” There are so many pressures in our lives. Surfing should be a release.
If the pressures of contests are making kids hate surfing, then they probably shouldn’t be competing. When you’re a kid, you don’t realize it, but pressure is going to come as you grow up, so they should keep it at bay as long as possible.
There’s something to be said about a strong woman who can hang with the boys but still has a feminine edge. Like Linda Benson — she was a boss. She hung with the boys but acted like a woman. She was the first woman to ride Waimea at just 15 and could barely carry a board down to the beach.
Stylish surfing looks effortless. Jared Mell, Alex Knost, Rob Machado, Craig Anderson, Steph Gilmore, Gerry Lopez — they all have smooth, flowing styles and are able link one move with the next. That’s my favorite type of surfing to watch.
Surfing is probably one of the most selfish things we can do as people. It’s literally you out there in the ocean trying to catch the most waves.
We shouldn’t be too hard on ourselves. When people are pissed off in the lineup and splashing water, I think the water absorbs that negative energy and then it reverberates throughout the whole lineup.
Surfing has taught me to be intuitive, to see things that aren’t necessarily there. As surfers, we’re trained to read the ocean by just looking at it. It’s taught me to follow my instincts and to read into the subtleties of life.
If I could go back in time, I’d surf Malibu in the ‘80s. No one was really at First Point in the ‘80s because everybody was riding high-performance stuff at Third Point, just shredding it hot with flames on their boards.
Donald Takayama and Sonny Miller were my biggest mentors. I was really thankful to be able to learn from them in so many ways. People who really inspire me are always those who think differently and do things their way.
The resurgence of classic longboards and alternative boards has opened up surfing to a wider audience. Shortboards are hard to catch waves on unless you or the waves are really good.