Women Making Waves

Women Making Waves - August 2021

I thought that it was time I introduce myself, the woman behind our Women Making Waves blog. I’m Yasmin, currently the only girl in the office here at Boardshop. Since joining the team, I have brought with me a refreshing aspect on surfing from the female perspective, as well as a significant number of office plants! But hey, who doesn’t love an indoor jungle?

I am a beginner longboarder with a background in Marine Environmental Science and a passion for all things ocean related. In my spare time, I can be found on the beach with my dog Reef, making things, painting, creating digital surf art or trying not to fall off my custom 8ft 6 FORM Wave Queen longboard when we are finally blessed with waves here on the South Coast!

Being more on the petite side at 5ft 3 and wanting to learn to Longboard after being inspired by the many amazing longboarders out there, I wanted to find the right board for me that would help me to progress & improve my surfing.

Trying a few different longboards over the years I noticed a common theme; the boards were just too big for me! I was yet to find a board I could get my arm around and carry comfortably to the beach, let alone paddle and manoeuvre with ease.

It’s no secret that surfing has historically been quite male dominated and therefore many boards are typically shaped with the male surfer in mind and whilst we all come in different shapes and sizes, women tend to have smaller frames than their male counterparts.

Luckily, there’s a huge variety of custom surfboard options available on the market to solve this problem. I had my heart set on a custom FORM Wave King – a longboard created by the great minds of Alan Stokes, Luke Hart and Boardshop. After speaking to Ian and making the most of the years of knowledge he has, he advised sizing down to an 8ft 6 Wave “Queen” and going for custom dimensions.

I spoke to Luke Hart, gave him my height, weight, and ability (which is currently questionable!), let him know the dims of a board that “felt good” under my arm and that I could carry comfortably and let him do the rest.

The result was a beautiful custom board which I just clicked with the first time I took it out! It is so much lighter, easier to carry, paddle and manoeuvre that I wished I had invested in a custom years ago!... Thanks Luke & Ian!

I instantly got on so well with my new board that this got us thinking here at Boardshop. There was a gap in the market for stock boards shaped specifically with the female surfer in mind, and this is how Siren Surfboards was born!

Siren Surfboards are bespoke surfboards, handmade in the UK specifically with the female surfer in mind. Follow us on Instagram to be the first to see what we have created @siren.surfboards

I am constantly in awe of the many inspirational women in surfing who are achieving amazing things whilst changing the tide and helping to make Surfing a more inclusive sport for everyone. Through this blog and Siren Surfboards, we at Boardshop aim to celebrate the female surfers of the world.

Read on to learn a bit more about some the incredible water women of the world who have inspired me the most:

1. Belinda Baggs – Climate Change Activist & Longboarder

Belinda “Bindy” Baggs, is a climate change activist and an award winning longboarder. She started non-profit organisation Surfers for Climate with the goal of educating surfers about climate change and encourage them to make positive changes in their everyday life and practices.

Photo Credit: @belindabaggs

Pollution, rising sea levels and temperatures due to climate change will inevitably change the way our favourite surf spots look unless we make changes now. Bindy hopes that through activism and by educating other surfers, we will be able to enjoy the ocean we love for years to come.

2. Elizabeth Sneed - Body Positive Plus Size Surf Model & Longboarder

Texas born, Oahu residing surfer girl Elizabeth, better known as The Curvy Surfer Girl on Instagram runs a page celebrating women of all shapes and sizes.

Elizabeth’s beautiful posts, often of her gracefully gliding on her Torq Longboard in the pristine seas of Oahu are as dreamy and idyllic as they are captivating and powerful.

Photo Credit: @curvysurfergirl

Elizabeth ultimately aims to increase representation of plus size models in the surf industry, proving that girls can rip no matter what their size! As well as pushing for visual representation, Sneed also uses her platform to speak out about personal issues such as her struggle with psoriasis and mental health.

3. Ishita Malaviya – India’s First Female Professional Surfer

Ishita, born in India, is India’s first and only female professional surfer. She challenged social, religious and cultural norms through surfing. Culturally in India, education is seen as a priority over sport and there are social stigmas around having tanned skin from being outside.

Photo Credit: @surfishita

Ishita is swimming against the tide to alter people’s perception of surfing. She co-founded one of the county’s first surf schools The Shaka Surf Club with her partner, teaches local children to swim and has worked with schools to create “The Nipper Programme” to teach children to become junior lifeguards.

4. Paige Alms – Gender Equality Activist & Big Wave Surfer

In 2016 Paige became the World’s first big wave champion and has gone on to win a second big wave champion title since. Alms is a gender equality activist who helped to secure equal competition winnings for male and female surfers in 2019.

Photo Credit: @paigealms

Last year in 2019, the World Surfing League announced that it was going to offer the same prize money to both male and female surfers. The WSL is officially the first sport in the U.S. that sees athletes of different genders as equal.   

5. Keala Kennelly – Gay Rights, Gender Equality Activist & World Champion Surfer

Keala is the Big Wave Tour’s first openly gay world champion. A fearless surfer, she has surfed some of the biggest waves on the planet.   

Photo Credit: @kealakennelly

She stated in her acceptance speech for the Women’s Big Wave World Championship title she won in the 2018 Jaws Challenge in Maui, that she hopes to inspire other athletes from the LGBT community to live their truth.    

Recently, Keala has worked on She Is The Ocean, a documentary celebrating inspirational women who have a deep love for the ocean.

6. Rachel Murphy – Founder & Director of Women and Waves Surf Society

Rachel is a Newquay based surfer who founded Women and Waves all-female surf collective. She has bought together women from all over the globe, for coaching sessions and surf trips, inspiring women from all walks of life to come together, learn to surf, develop their skills and become part of their surf community.

Photo Credit: @ponnogram

She has created a wonderful, pressure free environment for women to come together to improve their surfing, have fun and share the stoke! I was lucky enough to interview Rachel back in February, scroll down to have a read.

7. Rhonda Harper – Black Girls Surf Founder & Surf Coach

Back in 2014 Rhonda “Rho” Harper started not-for-profit-organisation Black Girls Surf. She believes surfing is for everyone, regardless of nationality or colour. Black women who wanted to try surfing previously, hadn’t, due to the lack of representation in media.

Photo Credit: @blackgirlssurf

Now Black Girls Surf, who have just partnered with Hurley, are defying the outdated surf girl stereotypes and are inspiring Black women to get in the water!

Rhonda ultimately aims to train and support black girls & women who want to become professional surfers with the intention of changing the current lack of diversity when it comes to including women of colour in professional surfing.

8. Natalie Small - Founder of Groundswell Community Project & Surf Therapist

Natalie started the amazing non-profit organisation Groundswell Community Project to provide a safe space for self-identifying women around the world to overcome abuse and mental health issues such as PTSD, depression and anxiety to become part of a community and heal together through surf therapy.

Photo Credit: @captsmall & Groundswell Community Project

Natalie, a surfer and ocean over herself, works alongside women’s support charities and by fundraising through the organisation she is able help make therapy available to women who need it the most.

9. Maya Gabeira – Proving Women Belong in Big Wave Surfing

Maya is a renowned big wave surfer and is no stranger to risk having nearly died when she attempted to surf a mammoth 25m wave in 2013. She broke her fibula and was knocked unconscious, having to be revived by CPR.

Photo Credit: @maya

After this incident, and many prominent male surfers telling her big waves were no place for a woman, in 2020 she went on to prove them all wrong and made the record books after she surfed the biggest wave ever surfed by woman at a whopping 73.5 ft.

10. Leah Dawson – Stylish Surfer, Film Maker & Co-Founder of Changing Tides Foundation

There aren’t many surfers who ooze style as much as Leah – her Instagram is full of photos and clips of her cruising effortlessly on waves in Cali or Hawaii; enough to motivate anyone to get out there and learn how to master their cheater five.

When she isn’t surfing, she is producing inspiring content in the form of film making and storytelling or working as a live camera operator for the World Surf League.

Photo Credit: @leahloves

If her content isn’t inspiring enough, Leah also co-founded the Changing Tides Foundation. A women led organisation, with an aim to bring together ocean lovers of all genders, shapes, colours and sizes to protect our planet and she creates beautiful films to share the stories of their projects.

We will be reaching out to these female surfers to try and get some interviews and we have some interviews lined up with some inspiring water women so watch this space!

What female surfers have inspired you? Let us know in the comments!
 

Women Making Waves

There have been many changes over the last year and the surf industry is no exception. Surfing has historically been male dominated, but the tide is changing. With the numbers of female surfers increasing, gone are the days when a woman in the line-up was a rare sight.

Women accounted for approximately 19% of all surfers in 2012 (according to a study by The International Surfing Association) but in 2020 it was thought that women made up around 30% of surfers.

Here at Boardshop, to coincide with a woman joining our team, we wanted to celebrate some of the most influential and inspiring female surfers making waves in the surf industry right now.

Read on to learn more about each of these inspiring female surfers through our exclusive interviews.

Rachel Murphy – Founder & Director of Women + Waves Surf Society & Surfer

Rachel is a Newquay based surfer who founded the Women + Waves all-female surf collective. She has united women from all over the globe, for weekend retreats, coaching sessions, and surf trips; inspiring women from all walks of life to come together, learn to surf, develop their skills, and become part of their surf community. She has created a wonderful, pressure free environment for women to come together to improve their surfing, have fun and share the stoke!

We were lucky enough to interview Rachel and find out a bit more about Women + Waves, read on to discover more about Rachel and the wonderful surf collective she has created.

For people who have not heard of Women + Waves, please can you explain what you are about and what Women + Waves offers Women who already Surf or want to get into Surfing?

“Women + Waves is an all-girls surf club. We do surf coaching, hold weekend events and offer coaching abroad and Internationally as well as in the UK. We are a place that people come to for advice or if they need equipment, we also have loads of tutorials online on YouTube. Basically, we cater for all things surfing and female!”

I have explained Women’s only Surf groups & societies like Women + Waves to my male surfer friends and one of the most common questions I get asked is, “Why are the groups women only?”. What Inspired you to create a specifically Women’s surf society?

“It kind of started from just me and my friends really; we found a real need for something like this for girls. It began as just me and my girlfriends; we used to surf together on a Wednesday afternoon, and we put in the diary that whatever the conditions, we would always go. We treated it sort of like a gym membership, we would get in no matter what. Then my friends told their friends and so on and it just sort of grew from there.”

“I guess it always stayed female because having all the women together was just so much fun and such a good laugh as well as being really encouraging. We would see someone else do something and then think “Ooh, I can do it too!”, so it created a sort of healthy competitiveness. It is encouraging to see if other girls can do it, you can do it too. It’s really good fun!”  

You are a very inspiring role model for women who want to try surfing as well as women starting their own businesses. When I was learning to surf, I sometimes found I was the only Woman in the line-up which can be a bit intimidating for some! What would you say to young girls and women who want to try surfing but may feel nervous about taking the plunge?

“I would say just do it! Everyone is focusing on themselves and what they are doing in the surf when they are surfing, no-one is going to be looking at you as everyone is too involved in what they are doing.”

“I’d also say the guys in the line-up are there to help you too. I think guys are really supportive and guys have been some of the biggest supporters I’ve had in the surf. It is definitely not about surfing without men, it’s about surfing with people who will encourage you and push you. So, I would say just do it! It is certainly life changing and it’s amazing to see how many females are now in the line-up. “

What advice has proven most useful to you when improving your surfing?

“Get as many waves as you can, always! And just go, even if you don’t think it looks great. If you aren’t catching waves, then move as well. Don’t sit in a spot where you aren’t going to get any waves for more than 10 minutes or so. The more waves you catch the more you are going to learn. Also, don’t be afraid to fall, the more you fall the more you will learn. So, I always encourage our girls when they start learning to get as many waves as they can, it doesn’t matter if you fall every time. “

“We do a lot of video analysis as well after our sessions and the people that are constantly getting waves are analysing what they are doing wrong and learning how to improve. However, the ones that get less and only want to go for the perfect wave, they might only get two waves from the whole session which isn’t a lot to learn from. It makes a huge difference!”

What surfboard do you currently ride, and do you have a preferred style of surfing?

“Because of always working in surf schools I always just pick up a foamie just because they are really fun for our UK waves. Foamies catch everything! I have been riding a little 7ft foamie, it gets on everything and it’s just good fun! I have dabbled with loads of different boards and always find myself going back to the foamie. “

You have recently ordered a custom surfboard through us which is exciting! What did you decide to go for and why?

I just ordered a custom FORM Flow Stik Pro, which I am really excited about! It’s a 7ft 2 and it’s a 2 + 1 set up. The fact that it is called a “Flow Stik” sums it up really; I really love to just flow with the waves and wanted a board that would catch everything and just work in most UK waves. I needed a really good all-rounder, something I can take out all the time. “

Have you noticed the number of female surfers increasing since you started Women + Waves?

“Massively, yes! It’s crazy how many female surfers there are now. It feels like we hopefully have encouraged lots of women to join in and to get involved really. Like I said before, if you see other people doing it, you think “Why not?! I can do it too!”.

“ Something I really want to look into is setting up a group for younger girls in their teenage stage, as it’s such a crazy age where you can go down one direction or another and everyone that I know always wishes they learnt to surf when they were younger. “

“It would be great for girls to have a little surf girl gang and instead of going out to the park or getting in trouble it would be a really good focus and create a really good headspace for them and encourage other younger girls to join in. There are a lot of benefits from surfing, especially when some girls may be feeling body conscious and going through that difficult time trying to find yourself.”

Female surfers have come a long way in their fight for quality, especially over the last few years with WSL now offering the same prize money for men & women, do you think that there is still any room for improvement? What changes would you like to see?

“Obviously, the equal payment is a huge step, but I always feel like the female focus gets dropped pretty quickly and there’s still not as many competitors on the big wave tour. On all tours, there are very few girls compared to loads of guys. Also, in general, the number of competitions available out there for females are way less than those for men, so I think we still have a little way to go. “

What has been your favourite moment since you started Women + Waves?

“It’s so hard to pick one as every weekend is just so good… at the end of every weekend everyone is just absolutely buzzing! But the H&M collaboration recently and seeing women everywhere surfing in our surf wear was pretty inspiring. That was a great moment to see that it was enjoyed and well received. But pretty much it is seeing the stoke after each session. Without wanting to sound too cheesy, it has changed quite a few people’s lives learning to surf, coming down to the ocean and seeing a different side of life. Having a ready-made group of friends, you don’t have to worry about anything, here you can just come and relax, and everything is taken care of. “

What are your hopes and dreams for Women + Waves in the future?

“I would love to make it the go to place for all things female surfing; whether that’s equipment, tutorials, videos, a place for health and fitness. “

“We recently launched our new outdoor instructor course, so we are now training people to become outdoor instructors too. So, if you really want to live the full life and fully embrace the whole ocean lifestyle then you can literally go from zero to hero. I really want to develop another swimwear collection as well. There are too many things in the pipeline but ultimately, we want to create the go to place for women to go for all things surfing.”

We can’t wait to see Women + Waves grow, it is awesome how many Women are getting into surfing because of this amazing surf collective that Rachel has created!  

Images of Rachel from @ponnogram

If you enjoyed reading this piece, then please check back here again… we have some more interviews lined up with some incredibly inspiring water women and will be updating this blog regularly.