Nantucket Magazine August 2010

Page 55

Surfing isn’t just timeless, it’s genderless and ageless.

nice to have a sisterhood.” Caren has joined with sister surfers Paula Maloney, Sherry Copeland, Amy Pallenberg

If you’re out at Cisco beach and think you’re watching

and Melanie Kotalac who, in Paula’s words, “Came

longhaired surfer dudes riding waves, look again, because

together because of our communal love of surfing.

they are ladies and they’re over the age of forty. Nantucket has long offered some of the best surfing on the East

“We have what I call ‘surf breaks’ that we go to pretty reg-

Coast, attracting all ages to our South Shore breaks. But

ularly. There’s a crew of people, and not necessarily just

only in the last several years have surfing moms bonded,

women, but we definitely hang out for sure,” says Sherry

and banded together, to ride the waves alongside male

Copeland. “A lot of it is just talking together. It’s a time to

surfers who view age as simply a state of mind.

catch up out there where it’s quiet. I’m a therapist for Family and Children’s Services here so, for me, surfing’s a

“I started here 22 years ago,” recalls veteran lady surfer

stress-relief, and it gives you a great feeling of empowerment.

Caren Öberg-Gomes, who once competed on the circuit

It’s amazing.”

for the Eastern Surfing Association. “I was 18, and back then I was the only girl. Then, little by little, the girls

For Paula Maloney, who is a partner at Country Village

popped in and it felt really nice to have some women to

Real Estate, it’s also the element of the unknown that

relate to, because we’re not as powerful, physically. So it’s

draws her and her friends to Cisco beach.“When you go

N magazine | 55


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