WSSM Wtr/Spr '13 Issue by WSSM Womens Surf Style Magazine

WIN 13

$9.99 U.S. & CANADA

56698 07464

12’6 x 30.0 x 5.56 28 lbs. 284 l SiNgle FiN WiTH 10’’ CeNTer box.

photos:bob

There’s a whole lotta 12-plus racing/touring stand-up paddleboards out there now, but most are either wobbly, elite-only race machines or boaty, sluggish cruisers. What if you want to race and cruise? The new C4 Waterman Switchblade----now 30” wide----is the answer. Now you can have the slick glide of a thoroughbred speed-hull whether you want to win a race or lose the crowd.

10’10 x 29.75 x 4.75 24.2 lbs. 197 l SiNgle FiN WiTH 10’’ CeNTer box. A flat bottom rocker and semi-displacement hull sets the foundation for this female friendly SUP. Designed to bring maximum efficiency and easy speed to every stroke. All paddlers will love this board for its drag-free glide, versatility, and portability. The Wahine Cruiser eats up the miles but not your shoulders.

danafoto.com

C4 ambassador Jenny Lee

no single piece of equipment defines us c4waterman.com

Leane Darling

Photo: Morgan Hoesterey | www.seamonstermedia.com 10 | womenssurfstyle.com | wSSm

wSSm | womenssurfstyle.com | 11

Haleiwa, Hawaii

Photo: www.leadingedgephotos.com 12 | womenssurfstyle.com | wSSm

Letter from the Publishers Christmas is nearing as we wrap up another issue and send it to press, which means we’ve made it through another 6 months... bringing us to only 6 months away from being on stands for 10 years! Stunned at the time that has passed, yet fondly remembering the laughs and waves along the way, and people and businesses we’ve been blessed to be a part of. It’s been such a FUN journey, and we’re more excited for the future than ever before!

Photo: Wayne

This issue makes us especially happy. It’s jam-packed with so much great content and beautiful imagery... It’s almost a sensory overload! Greg Chapman, Casey Rossi, Justin Bastien, and Tia Calvo all brought us some amazing photos from exotic surf locations, featuring a behind-the-scenes look at what life is like as a lodge manager in Peru (46), a visitor to the forbidden land of Cuba (38), a photographer for South Africa’s Roxy team girls (166), life on the road- traveling with Peru’s biggest female surf stars (154), and globe trotting with Mary Osborne to El Salvador, Sumatra, Cabo, and Raratonga- Cook Islands (30). Contest Scene- one of the new sections in the magazine, brings you coverage of four of the best surf competitions of 2012. These girls were ripping and you’ll want to be sure to check the schedule for 2013, so you don’t miss the opportunity to support the women’s surf industry by attending a contest or tuning in online. We’ve got 5 awesome surf artists this issue (104), that offer an eclectic mix of traditional to modern surf art that we just love. We’ve also profiled some amazing female designers in both apparel and jewelry that are sure to spice up your wardrobe (76), as well as included some in-depth interviews with women and girls from around the USA, that are excited to share their surf stoke with the world (84). Beach fashion is sizzling this season- be sure to check out our new 2013 fashion guide (122) featuring some awesome new brands! Nope-- you won’t see the same ol’ boring clothing from the top 5 brands that you see EVERYWHERE else... we’re keeping it fresh for ya! Lastly, be sure to check out page 18, for a snapshot of what we have going on- online as well! Our website has enjoyed a complete makeover, and will offer all of our previous issues free-ofcharge throughout the coming year, so you can catch up on issues you may have missed. As we make our way through 2013, we thank you for your continued support, and welcome your input. WSSM was built to be a voice for YOU- wherever you are, whatever inspires you, whatever you want the world to know... let us help YOU spread your message. Thank you, and God bless you all in 2013!

Sandra & Dan Olson

WSSM Publishers/Editors

PUBLISHERS: Sandra & Dan Olson EDITOR: Debbie L. Olson

CFO: John Dotson

GRAPHIC DESIGN: Renee Williams, Sandra Olson

Thanks for being the greatest “Bean Counter“& CFO!

WRITERS: Sandra Olson, Dan Olson, Tia Calvo, Amanda Crostic, Rachel Kathleen Stallings, Carolyn Palma, Renee Williams, Amanda Rigney, Shelsea Brown, Teresa Hodge, Deborah Irvin, Zofia Karubin, Bethany P., Christina DiMari, Claire Miyamoto, Holly Beck, Karissa Correa, Tracy Rubert, Roxy Saffaie, John Olson, Christina Frankel, Jenny Yoon, Morgan Hoesterey, Mary Osborne, Jenni Sells, Lindsay Schwarz WSSM STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS: Dan Olson, Tia Calvo, Daniel Kawasaki- Daniel K. Fine Arts, John Olson, Dave Gregerson- 20foot.com, Dale Basye - HologramVision. com, Gabriel Fernandez, Matt Olson, Jordan Klinger, Karissa Correa, Rachel Kathleen Stallings, Chrissy Swain, Betty Palma CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS: WahineSurfer.net, PaulTopp.com, Teresa Hodge, Rip-Pics.com, GaryMsCreations.com, Shelsea Brown, leadingedgephotos.com, Jim Whitney, Aaron Nakamura, Daniel Russo, Christina Frankel, Wilber Bergado, Meghan Whitney, Kevin Seid, Cat Slatinsky, Richard Bradley, Alex Irvin, Darrell Wong, Justin Bastien, James Vybiral, Casey Rossi, Greg Chapman, N. Adams, Michael Rovnyak, Sean Davey, Buffy Archer, Ella Garth, Jessica Swenson, Ken Pagliaro, Lockie Caldwell, Jefferson, Luciano Santos Paua, Morgan Maassen, Coops/Loaded Barrel, Meg HaywoodSullivan, Chris Grant FASHION COORDINATORS: Becca P., Trish Edwards SPECIAL EVENT COORDINATORS: Brandy & Rob Chang MODELS: Sarah Callanscone, Lorena Miller, Shaholly Ayers, Robbie Guht I.T. DIRECTOR: Stan Olson I.T. MKG DIRECTOR: Joachim Hill-Grannec SEO DIRECTOR: John Palma EDITORIAL & PHOTO SUBMISSION: (regular mail) WOMENS SURF STYLE MAGAZINE P.O. Box 22853 Honolulu, HI 96823 or ONLINE: www.womenssurfstyle.com Publisher reserves the right to edit all submissions for content/space purposes at their sole discretion. Upon receiving, all submitted materials become the property of WSSM with full reprint rights, and will not be returned. Please send copies of your originals. WSSM is published twice yearly. Distributor and advertising information can be obtained by visiting womenssurfstyle.com. No portion of WSSM may be copied or reproduced in any way without written permission/consent of WSSM editor/publisher. Reproduction in whole or in part is strictly prohibited. All surf photos submitted to, and seen in WSSM, are for content purposes only and remain the sole property of the individual photographers. Reproduction in any way is strictly forbidden. Contact info for photographers may be obtained by visiting their websites. Copyright 2003, WSSM Women’s Surf Style Magazine All rights reserved. Printed in Hong Kong.

April 2013 | El Salvador 1st Annual... WSSM Women’s Surf & Yoga Retreat Learn more at womenssurfstyle.com Limited space available! Hosted at the beautiful, Azul Surf Club Cover Photo: James Vybiral Surfer: Felicity Palmateer at Lobitos, Peru 14 | womenssurfstyle.com | wSSm

In This Issue

She Surfs

LIFESTYLE

52 BEAUTY BOX | ASK ROXY Makeup tips & product

Photo: YOGAqua

reviews for surfers, from celebrity makeup artist, Roxy

She SUPS

Sarah Tiefenthaler

Poetic Expressions 62 (10) “Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. (26) She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness. (30) Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.” -- Proverbs 30:10,26,30 (KJV)

Globe Trotting with Mary Osborne

Rails & Tales

54 How To Take a Dress from Day to Evening 56 Surfrider Yoga 58 Lifestyle Tips My Happy Life, Chipped Candles, Greens! 60 Recipe Corner Mississippi Mud Pie, Peruvian Ceviche 62 Poetic Expressions Dolphin Breath, A Goodbye Kiss 64 Book Nook & Movie Night 64 Beginner Tips & Tricks

SURF STOKED... live, breathe, surf

30 RAILS & TALES Globe Trotting with Mary Osborne 38 RAILS & TALES Cubanitas 42 RAILS & TALES Surfers are Soulful 44 RAILS & TALES Towing in with Tara 46 RAILS & TALES Lost in Lobitos 66 SHARK! A Tale of Two Heroes 68 Love is Here Ride Nature in Nicaragua 70 A Costa Rican Souvenir 71 Sea Legs 72 Reader Submitted Surf Photos

MY COMMUNITY

76 Meet the Designer Dragonfly Blue Swimwear 77 Meet the Designer Caroline Rocha 78 Meet the Designer Mimi Chaos 80 Q & A with the San Diego Surf Ladies 82 Mountain Fountain Creations Discovering Pearls 84 SHE SURFS ! Kitty Willis (84), Ami Berg & Kaydi Archer (85), Ally (86), Caroline Marks (87), Rachael Tilly (88), Alexandra Durant (90), Lauren Ashley Oiye (91), Jessica Swenson (92), Haley Michelle Watson (93)

Photo: Justin Bastien

SUP COMMUNITY

96 How To Do A Supported Headstand 97 Aloha SUP Yoga 98 SHE SUPS ! Mirabai James (98), Sarah Tiefenthaler (100) 102 Wintertime SUP Tips 102 5 Small Must Pack Items For Smoother Travel wSSm | womenssurfstyle.com | 15

SURF ART GALLERY

104 MEET ARTISTS: Margriet Zwart (104), Jonathan “Akro” Nichols (105), Mary Schmader (106), Dawn Gray Moraga (108), Jay Alders (110)

CONTEST SCENE

112 US OPEN OF SURFING: Huntington Beach, CA 114 EASTERNS Surf Championships Outer Banks, NC 116 SUPERGIRL PRO Huntington Beach, CA 118 MOVISTAR Womens Pro Lobitos, Peru

PRO - FILES

Photo: Gregerson

148 Felicity Palmateer Australia’s Sweetheart 154 2 Friends Anali Gomez & Dominic “Mimi” Barona 160 Carissa Moore A Glimpse of Life on the Dream Tour 162 Meet Up & Comer Jordan Wible 164 South Africa’s Emma Smith 166 The Girls of South Africa In Search of Surf 168 Follow the Journey Ana Carol Fernandez

&Comer 164

Jordan Wible

Photo: Daniel K. Fine Arts 16 | womenssurfstyle.com | wSSm

FASHION 2013

122

other goodies

26 Tradeshow Fever Surf Expo, MAGIC, The Boardroom 74 CENTERFOLD Hottie Neil Schumejda 122 FASHION GUIDE 2013 Beach & Lifestyle Fashion

wssm essentials 18 20 22

This Issue... ONLINE WSSM website giveaways Voice of the Surfers Your voice being heard! Industry News New and exciting news within the surf

industry and culture

170 Surf Shop Directory 172 Surfer Resources 173 Global Surf Camp Directory

Advertisers

8 Azul Surf Club 27 Beatnik Trading Co. 61 Belly Dancers in Paradise 65 Board Buddy 4 C4 Waterman 81, 180 Calavera Swimwear 63 Caroline Rocha 55 Charming Shark Surf Jewelry 59 ChicLid Hats 61 Coffee Talk 2 Dragonfly Blue Swimwear 29 Exceed Wetsuits 175 Fernandez Photo Art 103 Gregerson Photography 59 GromSocial.com 21 Honu 175 Indo Board 121 James Vybiral Photography 25 Maui Jim Sunglasses

79 Nomadic State of Mind 65 Nukumoi Surf Co. 175 Ocean Star Gifts 55 Odina 79 OnIt Pro 61 Paul Mitchell School - Honolulu 23 Peppers Eyeware 57 PIRO Shoes 13, 178 Polar Basics 175 RV’s Ocean Sports 53 Sbicca 65 Second Wind 65 Siren Surf 57 Sprout Watches 59 Surf-N-Sea 17 Surf Expo 19 Sweet Waterwear 175 Tasty Crust 161 Wave Riding Vehicles 6, 174 WSSM Women’s Surf Retreat

ACTION Ph

OTO COUR

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JaNuaRy 10-12, 2O13 • ORlaNdO, FlORida

Surfing Comes First For 37 years, Surf Expo has been the number one tradeshow for the surf industry, including boards, fins, clothing, accessories, racks and everything else for the beach. Join us January 10-12, 2013, at what’s shaping up to be one of the largest shows in our history. Register today.

surfexpo.com the global Watersports and Beach lifestyle tradeshow SURF

Skate

StandUP Paddle

lIFeStyle

PaRaSaIlIng

conSUMaBleS

ReSoRt

SoUvenIR/gIFt

BoUtIQUe

SWIM

T O nline womenssurfstyle his Issue...

WEBSITE makeover! After years of hard work on the mag, our website was the one thing that always seemed to get left behind... NOT ANYMORE! Log on to womenssurfstyle.com to see the new design!

OOOP’s... We made a mistake! We missed the photo credits on two images of surfer, Brisa Hennessy, featured in our last issue. The photographer that took the images was Franco Tramontano. THANK YOU Franco, for forgiving this mistake. We also missed one of Brisa’s new sponsors- Olley. Big thanks to Olley for supporting this amazing surfer girl!

.com

Blogs, Photographers & Surf Contests Enjoy even more fascinating blogs from our favorite WSSM bloggers! Tia Calvo (International surf travel), Gabriel Fernandez (Florida surf scene), and Zofia Karubin (Yoga teacher and enthusiast), have been busy globe-trotting and documenting, so be sure to give their blogs a look online. We’re also happy to welcome 2 new bloggers to the WSSM team, Stella Sykes and Hilary O’Connor! Based in the U.K., Stella Sykes has a wealth of surf stories to share with you as well as her recent coverage of the London Surf Film Festival 2012. You can read the review of her two favorite films on page 64, or log on to see the entire lineup! She’ll also be covering allthings-SURF in the U.K., so be sure to check her blog often for new happenings from across the pond! Hilary O’Connor, a photog-

rapher and freelance writer, chronicles surfing in the north eastern USA. Her blog features images and stories about the beaches, breaks and athletes who surf, both competitively and recreationally, in this region of the world! Got an event in that area you want her to cover-- be sure to reach out and let her know!

Greg Chapman, of South Africa, continues to grace us with incredible photos of the womens surf scene there. Join him as he travels with Tarryn Chudleigh, Tanika Hoffman, Nicolle Pallett & Taryn Kyte! See page 164. Last, but not least, Casey Rossi once again wows us with his imagery of the lovely Dominic “Mimi” Barona and Anali Gomez, as they explore the beautiful coastline of Peru. See page 146 or log on now!

We’re also welcoming 3 new photographers to the WSSM staff. Chrissy Swain, a talented photographer and surfer that recently covered the Easterns in the Outer Banks, NC (page 114). Log on to see even more images from this east coast contest via the new “Contest Scene” section of our website.

Issue Archives

James Vybiral-- a world traveling photographer that recently shot the amazing Women’s Movistar Pro in Lobitos, Peru, has also joined our team. See page 118 for his contest coverage, and be sure to log on to our site

If you’re a new reader, or didn’t live in Hawaii back in 2004 when we first started publishing (when the mag was at all the surf shops for free), then you’ve probably missed out on a LOT of great WSSM stories,

CLICK & WIN

poems, surf photos, surf travel articles and more! Our new website will showcase all 29 archived issues published over the last 9 1/2 years! So go ahead, explore and enjoy! Each issue was designed for you, the everyday surfer girl... they’re YOUR stories, YOUR dreams, YOUR friends!

FREE

HOLO HOLO BOARD

A great way to build leg strength and balancethus improving your surfing! The HOLOHOLO board is unique in its design, and in how easy it is to use and improve on, even as a beginner! The wood support on each end keeps the board from flying away- especially when performed on carpet or a padded surface, giving the rider a chance to re-stabilize, before having to touch the floor again. This keeps the thighs engaged and working hard throughout the movement.

for even more images from this amazing contest!

goodies every month! Log on to womenssurfstyle.com or

facebook.com/womenssurfstyle every month from Jan. - June 2013 for your chance to win!

OCEAN STAR

Winners every month !! FREE Goodies !! Visit womenssurfstyle.com for all the details & information

A dramatic story of hope, and amazing journey of healing. We each have a destiny to be discovered, a light that is meant to shine and a journey before us yet to be explored. By Christina DiMari.

CHICLID HATS

Birthed in San Diego, CA, this unique and playful hat brand designed specifically for girls offers fun and useful sun protection whether it’s on the beach or in the water.

SURF ART by JAY ALDERS

Vivid, beautiful surf art by world reknowned surf artist, Jay Alders. Prints, I-phone cases, apparel, slippers and more, adorned with some of the world’s most beautiful surf inspired artwork.

THE SURF CAFE COOK BOOK

From the shores of Ireland comes a surf cafe cook book like you’ve never seen! Drenched in tradition, geographical information, and full of useful tips for living in, surfing, and cooking in the beautiful country of Ireland. 18 | womenssurfstyle.com | wSSm

MIMI CHAOS SWIMWEAR

Swimwear for surfer girls! Mimi Chaos brings to life beautiful patterns, tried and water-tested designs, and swimwear that stays ON in the surf.

...

oice of the Surfers

Only 2X A Year? Do you have any future plans to make your publication a little more frequent? I love your content, it’s exactly what I’ve been looking for in a magazine, but only twice a year is a little disappointing. Any plans to possibly increase to 4 issues/year? That would be awesome!” Carrie F. Cape Canaveral, FL

WSSM: Thanks for the kind words, Carrie! We actually USED to be a quarterly magazine for about 5 years, but when the economy crashed back in ‘08, it was either go BIG (from readers digest size to full sized) or go home. We worked too hard to just go home, so we cut back to two issues per year, and amped up our magazine by offering even more content than ever before, so it takes several sessions just to read it. Maybe someday, when the economy turns around, and the BIG guys in the industry step up and support womens surfing and their surf media-- then we’ll go back to that format! Until then, we appreciate your support... Keep reading! 20 | womenssurfstyle.com | wSSm

I LOVE THIS MAG! “I love this magazine! I especially love how there are workouts and beauty tips for surfer chicas. Who says you can’t surf AND look fabulous?” Candice S. | Williamstown, NJ

MY BOOK MADE THE CUT! “The mags arrived today here in Australia and I can’t tell you how thrilled we were. It’s an amazing review on our book Taking the Drop – thank you so much – and the magazine is just BEAUTIFUL!!! Gosh I wish we had something like that here – you must be very proud of your product, it’s an absolute winner.”

WSSM: What a great teacher you are! Thanks for the kind words, and we’ll get a box of all the previous issues together for you right away. You’re right, girls need good role models these days, and they’re often hard to find.

THANKS FOR MY FEATURE! “Thank you Sandra and Dan Olson for writing such a great article about me in the WSSM! I still can’t believe I made it into a magazine. :)” Rachel P. | Melbourne Beach, FL

Sheree D. | NSW, Australia

I’M A WRITER... “I’m interested in writing for WSSM. As a 26 year old Toronto Canada surfer, I don’t get much time in the water. Last year I took off on a journey alone and met a whole new group of people, today I call family. On a one month outreach to Indonesia with Surfing The Nations, my life has changed. Hanging out with locals, serving the community and surfing world class breaks, the adventure was amazing and prompted me to return to Surfing The Nations. Today I work in Oahu on a one year contract here as a member of the international department. I’d love the opportunity to tell my story with your magazine. Thank you for the time, and I hope to hear back from you soon.

YOU MADE MY DREAM COME TRUE

Montana M | Wahiawa, HI

“The WSSM issues arrived today. What a great looking magazine! I could not be more excited about my Novice Surfer Tips appearing in WSSM. You made one of my dreams come true, and I can’t thank you enough. I’ve told everyone I know, and even people I don’t, but they know me now! Keep up the great work. I’m your #1 cheerleader.”

MY UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE

Cheryl C. | Ormond Beach, FL

A GOOD ROLE MODEL “Where can I buy all your back issues? I teach 5th graders in Sunny Isles Beach, FL and I want to keep your magazines in my class so my young girls will know what a good female role model looks like. Can you help me purchase the back issues? I love your magazine! So pro female and it does not objectify women! Thank you! My young girls need to see more of your magazine! As a woman surfer and a role model... I appreciate your whole idea!” Larissa M. | Sunny Isles Beach, FL

WETSUIT CRISIS “Any advice on a good springsuit company for a tween girl? THANKS!” Molly R. | WSSM Facebook

WSSM: We certainly do! One of our (personal) favorite companies in the world is EXCEED WETSUITS! They allow a little extra room in the shoulder area- so you paddle more freely, and they don’t rub under the arms like a lot of suits do after a long session.They even come in awesome colors for girls like red, pink, and grey, and have tattoo inspired art on them! Check them out at www.Exceedwetsuits.com

“Aloha, I’ve been looking around your site and I’d REALLY love to write for your magazine. This is exactly what I love to write about. I met my husband on the beach, he taught me how to surf, and we spend every possible second at the beach with our two keiki. Please check out my blog site: citytobeach.com. I have a lot of fun surf stories to tell, and as a wife and mom I think I offer a unique perspective. Thanks so much!!!” Monika W. | Kaneohe, HI

WSSM: Thank you, Monica and Montana, for writing to us! We would LOVE to hear your stories and share them with our readers! WSSM was designed to be a voice for women from all walks of life that are connected through their love of surfing. So again, thank you for reaching out... we tell everyone “write what you’re passionate about, and our readers will recognize it, and appreciate it!” We look forward to including YOUR stories in our next issue!

SPEAK YOUR VOICE: Want to see your letter in WSSM? Log on to WomensSurfStyle.com, and click on CONTACT! Become a FAN at facebook.com/womenssurfstyle Share your surf stories, favorite surf spots & brands, what surfing is like in your area, or perhaps recommend a friend for a WSSM feature. We’d love to hear from you!

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Caroline ROCHA Swarovski crystals, handpainted leather, pearls... everything that’s feminine, wrapped around your wrist. “When someone buys a bracelet, I feel like I am sharing part of my story with them, and it’s not about me . . . it’s about my God. Being able to be creative and do what I love is a form of praising for me and I am no longer keeping my gifts under a rock. I would love people to be inspired by my story in that everyone should know that they have something to offer and give.” An American story of working hard doing what you love, and a clear vision from within! Handcrafted locally in the USA, Caroline Rocha pours her heart and soul into each handcrafted bracelet. adorning them with beautiful crystals and pearls! Learn more at www.carolinerocha.com

TEROX SHOES

($40) Terox introduces a new take on the “crocs” style footwear... a decidedly feminine one! Combining the light weight and comfort of their main line of footwear, they dressed up their traditional sandal to compliment a woman’s foot with the Z Strap sandal! This criss-cross design offers a sleeker and more stylish look, without sacrificing the comfort we’ve all come to love from Terox…and the sole comes imprinted with a giant butterfly, stars and swirls. Made in the USA and available Spring, 2013 in a myriad of beautiful colors. Learn more about this style as well as their unique “Recycle My Terox” program at www.terox.com

NAKED SURF BY LOCEAN LABS…

($19) Say goodbye to wetsuit, wax & surfboard rashes and irritations, and hello to a more comfortable surf session! New on the market, Naked Surf (a liquid rashguard), by Lotion Labs, is the first topical cream that prevents and/ or treats rashes and chaffing due to wax, swimsuit, wetsuit, and rashguard irritation. It won’t transfer to your board or make you slip, and you can wear it with or without outerwear-- it protects just the same. A dime-sized drop of Naked Surf conditions and moisturizes, while quickly absorbing into the skin to prevent pain, inflammation, and redness, as well as microbial infection. Apply it AFTER surfing, as well, to any irritated areas, and enjoy the pain relief it provides. Perfect for underarms, thighs, stomach and neck. www.loceanlabs.com

KAMA SUTRA - MASSAGE CANDLES

($18.99) Kama Sutra, well known for their romantic offerings for loving couples, has introduced an amazing new product

we just LOVE! Pourable massage candles! Combining the romance of a candle with the luxury of scented massage oils, simply burn the candle for 5-15 minutes or until a small pool of oil forms, then blow out the candle and pour the oil into your hands, or directly onto your partner’s body for a luxurious massage! Packaged in a sleek, black metal tin with a built-in pour spout, this paraffin-free candle wax is made from a proprietary blend of Jojoba oil, Shea butter, and natural fragrances. Available in four lovely scents, it spreads easily, lasts

minutes, the Grilliput is a stainless steel barbeque that when broken down, is stored inside a 1-inch wide by 11.5-inch long tube. Its weight, at a mere 20 ounces is an added convenience, making it easy to tuck in almost anywhere and transport. Assembled, it provides a 9.1” x 10.2” grilling surface, large enough to prepare a meal for two people. How cool is that!

www.grilliput.com

BIJA BODY: DAILY BODY SERUM

an unbelievably long time, and will leave your skin feeling smooth, hydrated, and oh-so-soft, while filling the air with its sweet aroma! (Makes a GREAT Valentine’s Day gift!) www.kamasutra..com

ZIPZ SHOES

($40+) Interchangeable shoes! Perfect for moms who want multiple shoe options for their children, but not the added expense of buying several pairs, or for travelers who also need footwear options, but don’t have the extra space in their suitcase for them. These interchangeable shoes are an amazing new concept that allows you to purchase one footbed, and interchange it with a variety of “tops” that simply zip on and off (and are washable)! Available in adult unisex and children’s sizes, both hi-tops and low-tops, Zipz Shoes offer a comfortable and durable footbed with wonderful arch support, and features the world’s best and most durable zipper-- YKK. Whether it’s the bedazzled pink sequin “Super Model” or the snazzy “Comics” print that appeals to you, you’ll find the comfort of a Zipz shoe, combined with the ease of zipping a different top (or 2?) to coordinate with your wardrobe, an unbelievably fun and easy way to add color and style with minimal investment. www.zipzshoes.com

GRILLIPUT

($29.99) Want to barbeque, but don’t want the messy cleanup or hassle? Try a Grilliput! Easily constructed in just a few

($32, 10oz.) Get rid of the burn and itch from freshly shaved legs, with the ultra soothing Daily Body Serum form Bija Body! Perfect for fresh-out-of-theshower shaved skin, you’ll find this antioxidant-rich, protective, and moisturizing serum a soothing relief that glides on smoothly, drenching your skin in its natural goodness. Silky smooth and not the least bit oily feeling, this serum has become a staple here at the WSSM office for dry elbows, knees, hands, and of course, freshly shaved legs! Did we mention... it smells divine? www.bijabody.com

BANI BANDS

($12 - $18) Lovely, unique, adjustable headbands that come in a variety of prints and textures (we LOVE the sequins) to mix and match with your spring wardrobe! While there are lots of headbands on the market, we love Bani Bands because they stay PUT on your head, due to their Soft-GripTM velveteen backed design. Complete with comfortable elastic (at the nape of your neck) and an adjustable slider that offers multiple fits depending on your activity, Bani Bands are great for any sport/ yoga enthusiast who wants to look cute, while keeping their hair out of their eyes. www.banibands.com

WET BRUSH

($10.99) Detangle wet hair easily with the Wet Brush, made with super soft, flexible bristles that make detangling wet, damp, or dry hair a breeze! You’ve got to try it to believe it! Assorted colors available. www.thewetbrush.net

GOT NEWS? Want to see your company featured in our Industry News? Log on to www.WomensSurfStyle.com, and click on CONTACT. Send us your press releases, new product launches, team rider profiles... Whatever it is, we’d love to hear from you!

22 | womenssurfstyle.com | wSSm

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DYE TIES

($2.50) A fun and funky new hair accessory that lets you express yourself and your mood, in a variety of colors! Handmade and unique, these hair ties won’t crimp, break, or damage your hair, and can be worn on the wrist (like we all do anyway) when you’re not using it, and your circulation won’t get cut off like with normal hair ties! Over 100 colors to choose from as well as a variety of widths and hair band styles. You’re gonna love these fun hair accessories that are gentle on your hair! www.dye-ties.com

SPROUT WATCHES

($35-$75) These eco-friendly timepieces are made from sustainable materials such as bamboo, corn resin, mineral crystal, organic cotton, fish leather, and cork. They’ve recently developed several waterproof styles

embellishment to your favorite skirt- adding interest and seduction! Available in a beautiful rainbow of colors, choose from several widths and styles, including their super comfortable tank, which you’ll never want to take off! www.allyrosetoppers.com

POLAR BASICS

Chill out... with an instant chilled cooling towel from Polar Basics!! One of the newest and “coolest” products on the market. Polar Basics offers hats, cooling towels, and even a Sit-N-Chill beach chair cover that you wet with water, wring the excess out, and then shake lightly for 30-45 seconds. It becomes chilled and refreshing, keeping you cool for hours! Made from advanced, hyper-evaporative material, they’re washable & reusable, staying 20degrees cooler than the temperature... and they really do last for hours!! Perfect to take with you to a ball game, concert, marathon, the beach, or wherever you normally find yourself overheating. Available in 4 colors. www.polarbasics.com

HIT MIT

($19.95) A fun new toy for beach fanatics that’s easy on your hands (no broken nails) and can be played pretty much anywhere! Keep an eye out for the new Hit Mit on the beach, at school or in parks. Made of lightweight EVA foam, this one-size-fits-all mitt is worn like a glove over either hand, and offers hours of fun! Available in 3 colors. thehitmit.com

CLIPA

that make them a great choice for surfers. Sprout is making it clear they’re not only fashionable, but they care about the environment as well! See several of our favorite styles in this issue’s fashion guide on pages (134, 142) sproutwatches.com

($19.99 - $39.99) Keep your purse clean and safe with the no-hassle purse hook that holds up to 45pounds! No need to place your bags on the floor anymore, or tempt thieves to snatch and grab, the Clipa works well as both a purse hook and a bracelet or bangle, and comes in several beautiful finishes, colors, and even crystal embellishments!

ALLY ROSE TOPPERS

($17.99+) Femininity meets comfort, style, and sexy, in these ultra chic- Ally Rose Toppers! Wear them as a modesty layer beneath a plunging neckline, camouflage your bra, add a burst of color to a crocheted sweater... or even wear them as a hip-topper to add length and GOT NEWS? Want to see your company featured in our Industry News? Log on to www.WomensSurfStyle.com, and click on CONTACT. Send us your press releases, new product launches, team rider profiles... Whatever it is, we’d love to hear from you!

24 | womenssurfstyle.com | wSSm

Snap it on your wrist as jewelry, then snap it on your purse for a safer and easier way to keep your purse close. WSSM approved and recommended! www.clipa.us

PEPPERS EYEWARE: the BOMBSHELL COLLECTION

($35-$45) The ever-evolving Bombshell collection from Peppers Eyeware! Quality, yet affordable polarized sunglasses made especially for women. We love the Peppers Bombshell collection because they offer a variety of styles, within a reasonable price range! From the fashion forward Francesca, to the 80’s retro styled Spicy, to the Hollywood glam girl Rosie, Peppers has added new looks to this season in rich hues of purples, teals and tortoise that will make you want one of every style in the collection! www. peppersusa.com

PUCKER UP... with ELEMENTAL HERBS

($3.99) Keep your lips moisturized, soft, and hinted with color with Elemental Herbs “All Good Lips - Tinted” organic lip moisturizer! Smooth, creamy and lasts for hours, this herbal, organic blend of beeswax, extra virgin olive oil, calendula, lavendar and more organic ingredients, are combined with a surfers best friend, (nonnanoparticle) zinc oxide, giving you 18 SPF protection! Available in 6 lovely shades. www.elementalherbs.com

LED REFLEX WATCHES

($150.00) Enhance your wardrobe with one of the coolest watches we’ve seen in a long time! Reflex watches by Ritmo Mundo have revolutionized the watch industry with their new LED flexible watch that displays the month and day in LED lights! Available in a multitude of awesome colors, simply slap this flexible watch on your wrist, and be ready to answer questions about it all night-- it’s a real showstopper! www.ritmomundo.com

reflect your

brilliance.

Mary Osborne Team ‘Ohana

Maui Jim does. To live life brilliantly. To experience extraordinary success. To master your craft. We invite you to scan the code Style Shown: Mala

and see how Maui Jim is a master of our craft.

Tradeshow I

n order for the action sports and fashion industries to continue growing their base and appealing to new generations, they rely on three very important things. Consumers, buyers and brands.

Fever

Las Vegas, NV | Next Show: Feb 19-21, 2013 | magiconline.com Photos: MAGIC

CONSUMERS: As consumers, it’s often easy to forget about all the ordering, receiving and stocking that takes place behind-thescenes of your favorite stores. But the products you buy aren’t just randomly selected and tossed on a shelf, they are carefully chosen from among the hundreds of brands available today at tradeshows all across the country. If you like what a store offers, chances are, you actually have similar taste as the buyer for that particular store, which brings us to the next important category. BUYERS: Now as a buyer, you have to keep your customer in mind while “shopping”, taking into account the demographic you’re targeting while remaining on the cutting edge of trends and fashions. It’s a thin line to walk, but attending some of the nation’s biggest tradeshows makes it easy to find new emerging brands, as well as place orders with the older and more established industry leaders you know your customers already love. Which brings us to #3 in the list...Brands! BRANDS: Whether you’re just starting out or you have a brand that you’ve been building for years, in order to get it out there in front of buyer’s eyes, and therefore-their valued customers, you’ll need to exhibit at a tradeshow that attracts buyers that purchase from your particular category. While it is often expensive to exhibit, the valuable feedback, networking and sales opportunities will give you a year’s worth of trial and error, in an action packed 3-4 days. Selecting the RIGHT tradeshow is key however, and if you’re in the action sports or fashion industry, here are 3 tradeshows (only open to TRADE- not the general public) you will definitely want to check out!

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MAGIC:

A fashionista’s dream come true... Magic is the largest tradeshow in the country for fashion and lifestyle brands. Under the umbrella of MAGIC, there are actually 8 tradeshows that take place in Las Vegas during the 4 day show. WWD Magic is a dizzying array of women’s and junior fashions that span over 2,000 labels and a variety of price points. s.l.a.t.e highlights the most progressive streetwear labels in the country representing the skate/surf/art/music communities. STREET- the pulse of the urban market links today’s youth culture across the globe with trendsetting, edgy brands. MENSWEAR, high quality offerings for men from sportswear to classic separates to denims and the most fashion forward footwear & accessories. PROJECT offers a dynamic and community driven atmosphere with unique and specialty driven contemporary brands that are sure to inspire. POOLTRADESHOW is the ultimate experience for discovering boutique brands that excite and drive the lifestyle industry, all presented in a laid back and inviting atmosphere. SOURCING, which is exactly what it sounds like, is a paradise for all things manufacturing. Lastly… PLATFORM, a woman’s died-and-gone-to-shoe-heaven dreamland! Imagine every shoe, in every style and color, and from every culture... and you’ve just made it down the first row of exhibitors! This is an array of the world’s best and most comprehensive collection of footwear that will dazzle and delight even the most staid buyer. If fashion is your demographic-- then MAGIC is not to be missed!

Orlando, Florida | Next Show: Jan. 10-12, 2013 www.surfexpo.com Photos: Gabriel Fernandez, fernandezphotoart.com

Terox

Mishky

Salty Sister

Dye Ties

Keep A Breast

Charming Shark Surf Jewelry

JIMMY’Z

SUP Love

Peppers Eyeware

HONU

SURF EXPO:

The Granddaddy of action sports tradeshows, and one that WSSM hasn’t missed in 9 years, is the ever-evolving Surf Expo, in Orlando, Florida. Boasting 35 years running, they welcome new and emerging brands that are just getting their feet wet, as well as the industry’s leaders. This 3 day show features approximately 2,000 booths of apparel and hardgoods with over 24,000 attendees this past Fall, while offering categories in Surf, Skate, SUP, Wake/Kiteboard, Free Dive, Boutique, Resort, Souvenir & Gift, and Swim, truly making it a one-stop show for all your store needs. This business-first, party-later environment makes it our favorite tradeshow to attend when you really want to get business done! If you’re in action sports-- you need to be at Surf Expo! continued next page...

Tradeshow continued...

San Diego, CA | Next Show: 2013 www.surfboardshow.com Photos: Lola Blake | chicksticksbylola.com

Fever

THE BOARDROOM:

A hard goods show for the hard core surf industry!

This gathering of some of the greatest minds that have driven the surf culture throughout history is brought together at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in San Diego, California. They network, create, and build the future surf industry through cutting edge technology and techniques. From shapers, to laminators, to artists, ding kings, CAD experts and chemists, this show highlights the very best of the best when it comes to future development of the sport of surfing. (Photos: Chick Sticks Bomb Squad Girls at The Boardroom tradeshow, shown here modeling Chick Sticks products and brands available at chicksticksbylola.com)

“A big thank you to David Mitchell for coordinating our visit with these gentle “gray suits” of the ocean. Your enthusiasm and dedication to your work is inspiring!”

Swimming with Dolphins by Dan & Sandra Olson

t was another sunny, beautiful day in Hawaii as we drove down Kalanianaole Hwy- the winding, two lane road to Sea Life Park located on the S/E side of Oahu. Nestled among picturesque outcroppings of mountainous lava with turquoise blue waves crashing against the shores- lies Sea Life Park... an ocean habitat for an assortment of fascinating sea life! Many species you rarely will ever see out in the wild can be found here, like the tiny little penguins that swim back and forth in their pool- often excitedly speeding ahead of each other as though in a perpetual race. The captivating sea turtles that bob about, resembling smallish sea monsters as their heads peak above the surface to take in the Hawaiian air, to blubbery sea lions that bark at random, in anticipation of their next meal. The Hawaiian Shark Tank, a new exhibit to Sea Life Park, is a real showstopper, as you watch Scalloped Hammerhead sharks, Sandbar sharks and Stingrays swim lazily around the multi-level, 300,000 gallon aquarium. While we enjoyed seeing all of these amazing animals, we were on a mission that day- to go swim with the world’s most intelligent sea creatures... Dolphins! We made our way to the setup area where we were fitted for our lifejackets, removed all our jewelry, and learned the basics of what we were about to encounter.

Photos: Sea Life Park 28 | womenssurfstyle.com | wSSm

We were going to give and receive kisses, shake hands, pet the dolphins, and hold on for a DUAL dolphin ride (holding onto their strong dorsal fins). The climax was definitely the highlight of our experience... the foot push, where you ride 2 dolphins, while stand-

ing up!!! These dolphins were amazing, huge-yet gentle, and ranged from 400+ to 730+pounds! Now those are BIG dolphins! Or are they? Turns out, Sea Life Park is home to the only two Whalphins in the world! A Whalphin, is a cross between a whale and a dolphin, and unlike mules (a cross between a horse and donkey), Whalphins are able to reproduce, thus the second Whalphin in the world-- the baby that was born 9 years ago, and who currently lives at Sea Life Park also. We swam out to the far end of the pool where we- one at a time, would wait. Hearts beating with anticipation, legs slightly spread and feet flat (so the dolphins could push on our feet without banging into one another) the trainer sent the two dolphins our way. They would disappear under water as the trainer counted out loud... 3, 2, 1... and at 1, we’d feel a tremendous push under both feet as these amazing animals pushed with their firm, rounded noses under the arch of our feet, propelling us forward with tremendous speed. We rose, up and out of the water, arms spread to the wind! How exhilarating!! You feel like a superhero, or like you’re in a cartoon where anything is possible, flying over the water’s surface on the backs of dolphins!! 45 minutes flew by far too quickly, and we then bade goodbye to the dolphins that had given us so much joy. One day, we hope to do this again-- it was so much fun, and definitely worth checking off our bucket list!

Want to swim with the dolphins? Visit www.sealifparkhawaii.com

www.exceedwetsuits.com

RAILS & TALES . . . with Mary Osborne

y first trip down to El Salvador was in December, 2011 with fellow Patagonia Ambassador Alison Gannett and a fun group of ladies. I wanted to travel to this ideal “land of perfect point breaks” for years, but was a bit uncertain due to its previous years of economic unrest. I ended up spending over ten days here and absolutely fell in love with El Salvador. We were shooting images for Women’s Adventure Magazine as well as for my sponsor, Patagonia. We stayed at the beautiful Casa de Mar Hotel which is located in Sunzal. The hotel is extremely safe, absolutely stunning and we had an incredible staff looking after us. The best part was one could sip on fruity fresh cocktails while watching a friend surf a fun point wave directly out front from the pool. The hotel staff escorted us all around La Libertad, hunting for the best waves, and we met some of the most incredible people. My second trip to El Salvador was in November, 2012. The previous trip was so unforgettable, that I couldn’t wait to go back and discover more areas in El Salvador. I was booked with Adventure Sports Tours and shooting for ESPN.com with a photographer friend of mine, Jon Steele. This particular trip was very memorable because, not only did I get to reconnect with some amazing local friends from my first trip, but we got to take an in-depth look at El Salvador’s beautiful culture, gorgeous landscape, and pay visits to a few small mountain villages. We chased late season swells from Las Flores to north of Sunzal, viewed volcanoes up close and personal, and visited my friend, Rodrigo Avila’s absolutely gorgeous coffee plantation located in the lush hillsides above San Salvador. I will never look at coffee the same after seeing how much hard work goes into producing it. Never in a million years did I think I would fall in love with El Salvador like I have on these last two trips. Honestly, I feel blessed to have traveled here and will put El Salvador as one of my top yearly travel destinations. I truly love the passion of the people, its unique culture, the history, gorgeous landscape and the positive future this country prevails. El Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The thought of traveling here often conjures negative thoughts of the historical 12 year Civil War which resulted in years of political unrest, poverty and gang violence. However, as time passes, the country of El Salvador is maturing with a ﬂourishing economy and has become a hotspot for international backpackers and avid surfers. The topography consists of lush mountain ranges, large visible volcanoes, and some of the most beautiful, consistent surf breaks in the world. El Salvador’s 320km coast is packed with over 10 world class right hand point breaks and miles of empty black sand beach breaks. Like any foreign country, respect the locals and you will get treated with respect.

Season:

Over 300 days a year, swells from the southern hemisphere are easily attracted here and can be surfed with 80 degree water temperatures. Dry or “Summer” Season is November to April. Smaller swells during this season, yet warmer offshore conditions. Less frequent swells during this time, but you can always find waves to ride. Wet Season is May-October, with consistent bigger swells running from at least head high to 12ft plus. It rains at night, allowing for sunny skies and great surf conditions by day.

Safety First:

El Salvador has one of the highest crime rates in Latin America and is known for the serious gang violence. Traveling with a guide or booking a legit travel package is a great idea. It’s best not to wander around town in unchartered areas or be out late at night. Be alert when using public transportation. It is like being in any major city, there are areas you just don’t travel to. From my personal experience, I have seen more smiles than frowns in this gorgeous country. 30 | womenssurfstyle.com | wSSm

Food:

El Salvador food and drink is particularly distinctive among the diverse cuisines of Central America. A blend of indigenous and Spanish influences, El Salvador food can be as familiar as chicken soup and seafood or as exotic as fried palm flowers. The most common Salvadoran dish is the famous Pupusa, a round corn tortilla filled with cheese and other elements, usually chicharon (shredded pork meat). Are you a coffee drinker? Coffee production has fueled the Salvadorian economy for more than a century. Coffee plantations can be seen all over the lush green mountains of El Salvador.

Spots:

El Salvador is divided into 2 main zones- La Libertad is the area in the Northwest which encompasses over a dozen different surf breaks. This is the home to world class right hand point break, La Punta Roca, which is now one of the stops on the ASP tour. The Wild East is about a three hour drive south along the coastline. This remote zone has become quite popular over the last few years and is the home of worldclass surf breaks, Las Flores and Punta Mango.

Where to Stay:

“You get what you pay for.” Spend a little money and stay in Sunzal at Casa De Mar Hotel (www.casademarhotel.com) which is located about 30-45 minutes from the airport. Shuttle service to and from the airport is provided. The hotel is five star, very safe, has amazing food, and sits directly in front of one of the most consistent waves in Sunzal. Drive a short distance east or west of the hotel to the famous Punta Roca, El Zonte and K59. Not a surfer? Enjoy sitting poolside while watching your friends directly out front in the lineup. If you are looking to go to the Wild East and surf Las Flores or Punta Mango, check out Adventure Sports Tours: www.astadventures.com for an all-inclusive surf location directly on the point of Las Flores. When the surf is down, make sure to go explore volcanoes, coffee plantations, zip line through the lush mountains, and visit colonial quaint small towns on the beaten path.

with

Globe Trotting

Mary Osborne

El Salvador Photos: Justin Bastien | www.justinbastien.com

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RAILS & TALES . . . with Mary Osborne

with

Globe Trotting

Mary Osborne

These particular photos were taken during a beautiful hurricane swell. I was there with photographer, Justin Bastien, and a few surfer friends shooting for a Maui Jim sunglasses campaign. The lighting at sunrise and sunset makes almost any photo stunning. Golden gorgeous desert lighting... you can never go wrong here.

32 | womenssurfstyle.com | wSSm

an Jose Del Cabo is my favorite place to travel to. From where I live, it is a very short flight down to warm, crystal clear water and fun waves. With or without people, I travel to the Cabo area about 6-8 times a year chasing the southerly swells and warm water. I typically fly down in April, May, or summertime to get out of the Ventura fog and chilly water. I love the fact that I can book a same day flight and quickly be down in a desolate area driving on dusty dirty roads, donkeys roaming around, and surfing perfect waves all in the same day. Bordered by the Pacific Ocean and Sea of Cortez, Los Cabos is located at the tip of the nearly 1,000 mile long Baja California peninsula. What was once a small town surrounded by dirt roads, has quickly transformed into crowded condos, giant fancy homes, tequila pouring night clubs, and trendy American name brand shopping centers. Yet, what lies beneath the continual economic growth is an absolutely stunning coastline with crystal blue water, hidden beaches and endless amounts of surf breaks that have been drawing surfers to this destination for decades.

Cabos is generally divided into three areas: San Jose del Cabo, Cabo San Lucas and the East Cape. San Jose del Cabos’ laid back local scene provides a completely quieter vibe, compared to its sister town, Cabo San Lucas. Chances of you running into spring partygoers or wild wedding celebrations are slim to none. San Jose has a beautiful authentic 18-century Spanish colonial feel with several quaint, charming boutiques and tasty fine dining restaurants. Located about 20-miles west on the main tourist Corridor (highway) is Cabo San Lucas. One of the most recognizable landmarks in Cabo is El Arco, a beautiful stone formation at the southernmost tip of Baja, where the Pacific Ocean collides with the Sea of Cortes. Also known as, Land’s End, El Arco is a popular tourist attraction and the central focus for photographs, newlyweds and sunset cruises. When the sun sets in Cabo, spice up your evenings with colorful neon night clubs, rub shoulders with spring breakers and watch endless amount of tequila being poured down thirsty throats. Get hung upside down at the Giggling Marlin, throw back colorful Jello shots at the El Squid Row or shake your tail feathers till the wee hours of the morning at the Pink Kitty. Similar to the Vegas mantra, “What happens in Cabo, stays in Cabo,” you can expect just about anything on a sultry Cabo San Lucas night. The East Cape is like taking a step back in time. Long, bumpy, dirt roads run for about 50 miles along the Sea of Cortez coastline. When hurricane and south swells fill into this area, surfers put away their 4-3 wetsuits and ﬂock here daily to surf epic right hand point breaks that can be seen around every bluff. Surf with fifty of your closest friends at the more popular spots like 9 palms or Shipwrecks. Or, you can find a random un-named break with no one out. Pick and choose your ﬂavor, you really can’t go wrong.

Airport:

San Jose del Cabo. A two and half hour flight from LAX. Multiple flights a day on most major airlines and can be very inexpensive.

Season:

Summer: June- August is high season, but early summer swells in April and late October are a bonus. This area loves hurricane and south swells, but watch out for ugly onshore winds.

afety First: Extremely safe in this part of Mexico. No major drug trafficking or violence to worry about. Feels like an extension of Southern California.

Places to Stay:

Budgets range from $ to $$$$ depending on your

necessities:

 ($$$$) Cabo Surf Hotel (www.cabosurfhotel.com) is located on the Corridor about 30-45 minutes from the airport. Three breaks located directly out front: Zippers, Old Man’s, and the Rock. This hotel provides lessons, guides and all equipment rentals. (There are some great all inclusive hotels, but

watch out for cafeteria type meals)  ($$$) Rent a casita on East Cape. VRBO provides tons of rentals if you want to stay on East Cape. Check out this sexy house: www.cabohomeforrent.com | www.vrbo.com/142969 for a great little Casita near surf break “9 palms”.  ($) Best budget is to rent a car or hitch a ride to East Cape and camp out in front of your favorite break. Bring all your gear in your board bag, load up at the local Mega supermarket and off you go. Easy, cheap, simple and well worth every wave caught.

Tips - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

bring water and toilet paper with you. You never know 1 Always where you will get stuck or what could happen in Baja. Season can be extremely hot, think desert hot, bring sun2 High screen and protection at all times. it all: Shortboard, longboard, swim fins, snorkeling, mats, 3 Bring boogie boards… it all goes here. Full car rental protection package is a great idea considering 4 the rough dirt roads. Search online for best rental prices to avoid hassles at the airport. Try booking one way flights (Alaska Airlines, which has 5 cheaper board fees than any other airline). This way if a sudden swell hits, you don’t have to pay the change fee. south swells aren’t present, head up the Pacific coast line 6 When for more surf.

Baja California Sur Photos: Justin Bastien | www.justinbastien.com

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RAILS & TALES . . . with Mary Osborne

his trip was quite the trip to remember. It started off by sailing with the 5 Gyres (5gyres.org) crew and my friends, Justin Bastien and JP Garcia, from Tahiti to Cook Islands. Our crew was aboard the Sea Dragon, a 72ft (22m), 90,000lb displacement steel hulled vessel that has been sailing around the world doing environmental research. In December, 2010, I had previously sailed on it from Brazil to South Africa doing ocean research. On this particular adventure, we were studying the amount of plastic pollution in the South Pacific Ocean. Our crew sailed for 5 gorgeous days aboard this working vessel, collecting ocean samples, learning a tremendous amount about ocean conservation and making lifelong friends. We landed on the island of Raratonga and spent another week there shooting photos, stand up paddling, searching for surf, eating coconuts and just enjoying life. The images Justin shot truly showcase Raratonga’s laid back lifestyle and stunning island landscape. If you have never been to the Cook Islands, put it on your list of places to visit. The beautiful island chain of the Cook Islands are located in the South Pacific between Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and Tahiti.

Weather:

Rarotongo enjoys a pleasant climate year-round with relatively minor fluctuations. The surfing season, May-Sept, has the ‘cooler’ months, with average daily temps around 25°C (77°F), down to 19°C (66°F) at night. The summer rainy season, Dec-April, can be hot and humid 29°C (84°F) by day with bright sunny mornings and afternoon rains.

Lodging:

Camping is not an option on Rarotonga. There are almost 100 individual accommodation properties, from small boutique resorts to self contained beach bungalows and holiday homes. Those on the mountain side offer better value for your money and most have lovely mountain views that are never more than a five minute stroll to the beach. For a reasonable priced place to stay, try the Aroko Beach Bungalows, which are directly located on the south eastern side of the island. There are six self-contained units surrounded by accessible coconut trees. Directly out front is the beautiful blue lagoon where you can swim, snorkel and paddle. http://www.arokobungalows.com

ransportation: The entire island is only 22 miles in circumfer-

The island of Rarotonga is surrounded by a large lagoon, which extends to more than a hundred meters to the reef, then slopes into steeply deep water. Peering into the distance, large waves of whitewater crash upon the outer reef that circumferences the petite rustic island. Inland, there are stunning, eroded, volcanic peaks covered in dense green vegetation with very little infrastructure. The fresh salt air is healthy and clean. Here in Rarotonga, the sounds of the native birds singing echo throughout the gorgeous lush valleys and big welcoming smiles from locals can be seen for miles.

ence which allows for transportation to remain easy and accessible. There are two main roads that circle the island on the Ara Tapu coast road, through the villages and past the beaches; or an older inland road that winds through local farmlands. The island bus offers travelers a convenient low cost method of transportation. However, renting a motor scooter is by far the most popular and exciting way to see the island.

For surfers, swells continuously hit the island, but can be extremely challenging to find the right reef pass to surf. There are 12 known surf spots here, yet most of the reef passes are too narrow, preventing waves from wrapping properly. Quick breaking, shallow sharp reefs make the waves typically challenging for even the expert surfer. Snorkeling, swimming, hiking and fishing are the most common activities on Rarotonga. While stand up paddling would be one of the best ways to see this magical place, good luck getting your hands on a board and paddle. I can assure you there are two Yolo stand up paddle boards, one pink and one yellow, ﬂoating around that island somewhere.

building rises higher than the surrounding coconut 1 No trees. Rarotonga isn’t the cheapest place to visit in the South 2 Pacific, but it is promised to be one of the most beautiful and unique islands in the South Pacific zone.

Photos: Justin Bastien | www.justinbastien.com

with

Helpful Hints: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - on staying at least two weeks to catch decent surf 3 Plan conditions. out Niki’s Surf Shop for more information on 4 Check surfing: http://www.cookislandsurf.co.ck/newpage1.htm Chillis Sports Bar is a great place to socialize, enjoy deli5 cious food, tasty cocktails as well as meet locals and fellow surfers. http://www.cookislandsurf.co.ck/newpage3.htm

Globe Trotting

Mary Osborne

Rarotonga, Cook Islands 34 | womenssurfstyle.com | wSSm

wSSm | womenssurfstyle.com | 35

RAILS & TALES . . . with Mary Osborne

Special thanks on these adventures to: My sponsors for supporting my adventures: Patagonia (www.patagonia.com), Maui Jim (www.mauijim.com), Bettybelts (www.bettybelts.com), Ventura Surf Brewery (www.surfbrewery.com), and DNA Skin Care (www.dnaskin.com), Sexwax (www.sexwax.com)  5 gyres organization (www.5gyres.org) for all the education and environmental work you do  Alfonso Alfarez and the Casa De Mar Hotel crew in El Salvador (www.casademarhotel.com)  Justin Bastien photography (www.justinbastien.com) 

with

Globe Trotting

Mary Osborne

36 | womenssurfstyle.com | wSSm

he Mentawai Islands is a chain of about seventy plus islands and is set off the western coast of Sumatra, between the equator and four degrees south. These islands have become the premiere surf destination for avid, advanced and professional surfers looking to ride swells of a lifetime from sunrise to sunset, until their entire body emulates Jello. The idea of doing a surf trip to Indonesia is (or should be) on almost every real surfer’s bucket list. Even though mainstream surf media has been showcasing pro surfers surfing ridiculously perfect, freight training-big barrels for years, Indonesia still is Disneyland for surfers. And, according to surfers who are lucky to travel to Indo, it will always remain, “the happiest place on earth.”

There are two ways to explore the Mentawais: Land and Sea

Land:

Do you get sea sick or hate the idea of being ocean locked for a long period of time? Land based camps are located all over the Mentawai Islands. Pick your flavor, budget and wave that you want to set up in front of. It’s that easy. Most resorts offer boat shuttle service to and from breaks in the immediate area.

Sea:

All inclusive boat charters are the most common way to explore Indonesia. This means of transportation is ideal due to the flexibility on the water, allowing surfers to access all various types of waves and swell conditions. If one side of the island is windy, quickly charter to the opposite where you could find sheet glass conditions. You can easily charter the ultimate, plush, boat (Indies Trader 3) with warm fluffy

towels, watching flat screen televisions and washing down 5 star meals with fruity martinis. Don’t care about the fluff? It’s easy to roll low budget, with endless amounts of Bintang (beer) and local rice. Whatever your budget may be, it doesn’t really matter when you are surfing some of the best waves in the world.

urf Abilities: Best for advanced

surfers.

Tips - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

to have all travel in1tionBest surance or medical evacuaplans prior to arriving in Indonesia. Reefs are shallow and sharp. Chances of you finding a boat full of doctors is slim.

Bring all your supplies 2 and some. Wax, sunscreen, extra leashes, fins, sunnies...

basically everything you could use or you will be bartering Bintangs with other surfers for their supplies. F

Sumatra, Indonesia Photos: Justin Bastien | www.justinbastien.com

wSSm | womenssurfstyle.com | 37

RAILS & TALES . . . CUBA

CUBA is a land frozen in time. The streets crawl with vintage cars, cigar smoke and vibrant music. It was during my month on the island that I met and befriended Lorena and Yaya, the two remaining women surfers of Cuba. Here are their stories.

Yaya My name is Yaliagni, but everyone knows me as Yaya. I live in Havana, Cuba. I am a surfer. I started when I was twenty-one years old. Since I was eighteen years old I have been training marine mammals - sea lions, seals and dolphins. I have the same passion for animals that I have for surfing. Now days there are only two girls I know of who are surfing in Cuba - Lorena and me. Before we were a bigger group, but others have left the country. I wish there would be more girls. I like the moments when we are surfing because we have fun. We exchange opinions and make a lot of funny jokes, and it’s something I haven’t gotten to do very often because we are only two. Women’s surfing in Cuba is really stuck in time. We have a lot of limitations. We have no boards. The conditions for waves here in Cuba come only during the hurricane season and storms. ... continued next page

. . . CUBANITAS Story & Photos by Tia Calvo

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Yaya

wSSm | womenssurfstyle.com | 39

RAILS & TALES . . . CUBA

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. . . CUBANITAS

...continued

What do I feel when I surf and catch a wave? It’s a question that everyone asks me. It’s something very difficult and rare to express. It’s something only we surfers can understand. It gives me joy, it’s like an adrenalin rush to my body. I love what I feel when I’m surfing. Sometimes early in the morning I come to the aquarium and I see the swell is perfect for me. I ask permission from my boss to take a days vacation. I always manage to find time for a surf. I have nothing to do with politics, but if I wanted to change something in Cuba it would be that they give us the possibility for travel. Anytime I wished and had the money to, I could travel and say, “Hey, I’m going to Hawaii to catch a wave.” I would like to create a surf school so the girls here can have a chance to learn. Once they are set up they can be given the opportunity to compete and hopefully can triumph in woman’s surfing. We can rise and everybody will know us.

Lorena My name is Lorena and I’m twenty years old. I live in Havana, Cuba. I go to school five

days a week to study biology, I’m in second year. I started body boarding when I was around 13 years old. I like it more than a surfboard because I feel closer to the ocean. I see the waves from the bottom and they look much bigger. My board is from a woman surfer who wanted to meet me. It’s five years old now. At the end of her trip she left her body board here for me to practice with. Here it’s complicated to find the right surf gear. There are no surf shops. When a cyclone or a tropical storm comes there is swell, but that’s rare. In one year there are probably one or two that come near Cuba. The swells here are between one and three meters and it does not last long.

Lorena

Here for traveling to anywhere, even inside Cuba, is hard because not many people have cars. Transportation is super bad. Take going to the eastern side of the island where there is good surf. We have to wait too long to get a bus ticket to be able to get there. The only way to go is when someone from another country comes to visit Cuba and they invite you to go surf different spots. You were lucky and that was it. Everybody would like to travel to the places that they want, not just me because I am Cuban. But for everything here they make you wait a lot, and in our laws traveling is prohibited.

Maybe there is another girl around who I haven’t met, but I think I’m the only woman body boarding. I’m proud to be the only one in Cuba and I can say I’m the best without discussion, but it would be nice to have more women surfers. For a sport to progress, it cannot be just for men. It has to advance for women too, so there will be an equal growth. We know that we are not going to have support from the government or anything. The only assistance I’ve ever had is from surfers who have been here. The Cuban surfers have learned how to find their own way to support themselves in life. F

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RAILS & TALES . . . EL SALVADOR

Soulful

Surfers Are By Kris Primacio | Manhattan Beach, CA Photos: Ken Pagliaro Photography

I feel compelled to write in about being an “everyday – unsponsored” older surfer!

Now 42-years-old, I just started regularly surfing last year. The first time I ever got up on a surfboard was three years ago when I traveled to the Big Island of Hawaii with my Ohana, took a surf lesson and rode my first wave in. I’m guessing it was a one-foot wave, but even that one-foot ride on my borrowed and very long foam board made me feel like I was walking on water (that was about the speed at which I was moving). For a number of life-changing reasons, I didn’t pick up a surfboard again until the end of January 2011. My incredible boyfriend, Ken Pagliaro, photographer extraordinaire, took me down to San Onofre, CA, with some amazing waterman/women and I’ve never looked back. He pushed me into a couple of those fun, mushy waves where even as a beginner you feel like a rock star surfer! In August, 2011, Ken surprised me with my first real surfboard, a 7’4” Trident shaped by Zen Del Rio, a famous local artist and shaper from Palos Verdes, CA. (I gladly retired the 8’ foam board from Costco.) Just last month I added a Trident 6’6” fun board to my quiver – it’s so beautiful I want to mount it on my wall. Also available to me from Ken’s quiver is his 6’2” Larry Mabile Quad Fish, as well as my new favorite board, his 5’10” Al Merrick Pod. At this stage in my surfing “career”, I’m simply working on going out every day with my surf sister, Diana Branda. Last September, right after I got my first surfboard, we determined to surf every morning by 7 am and refer to this time as our “ocean therapy” - exactly what the doctor ordered before a long day at work. We paddle out no matter what - it’s never too big or too cold. Our philosophy is, “If we can’t make it out to the line-up, then we shouldn’t be out surfing.” One day last winter after doing thirty turtles (the only way to fight off the onslaught of wind swell waves riding a thick 7’4”), I just stopped counting! Some days simply the accomplishment of making it out is all the gratification we need to get through the day. Living in Manhattan Beach, CA, we have the privilege of being able to walk twenty steps to the sand and another thirty steps into the Pacific Ocean, so there is no excuse for not getting in the water. We’re also lucky enough to have another dozen girlfriends in the neighborhood who will all surf together at any time - we ladies have taken over our local surf spot in Manhattan Beach!

This trip has forever changed how I surf, and how I feel about surﬁng!  I now know that having butterﬂies in the line-up means I’m challeng-

ing myself.  I know that the ocean is powerful and must be respected.  I know that you can take a 15-minute boat ride to Punta Mango with

other surfers whom you’ve just met, and they will become your lifesavers within the hour and lifelong friends by the end of the week.  I know that you should have a surf-guide who encourages you to push

your limits, but never takes his eyes off of you.  I know now that I can drop into a heavy overhead right-hander and

come out the other end grinning from ear to ear.  I know that there is no other sport that gets me so stoked before I

even start and keeps me stoked for hours and days after I’ve finished.  I’ve learned whether you catch twenty waves or no waves in a session,

you’ll take away something meaningful each time.  I know that I could have never done this trip without my surf sister by

my side, inspiring me with her bravery, to face the biggest and heaviest waves of our lives.

Our philosophy is... “If we can’t make it out to the line-up, then we shouldn’t be out surfing.”

After a year of “ocean therapy”, my surf sister, Diana, joined me on my first ever surf trip to the beautiful and unforgettable Las Flores Resort in El Salvador. Diana has been surfing for ten years now and has traveled the world, but I wanted to go somewhere she had never been so we could experience all the firsts together. The only board I brought along was Ken’s 6’2” Quad Fish. In hindsight I should have also taken his 5’10” Pod to add to my arsenal, but I was happy that I was able to bring home the 6’2” in one piece. I have been home now for a few weeks and cannot stop dreaming about my adventure. On so many different levels it was by far one of the best trips I’ve ever taken. The people of El Salvador are lovely. The other guests/surfers I met came from all over the globe and shared the most interesting stories. The waves were beautiful, intimidating and powerful all at the same time! We even had the opportunity to support The Soul Project with the Azul Surf Club - Lissette Perez of the Azul Surf Club is my new hero - and spent the afternoon painting a classroom at the first high school in El Cuco. 42 | womenssurfstyle.com | wSSm

 I have learned that there is an element of selfish-

ness that comes with being a surfer. We pray for hurricanes just so we can have a good swell, and although we can be friendly in the ocean, we will happily paddle around a stranger to catch the perfect wave. If we’re having an epic surf session, we’ll blow off work, friends and lunch dates. We are probably more alert and focused on our boards than at any other time during the day. We anxiously wait for Labor Day weekend to end so that all the tourists go back home and leave our surf break.

But, I have also learned we must take care of what we love!  Every session I grab and fit into my wetsuit any garbage I find in the water or on the beach.  I donate to Surfrider Foundation.

 I volunteer at beach clean-ups.  I support Oceana and all organizations that protect our oceans and marine life.  I take shorter showers, use less paper products and eat more raw foods (to create less waste).  I buy the chemical-free organic sunscreens and the eco-friendly, eco-conscious bathing suits made from recycled materials because these products, although more expensive, are better for our oceans.  I’m much more aware of my carbon footprint on earth, and particularly in the ocean, with every purchase I make. Therefore I buy less, want less and need less.

Surﬁng is a soulful sport. Although it took me 41-years and I had to kiss a lot of frogs, I’m so grateful I’ve ﬁnally found my soul mate! F

The following thought came to me after a heavy surf session last year:

“Every time we push ourselves beyond our limits, our limits expand beyond our imagination.” 4 1

2 3

1) Just a small sampling of some of the ladies I have the privilege of surfing with at any given time “Somewhere in Manhattan Beach” 2) Me and my surf-sister Diana at Las Tunas in El Salvador 3) July 2011 practicing headstands in San Onofre – 6-months after my first trip to San O’ – where it all began. 4) Hanging out right in front of my home surf break Surf Photo: Fun and challenging waves at Punta Mango, El Salvador (post production by Ken Pagliaro)

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RAILS & TALES . . . COSTA RICA

Towing in with My Dream Came True in Costa Rica

The quickest surf trip of my life surprisingly ended up being the most thrilling when on the first day, the waves were double to triple overhead and we were going to tow-in. In Florida, there is never a reason, other than just messing around, to tow-in. For that, you would need very big waves, a jet ski, and a knack for finding yourself in situations where things are happening so fast you don’t even have time to think. On that day, I had my chance to try one of the things I had been secretly craving for the last several years. Normally, I wouldn’t sug-

Tara By Tara Davis Photos: Gabriel Fernandez (fernandezphotoart.com)

gest blindly towing in with an unknown crew, but after we swapped stories, I figured I had nothing to lose, except maybe my bikini and pride. Nah…over the years both of those have already had their share of mishaps... I got a few, “Yea, riiiiiight...” looks from some guys as I prepared to paddle out to the ski through the rough surf, but I was totally amped and didn’t give it another thought. I watched as the jet ski driver, Don, towed our trip mate, Scott, into the first wave...

The next thing I knew, I was

racing down the face of one of the biggest waves I have ever ridden...

time stood still for a moment as I was looking up in awe at the wall of water next to me. The only thing I remember thinking was, “Don’t fall, don’t fall.”

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Oh my God, me next...! I found out there are a couple different ways to tow-in surf, but on this day, since the waves were about 12-15 ft, we were just using our usual shortboards. We started out by standing on them in the water, similar to the way one would stand on a wakeboard. Timing is everything between you and the ski driver. Once a set is on its way, all at once you hold the rope, stand on the board and get whisked away in one motion. The next thing I knew, I was racing down the face of one of the biggest waves I have ever ridden. I mean, time stood still for a moment as I was looking up in awe at the wall of water next to me. The only thing I remember thinking was, “Don’t fall, don’t fall.” Well good news, I didn’t fall! Let me tell you, after an hour or so of that, my heart just couldn’t beat fast enough to keep up with my breathing. I had to go in. One word of

advice, know your limits. After surfing for 23 years, I know what I’m capable of and what I’m not. I knew if I tried to get any more waves and happened to take a bad fall and get caught inside, there was a good chance I wouldn’t be making it up for air in time. The guys I was with were so stoked on the whole thing... seeing how surprised and proud they were absolutely made my trip. We decided to go at it again the next day, but for some reason (nerves), I had trouble making it to my feet on the first 5-6 tries. Don kept saying, “Relax, relax”! Finally it all came together and I caught a few fun ones and also rode on the ski with Don as we pulled Scott into a few. Man! That was JUST as much fun as surfing the wave! Since that trip, not a day has gone by that I haven’t thought about how and when I am going to be able to arrange another trip somewhere for some tow surfing. It was the most thrilling day of surfing I ever had and I CAN’T WAIT to do it again! F

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RAILS & TALES . . . PERU

Night time at the lodge Photo: Tia Calvo

Photo: James Vybiral

Tia heads out for a session Photo: Paolo Lopez Zubiaurr

Tia at Lobitos Photo: Kaiquin Castro Botto 46 | womenssurfstyle.com | wSSm

“

A night surf is the best method of crowd avoidance. We would sneak out for 1 a.m. full moon surfs. During one night surf, the power went out. Sitting in the lineup looking to shore, everything went black. It was quiet and peaceful, surfing by the light of the oil ﬂares in the desert. A little piece of Lobitos magic.

”

Sunset at Lobitos Photo: James Vybiral

Lobitos

Lost In By Tia Calvo

A hidden secret – quiet perfection in the desert. An old oil and military town, Lobitos lay abandoned until being discovered by4 surfers. 1 2 3 The wind howls, the dust blows and the waves peel. What motivated me to leave the comfort of my couch to explore this inhospitable landscape? Passion, adventure, avoidance of the day to day life? Pick an answer. But it always comes back to one thing – the hunt for waves and the rush of a new place. The freedom of no boundaries. So what type of person goes to Lobitos? Who visits this crazy desert town? It attracts an eclectic mix. From the non-surfing hippies, bumming

around experimenting with the local Peruvian hallucinogenic, to packs of over-enthusiastic Brazilian surfers. It’s an international crowd. But how did I end up staying for so long? Stepping beyond my role of surf tourist, I somehow found myself the new manager of the Lobitos Lodge. I felt like an alien. Frustration and headache would be the best two words to describe it. Imagine the challenges that come with busi-

View from the lodge | Photo: Tia Calvo wSSm | womenssurfstyle.com | 47

Photo: Salah Roberto Calderon

Lobitos

Lost In

Photo: James Vybiral 48 | womenssurfstyle.com | wSSm

ness management. Teaching staff, organizing, scheduling… it was all in Spanish. Spending every day, all day, just trying to communicate in a language I didn’t understand. The simplest things became impossible. But the hardest part was trying to forge relationships. I wanted so badly to talk, to laugh, to interact with my staff. Consider the difference between the two cultures, first world and third. It was everything from catching the bus, to pay rates, food, money, life. But peel all of that away and it’s nothing. We’re all just people.

Above: Local fishermen, bringing in their catch Photo: Tia Calvo Left: Camera men on the watchtower at Lobitos, at sunset | Photo: James Vybiral Below: Tia, at home at the lodge Photo: Paolo Lopez Zubiaurr

How crazy was it to run the lodge? The craziest thing I’ve ever done. 5:30 am until bed time taking care of people. Breaking water systems, power shortages, staff strikes, caring for clients.

How did I handle things? I handled it by surfing. Everything could be falling apart, but when the waves were on, nothing mattered...

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“

Some mornings I’d wake up to perfection, like a snapshot straight out of a magazine. The waves would start beyond the point and peel for miles down the beach. Waves so long you’d roll in on your belly and jog back up to the point for another. It was too long to paddle back out. But often the crowd made it tough. So I took to late evening paddles, staying out so late I couldn’t see the sets rolling in. Surfing with my senses in the twilight. Just me and the phosphorescent plankton sparkling in the water.

”

(above/below) photos: James Vybiral

(below) Tia heads out for some ocean therapy, (above) Tia and staff at the lodge Photos: Paolo Lopez Zubiaurr

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Lobitos

Lost In

... Hot water’s out, no power… no problems. There’s a silent

electricity in the air. No one talks; it’s just grab your morning coffee in the dark, squeeze into your wetsuit and run like hell down the beach.

No matter what was going on, I always made time for the waves. One Lobitos barrel makes everything ok. F

Visit the Lobitos Lodge: www.lobitoslodge.com.pe/en/index.php

Tia Calvo at Lobitos Photo: Kaiquin Castro Botto wSSm | womenssurfstyle.com | 51

x o B

LIFESTYLE . . . Living Beautiful

BEAUTY Fashion and Celebrity Makeup Artist Roxy

hand selects some of her favorite makeup and skin products perfect on land or in the water. Email her your questions at: roxy@roxylook.com or on facebook at www.facebook.com/roxylook.net | twitter.com/roxannesaffaie Photo: Ashley Barrett | ashley-barrett.com

LANCOME Star Hypnose Mascara

URBAN DECAY “Good Karma” Optical Blurring Brush

“When it comes to mascara, I have extremely high expectations and this new mascara from Lancôme completely lives up to them. This formula does it all: volumizes, lengthens, defines and curls. Its brush provides both a flat side to help deposit the mascara close to your lash line, and a rounded side to define and lengthen. Its gel-like finish goes the distance without flaking, making this mascara my new best friend.”

“Your makeup tools are just as important as the products you use. Urban Decay understands that concept so well, and the proof is in this new makeup brush. It will flawlessly apply any of your cream, liquid or powder makeup products on to your face, creating an airbrushed effect. The size is perfect and offers amazing control to buff your makeup seamlessly with its optical blurring abilities. It’s the magic wand of makeup brushes”

LAURA MERCIER Crème Smooth Lip Colour “A great lipstick is one that provides excellent pigment, moisturizes, is long lasting, and plain and simply draws attractive attention to your lips. Leave it to Laura to create a lipstick that does all of the above. This luxurious lipstick is silky smooth in application, packed with Olive Oil and Vitamin E to nourish your lips while painting on stunning colors that have a semi-lustrous finish to them. J’adore!” www.lauramercier.com

www.lancome-usa.com

www.urbandecay.com

NARS Soft Shadow Pencil

“I am ecstatic about these new eye shadow pencils from Nars. They are so easy to use, providing excellent pigments, texture and blending abilities. The color range is gorgeous and fun. They also can help to create more depth to your eye shadow by acting as a base color- Love that. The convenience of these amazing pencils has won them permanent space in my makeup bag.” www.narscosmetics.com

SMASHBOX BB Cream

“BB creams are the new “IT” product in the makeup world and Smashbox’s formula makes the A-list in my book. This formula masters BB’s creams multi-tasking abilities by moisturizing, priming, evening your complexion, controlling oil, and gives your skin UVA/UVB protection. It creates smooth texture that will bring out the best in your foundation and that’s if you choose to wear any over it… there’s a great chance you won’t need to with this skin perfecting cream.” www.smashbox.com 52 | womenssurfstyle.com | wSSm

DR. MURAD Clarifying Wipes

“Finally a makeup remover wipe that will cleanse, tone, and help to keep your skin free of breakouts. These wipes for blemish prone skin will eliminate pore-clogging oils, while tightening them with Witch Hazel. The Grape Seed extract and Vitamin E in them will offer free radical protection. I love to keep some in my gym bag to instantly remove sweat from a good work out or to remove heavy sunscreen after a surf session. Now there is officially NO excuse of sleeping with your makeup on.” www.murad.com

Ask Roxy

Q: I love all the bright colors of blush you see makeup brands creating, but I’m afraid to wear them and look like a clown! Any tips on the best way to wear them? MICHELLE SAXBY | Santa Barbara, CA

A: “Fear not Michelle! Most of the bright colored blushes you see go on sheer and are buildable so you have complete control of how much color you want to wear. The key is finding powder blushes that provide a smooth finish and deposit color evenly; luckily there are so many brands out there producing amazing blushes that do exactly that. Some of my favorites are from Nars and tarte. If you’re still hesitant, you can always opt for a cream blush like Stila’s Convertible Color. Cream blushes have excellent blending abilities that will mesh into your skin naturally while still giving you the pop of color you want. Just remember that if your skin is oily or you’re in a humid climate and you do choose a cream blush; you might want to use a primer before hand to have your blush go the distance. When applying a cream blush, you can use your fingers or a sponge like the Beauty Blender, which can help to sheer out the color perfectly. Make sure you apply bright colors on the apples of your cheeks, as this is where you would naturally blush (save the contouring for bronzers and skin tone shades). Blush is one of my most favorite makeup products to wear, because when applied correctly, it wakes the face up and helps to give off a youthful look by using very minimal makeup. The most important thing to remember is that makeup can come right off, so play with it until you find your comfort zone, and then flaunt it!”

Roxy XoXo

LIFESTYLE . . . Living Beautiful F DRESS This t-shirt dress by Juli And Fred, is bold in color, yet soft and luxurious. The rouching on the hips makes this a more modest choice for daytime wear, that can be worn lower on the hips. Its casual, camp-shirt style buttoned sleeves add simple charm, and the off-the-shoulder design allows you to show as much- or as little, as you choose. (juliandfred.com)

how to

Take a Dress

F DAYTIME ACCESSORIES Coordinated, color-splashed accessories add interest to a simple beach dress. Think bright & neon! Footwear, with a short dress like this, should be flats/slippers to keep your look classy and feminine, without becoming too sexy. (TIP: Try not to use more than 2-3 accessories in each color. You don’t want to overdue it. Bright accessories should enhance an outfit, not overwhelm it.)

F DAY MAKEUP For a soft daytime look, use black mascara, a hint of bronze on your lids (fading darker towards the outer corners of your eyes), with a light colored blush that enhances your skin tones, coupled with your favorite shimmery lip gloss.

Earrings: (trendyjewels.com) Watch: Flex Watches... Every color represents a different charity that they’ve partnered with to give back 10%. (flexwatches.com) Slippers: “Surf Girl” by Colleen Wilcox (sandalista.com) Beach bag: “S.H.O.P. (Start Helping Our Planet) tote by Calypso Studios. (calypsostudiosinc.com) 54 | womenssurfstyle.com | wSSm

from day to evening A simple beach dress can be an easy transition from day to evening, with a few special accessories and simple makeup tips.

Photos: Daniel K. Fine Arts | Model: Lorena Miller

F EVENING ACCESSORIES

When wearing a dress as bold in color as this one, black accessories are an excellent way to add drama without looking overdone. Sparkles and bling via a bold cuff or bracelet will add elegance without looking cheap, and when paired with classy wedges and several long drapy necklaces, you’re ready for an evening out!

F EVENING MAKEUP Heavier makeup at night helps bring out your features, especially your eyes, so much better. Just remember, add drama to your eyes OR your lips, but not both. Heavy eye makeup should never be accompanied with dark lips, as they will compete with each other and look clown-ish. For added night-time drama, several coats of your favorite mascara can be enhanced with a 1/2 set of false lashes (1/2 lashes are also more comfortable to wear than fulllashes), as well as a darker shade of blush brushed along your cheekbones to enhance them. Keep the lips soft with a light shimmer, and a splash of colored eyeliner to match your dress will complete your evening look. Necklaces: (calypsostudiosinc.com) Cuff: Ocean inspired, Swarovski crystal bedazzled cuff by Caroline Rocha (carolinerocha.com) Shoes: “Fly” in black (a WSSM FAVORITE!), by Very Volatile (volatileusa.com)

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LIFESTYLE . . . Daily Fitness Powerful Pose

Variation (Utkatasana) By Zofia Karubin Certified Yoga Instructor

This powerful pose is also known as the Chair Pose because it’s like sitting back into a chair that isn’t there.

It’s really fun to do either with your feet flat on the ground or with the heels up and balancing on the balls of your feet. The use of a surfboard helps to stay balanced, and at home you can use the back of a chair or a wall or simply bring your arms in front of you for stability. This pose will help you get warmed up for your next surfing session. Yoga is all about getting in touch with your inner peace and inner power, just like in surfing it allows us to practice reconnecting with nature and with our inner bliss. Enjoying something that benefits us in so many ways brings us to higher levels of life and consciousness. BEFORE AND AFTER DOING THIS POSE, do a gentle warm up and cool down. Twist the body gently from side to side, stretch the neck around and to the left and right, rolling the shoulders up and back, move your body with the breath. A gentle forward bend will be very relaxing especially after doing this pose to release any tension in your muscles. Inhale and reach the arms out holding the surfboard in front of you, then exhale as you relax the head, neck and torso down, and keep breathing deeply for several breaths. When you’re ready, inhale and gently roll up to a standing position.

REMEMBER: F Breathe deeply and stay relaxed.

F Be very gentle and loving with your body.

F Don’t force or strain in any way.

(Check with your health care provider before doing this or any exercise program)

Surfrider YOGA 1

From standing position, take a deep breath and connect to the Earth. Hold the surfboard with the fins facing away from your body. Shoulders relaxed down and arms parallel to the ground. Extend the spine and stretch your neck up while keeping your chin horizontal. Bend the knees and lift the heels up, while balancing on the balls of your feet, staying focused on one point in front of you. Keep the weight of your body evenly balanced and held up by your powerful legs. Hold this pose for three deep breaths or as long as comfortable.

BENEFITS:

F Strengthens back, thighs, and calf muscles and tones your whole body.

F Stretches and strengthens toes, feet, knees, buttocks, hips, and spine.

F Improves balance and concentration, and brings vitality and life force into your body.

F Increases circulation and cleanses your system with every breath.

Enjoying the sunset at the famous Surfrider Beach in Malibu, California

Exhale and bring the hips down so your thighs are parallel to the ground. Arms are reaching out in front of for you for stability. Bring the knees and feet together, and feel the energy coming up through your feet, up through your legs, up through the spine, and up through the top of your head. Keep breathing deeply and hold this pose for three deep breaths or as long as comfortable.

Exhale and bring the hips down to the heels. Keep the arms stretched out in front of you and stabilize yourself with the surfboard. Hold this pose for as long as comfortable while breathing deeply and focusing on one point in front of you. Next, inhale and slowly lift your body up and back to step 2, then gently straighten your legs and knees, stretch up, extend the spine up and shoulders down, bring the pelvis forward. Finally, release the heels down when you are ready. Close your eyes, with the feet grounded on the Earth, feel your inner power and inner peace. Repeat this sequence three times. F

Zofia Karubin is a certified yoga instructor who resides in Los Angeles, CA where she’s been teaching yoga for over a decade, and practicing yoga since she was a child with her mother who is also a yoga teacher. Learn at your own pace how to incorporate yoga into your busy lifestyle through the online collage of yoga routines by Zofia from previous issues of the WSSM. (www.womenssurfstyle.com/zofia.html) Outfit by Sweet Waterwear (sweetwaterwear.com) | Surfboard by Roberts (robertssurf.com) | Photos by: OnIt Pro - High Performance Surf Products (OnItPro.com)

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LIFESTYLE . . . An Organized Home

Lifestyle Tips Photos: Dan Olson

“Waste NOT, Want NOT”

A little bit of our happy life... Dan & Sandra (WSSM publishers) swimming w/Dolphins at Sea Life Park

MY Happy Life We often have cherished photos of the BEST times in life, such as a marriage, new baby, vacation photos, etc., displayed around our home. These serve as a great reminder of the things that make life worth living and enjoyable… but what about all the other times in between? Because there are often time lapses between these important events, it’s easy to feel like the only time we ever have fun, or have done anything memorable, was a LONG time ago! AND, for parents, it’s easy to picture your children as LITTLE ones, since those are the only pictures you ever see of them adorning the walls, thus not allowing them to “grow up” in your mind’s eye. So let’s change that! Here’s an easy way to keep your home feeling inspired, fun, and chock-full of TODAY’S happy memories, making you more aware of the blessings happening all around you!

TIP:

1) Take your camera with you—it doesn’t

have to be a fancy one, when you’re out to dinner with friends, or at your child’s ballgame, heading out for a surf session that you’re feeling especially pumped up for, or just curled up on the couch with your loved ones… no matter how big or small the occasion, snap a photo of it! 2) Then, once a month, set aside an hour to go through your digital collection of photos, selecting your top 10 favorite photos from the previous month.

3) Log on to your favorite photo printer

(Wal-Mart, Costco, Sams, Target, Walgreens or K-Mart are usually your cheapest options) and for less than $.50 per photo, get beautiful prints made that last for years! Within 48 hours, you’ll have photos to remind you of all the fun times you’re having in your daily life.

4) Hang them throughout your home,

un-framed, or make your own custom construction paper or scrapbooking backgrounds, complete with captions if you’re feeling particularly energetic. The idea though is to keep it simple, so it’s easy to keep up with and doesn’t become another thing to do on your list.

BENEFIT:

The beauty of this project is that your family will be constantly reminded of how many smiles and laughs you’ve shared together! So don’t leave them stuck on a disc or buried in your computer… Take an hour to live the best times of your life… right now! 58 | womenssurfstyle.com | wSSm

This old saying contains so much wisdom when applied to all areas in life! If there’s a way to use something to its fullest potential, we should strive to do so. It wastes less, which in turn requires less production/consumption… And your grandmother, who has seen hard times and had to “make-do” would be proud of you for being so frugal!

TIP:

Here’s a way to freshen a room, and use up those old candles whose wick burned out weeks ago (leaving a nice mound of wasted wax behind), or the irritating wick that is so thin it refuses to stay lit, and you’re forced to perform surgery on it. Here’s a great way to reuse the wax, and eliminate waste. CAREFULLY… Use a small knife to chip away at the wax, easing the tip in carefully, and then rotating it slightly back and forth till the wax splits off into chunks. JAGGED EDGES! If the candle you’re “operating on” is tall enough to still burn- now that the extra wax is gone, don’t worry, you haven’t ruined the edge of your candle- though it will appear that way due to the nasty raw edges the knife left behind. Easily fix this by taking a lighter, and while holding the candle at a side angle, run the flame across the rough edge, allowing the heat from the flame to smooth it out immediately. Be careful not to burn yourself… a flame at this angle can switch from the inside to the outside of the candle very quickly.

BENEFIT:

Reuse the candle chunks by:

 Placing the wax

in a small bowl or coffee cup, and place it around your home. Whenever you feel the room needs a boost of freshness (when that unexpected guest shows up?), break a chip in half, releasing its scent into the air.

 Cut 5” squares of fabric, fill the center

with the chunks, then gather the extra fabric to form a small bag. Tie a string or ribbon around the top— and hang from a doorknob, mirror, or even place it in your underwear drawer for a soft scent that will welcome you each morning. This can be especially fun if you theme your fabric and/or scents around the various holidays throughout the year. Breaking a chunk to release fresh scent applies to these fabric bags as well, and you won’t even get your hands messy.

EAT YOUR GREENS Protect Your Body

Everyone knows broccoli is good for them, but did you know that broccoli sprouts are even better? Broccoli sprouts, according to the Stanford Medicine Cancer Center, are chock full of phytochemicals that are proving their significant role in reducing the risk of developing cancer. In research studies, the phytochemical properties of broccoli sprouts are shown to decrease the risk of developing breast, stomach, colon, prostate, skin, bladder and lung cancers. Well known cancer-fighting phytochemicals found in broccoli sprouts include carotenoids, indoles, glutathione, thiols, monoterpenes, and thiols. Strange sounding names, huh? Another power packed phytochemical found in broccoli is Glucoaphanin… a precursor of sulforaphane (SGS). To be more clear, chewed broccoli releases the enzymes glucoraphanin and myrosinase, which together produce Sulforaphane (SGS). 3-4 day old plants (sprouts) are found to be packed with up to 50x the amount of SGS than grown broccoli plants!

What does SGS do?

SGS is known to stimulate the body’s immune system to protect cells against free radical damage, thus making it an excellent cancer fighter. In addition, researchers have estimated that sprouts neutralize carcinogens (filled with harmful free radicals) from ten to one hundred times more effectively than mature broccoli.

Now for the good news!

It doesn’t take all that much to reap the benefits of this healthy plant. Just a small sprinkling of sprouts in your salads, soups, or eaten as a regular vegetable (toss in your favorite vinaigrette dressing or sauté in butter, salt & pepper) is more nutritious than several spears of full grown broccoli, and an easier way to get children to consume it. Visit www.broccosprouts.com to learn more about this highly nutritious and cancer fighting vegetable, as well as where to purchase them in your area. You’ll find they’re quite readily available at most supermarkets. F

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RecipeCorner

LIFESTYLE . . . An Organized Home

A Used Kitchen... is a Happy Kitchen

PeruvianStyle TRADITIONAL CEVICHE by Tia Calvo

MISSISSIPPI MUD CAKE by Millie Toole

It’s a known fact - Peru has THE most incredible ceviche. While living in Northern Peru this year I knew I had to learn the secrets. This recipe comes from my dear friend Giovanna, a northern native and incredible chef. Here in Peru there is a pier in almost every coastal village where you can buy the catch of the day, fresh off the boats. It doesn’t get any better than that! Not all the ingredients are available outside Peru, but with a little bit of substitution you can still capture the taste of the real thing.

YOU WILL NEED:

2.25 pounds of fresh white fish (I use a locally caught fish called “Mero”) 2 small red onions 20 limes 1 Aji limo (a small hot red chili) 1 small handful of cilantro 2 sweet potatoes, boiled & peeled. 1 cob of Choclo corn, boiled and stripped

Serves 8-10 Preparation time: 15min

Salt and pepper to taste

STEP 1) In a large bowl, combine:

Directions:

4 Eggs 2 c. Sugar 2 Sticks of (salted) butter, melted

1) Sauté (fresh) onion in 1 tbsp. and set aside (do not burn). (If using onion powder, add it during step 3 below)

Mix together well. Set aside.

STEP 2) In a smaller bowl, combine:

1) Wash fish. Slice into 1 inch strips, cutting with the grain and removing any visible bones. Place fish in a shallow bowl.

1 1/2 c. Flour 1/3 c. Cocoa

Stir till blended, and then add to the egg, butter, sugar mixture, and mix till well blended.

STEP 3) Then add:

2) Squeeze limes. Using a squeezer is best, but if not use your hands. Strain for pips, add salt and pepper to taste and put aside.

Mix well.

3) Thinly slice red onions. A trick to removing acidity is to soak the onions in salted water before cutting.

1 tsp Baking Soda 1 tsp Vanilla 1 c. Coconut 2 c. Chopped Nuts (optional)

STEP 4: Bake in greased 9x13 glass pan for 30-35 min at 350degrees.

4) Remove seeds from the chili. Thinly slice.

STEP 5: Remove from oven and IM-

5) Rinse and chop the cilantro

MEDIATELY spread 1 jar of Marshmallow crème over cake. Allow to cool completely and then frost.

FROSTING

1 Stick (salted) butter 1/3 c. Cocoa 6 tbsp Milk 1 c. Chopped Nuts (optional) 1 (box) Powdered Sugar Melt butter, and then mix remaining ingredients. Beat well, and spread over cooled cake.

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6) Combine lime juice, onions, chili and cilantro with the fish in the bowl. Stir until combined. 7) Let the mixture sit for approx. 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. This is the most important part. Some ceviche recipes are left for hours or even over night, so this is what makes the Peruvian recipe special. The fish should be lightly cooked but still fresh and tender.

8) Prepare four plates with a few slices of sweet potato and a handful of corn (set on a bed of lettuce for presentation if you like). Spoon the ceviche mixture onto each plate. Be sure to spoon extra of the juice (dubbed “tiger’s milk”) over each portion, it’s the best part. It’s very important to eat the ceviche right away as leaving it too long will overcook the fish. F

*SIDES TIP: Preparing the “Choclo” Peru has an amazing corn from the Andes called Choclo. It’s less sweet in flavor which makes it a perfect accompaniment for ceviche. The traditional preparation is to strip the kernels before cooking, then boil them for five minutes with a spoon full of sugar and one Herbal Anis teabag.

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LIFESTYLE . . . Poetic Expressions

Dolphin Breath

By Devon Holloway DeMint | Photo: Scott Demint www.themermaidchronicles.com

It was so still and grey on this December day. The waves were gone, playing in other seas, And pelicans flew by quietly. The ocean had no texture to knock me off my feet. The water was so clear I could see detail in the reef. The cloud cover made me feel like I was in a cozy room. I felt warm and content despite the gloom. The breath of the dolphin was louder than the sea. I felt, as I paddled, that the animals were spying on me.

A Goodbye Kiss By Melissa Diamond

www.girlsurfsworld.com

Imagine paradise: palm trees swaying in the gentle breeze, and soft, yellow sand that hugs a turquoise Caribbean ocean. Seagulls and hawks sail through the bright blue sky, and pelicans glide in perfect formation over the surface of the sea, bending their flight path up and down in accordance to the waves. Translucent water reveals a colorful city of coral where fish and turtles dart beneath. Then add waves, peeling and careening to shore in a calculated rhythm. “And the spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.” Genesis 1:2 puts into words what my soul knows to be true. God gave me the gift of surfing, and in His creation is where I feel his presence the strongest. My God is a personal God, and He meets us where we are. On Sunday night, my final night in Puerto Rico, this scene was my reality. A sunset surf session seemed the appropriate way to end the trip. It was a miracle because for the past week it rained each evening. This evening was the

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first and last sunset I witnessed there. It was hard to choose between studying the waves and surfing, or resting on my board and watching God paint the horizon in magnificent hues. I praised God for His glory, His amazing creation, and for allowing me to be part of this moment. “Carry me on the tip of your surfboard” my mom often said. I caught a wave, and as I paddled back out I had to duck-dive, scooping my board under the crystal water. Little pockets of air danced around the tip of my board as I continued to paddle and it stayed just beneath the surface. One bubble was my mom, one was my aunt Carol, the next my aunt Judy, and then I thought of her. Ann. I duck-dived again and came to the surface to witness an overwhelming array of colors in the sky, framed by a glowing, burning orange sun. Ann. My soul felt free and joyful, and a fresh energy entered my body. In the next moments I caught a few waves

with total ease. After riding one and paddling back out, I saw the bubbles again and my heart felt Ann while my mind thought, Ann. Then, I looked at the sun, and it was at the point of sinking fast, fading from the sky. Should I be still and watch it fall away or should I look for another wave to ride? The decision pulsed towards me as I was in the prime spot to paddle into this little, clean wave. So I paddled twice and rode next to a small wall of water as the sun fell away. I didn’t know at the time that Ann had passed away early that morning. When I found out the next day, the first thing that came to my mind was the bubbles and thoughts of her during my sunset session, and I knew her spirit was with me. A sunset is a tiny glimpse into God’s glory; a kiss of heaven. The warm glow of the sinking sun fills my soul with a joy and peace that I never want to end, but it fades away fast. Night always comes on earth, but not in heaven, a place where this beauty and light never fades.

LIFESTYLE . . . Curl up on the Couch

Book Nook & MOVIE NIGHT London Surf Film Festival 2012: Movie reviews by Stella Sykes | Learn more about the London Surf Film Festival, and read reviews of some of Stella’s favorite surf films showcased at the festival, in her online blog at womenssurfstyle.com A big thank you to event organizers, Chris Nelson and Demi Taylor. MOVIE: “Here & Now” (2012)

MOVIE: “Intentio” (2012)

Dir: Nathan Myers | Prod: Taylor Steele

Dir/Photo/Ed: Loïc Wirth Narration: Vernon Decker

AWARDS: Best Film (and Honourable Mention for Cinematography) at the London Surf Film Festival and Best Feature Film at the NY Surf Film Festival Taylor Steele’s been trailblazing at the forefront of the surf movie industry since the ‘90s and, together with director Nathan Myers (who came up with the concept), continues to innovate with this award-winning movie - which is a special, one-of-a-kind movie capturing the surf that was happening all around the world in one 24 hour period: May 2, 2012, from a truly global perspective. The movie also tells the human story of a single day in the life of 25 pro-surfers, with the camera gently taking a really intimate, behind-thescenes look at their actual homes, their pre-surf prep (and all the little stuff in between). Incredibly, the whole movie was accomplished in an astonishing 6-week time-frame - yet still features a beautiful cinematographic style and juxtaposition. It was also cool to see some female pro-surfers included too. It is out on iTunes now and the digital album of the homespun soundtrack which showcases the creative talents of Kelly, Rasta, Ozzy and others (and which was also created in record time) will be out soon - and they’re both totally recommended items for the ‘early Christmas presents to buy yourself’ list!

A separate video of the making of the soundtrack will be available online soon. For more info, check out the trailer here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiIOfBwVVPU The Surf Cafe Cookbook

Cooking & Surﬁng on the West Coast of Ireland By: Jane & Myles Lamberth with Shannon Denny

Real food, made from real ingrendients, yet easy enough to prepare so as to not scare the beginner cook off. It’s like a mini trip to Ireland... featuring beautiful imagery from Ireland’s breathtaking and rugged coastline, combined with local surfing information, history and cultural tips. This unique book delights the traveler within us all! Unpretentious and informative, it’s clearly inspired and written from the hearts of soul surfers, and presents a plethora of substantial, uncomplicated recipes that encourage using the freshest of ingredients. These recipes require only basic ingredients that tantalize the palette, and your senses will be delighted with the visual layout & quaint stories that keep you turning page after page in delight. From Local Honey Surf Energy Bars, to how to make your own flavored oils, a delicious flourless chocolate cake, to even how to make your own organic surf wax... you’ll have a hard time putting this amazing book down!

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Beginner

TIPS & TRICKS

Learning to surf is HARD... here are some tips to help make it a little bit easier!

Photo by: Loïc Wirth | Surfer: Jean Da Silva

AWARDS: Audience Award for Best Feature Film at the International Film Festival Anglet 2012 and the Performance Award at the San Sebastian Film Festibal 2012 The filmmaker / producer, Loïc Wirth, describes the film as ‘a collaboration with the surfers involved’ (who believed in this project so much that they did something unusual - they all chipped in to get some of his plane tickets so he could film with them) and ‘a passion project: I put all my heart in it and love - and with an independent film, it’s really hard to make.. but it’s worth every second because you get to see that there’s so many passionate people out there as well’... It’s definitely one of the best movies of the year.

Check out the Vimeo trailer here: http://vimeo.com/23460129 Surf Survival

The Surfer’s Health Handbook

By: Andrew Nathanson- MD, Clayton Everline- MD, & Mark Renneker- MD Extremely insightful and packed FULL of surf knowledge, Surf Survival covers everything from the proper equipment, to injury prevention and treatment, to preparation-- both mental and physical-- before surfing. This book brings critical awareness of what can happen in the water, and expertly prepares you for what to do-- when something should occur. From broken bones, to dislocated limbs, to minor/major cuts, gashes and scrapes, as well as stretching and energy conservation, Surf Survival informs you of what NOT to do, in order to not get hurt, and what TO do-- when you become unavoidably injured. Written by 3 (surfer) medical doctors and endorsed by Jerry Lopez, this is a must-have for any surfer... a true surf SURVIVAL guide!

Available online, in bookstores and from the publisher’ site: skyhorsepublishing.com

Stay Wrinkle-Free

When you surf out in the bright sunlight for hours on end, you’re going to find yourself often squinting into the light, searching the horizon for the next set. Don’t! Years of this will cause deep, tanned wrinkles to form around your eyes and forehead, aging you even more quickly than the beating your skin is already taking from the saltwater and wind. So pay close attention to what your face is doing while you’re out there, and next time you find it all scrunched up, try letting a little smile cross your lips. It will relax your face automatically, and express that you’re actually having fun!

Puka Patch It!

When you’re learning to surf, you’re going to ding your board up, drop it, get hit by other surfer’s boards, and probably even crack the tail on stairs or rocks as you make your way down to the water. It gets expensive to keep fixing your board professionally, and if you leave the ding unattended, your board will slowly take on saltwater, and eventually become yellowed, and even waterlogged! One product we trust to temporarily repair dings is the Puka Patch. This super thin, flexible, clear material adheres to both wet & dry surfaces, and even over wax! This is especially helpful if you have special artwork on your board in the damaged area, but don’t want the artwork cut out when repaired. Don’t repair it… Just put a Puka Patch on it and you’re good to go for years! Railsavers (long strips to protect your rails) are also available… Learn more at www.pukapatch.com

Avoid the Slice

New leashes come with a handy piece of string that attaches your leash to your board. One thing that the packaging won’t tell you though, is to make sure that little strip of string, when tied, is no longer than a ½ inch away from the leash plug! In those harried times of getting tossed, your board goes through a myriad of positions, and in big sets, gets stretched to the max. If your leash STRING is too long, it can often “slice” the tail of your board, leaving a deep gash. This happens with longboards especially, since the weight of the board increases the pressure of that flailing board and string on the tail. So be sure to keep the string short, and avoid this expensive board repair!

marks the spot!

urf (& SUP!) Join Siren S r a retreat that Adventures fo forget! you will never

Your Treasure Awaits.... Surfboards, SUPs, retreats, apparel, accessories and everything else you need for your next adventure. SirenSirenSiren.com

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Surf Stoked . . . SHARKS!

SHARK! Story / Photos by Valeh Levy

On Wednesday, March 14, 2012, my kids and I went for a surf about 1/4 mile south of Ponce De Leon Inlet, on the New Smyrna Beach side of the jetty, where we have surfed for 10 years. After school, at about 3:30 pm, we met our friend, Nathalie Glenn, who was watching her three sons, Daniel, Matt and Jeff, surfing in a crowd of shortboarding aerialists and pros. My son, Bobby, 13, went out with Nathalie’s sons to surf in the pack of amazing short boarders, doing all kinds of wild maneuvers while being photographed for a professional surfing magazine.

Sydney, my 15 year old daughter, and I wanted to enjoy a laid back surf session, so we headed a hundred yards south of the large pack of shortboarders. We decided to enter the water where there were few other surfers. This was a mistake in hindsight.

Shark bite in ER; Day 1

The tide was just starting to turn to an outgoing tide with water visibility about two feet. The water temperature was around 74 degrees F. The waves were chest to head high from a southeast wind swell. The wind was such that we decided to wear our full, plain black wetsuits so we could surf longer and not get chilled. I paddled to the outside break first, about 75100 yards offshore, and caught a few waves. A few minutes later, my daughter Sydney paddled out through the surf next to me where she sat up on her board, a 7’6” epoxy all white Meyerhoffer fun shape. Rob Sheppard, Sydney Our location was in overhead Levy, and Brent Walters water at about the third sandbar out from shore and we noted our landmarks. The water color was very bright and green, such that she commented on how it looked clear to her. Neither of us wore any nail polish, ankle jewelry or had any wounds or bleeding going on.

Suddenly, a shark bit Syd on the right ankle and foot holding her entire foot in its mouth. What she felt was not pain, but a tugging and pulling which she describes, “Like when a dog plays tug of war with you and its chew toy.”

This happened with such lightning speed such that I did not even process her falling into the water until she immediately hoisted herself back onto her board to reveal a blood covered foot and ankle. I was about five feet away to her left. In a split second, we processed what had just happened, but in another split second, Sydney was being pulled off of her board. Now all I saw was her being pulled under water out in front of my board, hence the “Jaws “ analogy so wildly over-reported. My daughter was being “towed” by the shark which caught her leash in its mouth as it made the second pass to find her foot. With leash in mouth, the shark swam straight ahead and to the left, underwater, causing Sydney’s board to roll over, and Sydney herself to be towed under, until the leash was severed by the shark’s teeth. When she popped to the surface, several feet away from her board, now out in front of the nose of my board, she was gasping for breath, treading water and saying, “Mom, it’s so strong! I’m okay though, it didn’t bite me again...” At this instant, I just instinctively did the only thing I could do, which was to grab her under the shoulders and pull her Shark bite; Shark bite; as far onto my board as I two weeks one month could, screaming ,”Get on my board!” As soon as I got her nearly under my chest, I looked over to the right, and about three feet away, saw the underside, one ventral fin and posterior body of a shark cruising right under her surfboard from the tail toward the nose of the board. I have no idea of the shark’s size, but it was big enough. Just an instant before the shark’s second pass where it got her leash caught in its mouth, Sydney saw the shark swimming along the right side of her board again and circling to the back, later describing it as very thick and a tannish grey color. Fear was now heightened Sydney and Valeh Levy because we were at such Photo by Bob Levy a disadvantage should the animal continue its attack. Both of us were face to face on my longboard, a 9’0” epoxy Walden Magic Model, in moderate surf, out over our heads, and with no idea what the shark would do next. As calm as Sydney was trying to be, I was totally PANICKED! Random facts from George Burgess’s International Shark Attack Files actually started spilling into my head. This shark was not doing the “typical” test bite and release that New Smyrna Beach reports most. It was coming back, and back. It was likely a young bull shark. At no time were we thinking of hitting the shark or jabbing it in the eyes like you hear in many stories. This was an intelligent creature behaving instinctively in its natural environment. This was the shark’s third pass at what it intended to be a meal.

But here is where the story turns from an instant of horror, into an eternity of hope, thanks to the gifts of exceptionally selfless acts of heroism from two nearby surfers.

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These two young men, Rob Sheppard, a paramedic riding a shortboard, the other a longboarder, Brent Walters, were about 15 yards away, behind us, and closer to shore. They both simultaneously put themselves in real potential danger to help rescue Sydney from this shark encounter as we screamed out for their help. This letter is meant to reach out to them, to publicly acknowledge them, and to thank them for their actions. We know that God put them there. While I acted instinctively, as any mother would, it was these two men surfing nearby who performed the true act of heroism, immediately responding to our pleas for help by paddling to our aid. Being in water over our heads with a clearly agitated animal, we could not simply run to the shore. These surf angels put their own comfort and wellbeing aside and paddled straight out to flank us with their boards, creating a flotilla of four. They both spoke with calm reassurance and assisted my injured daughter off of my surfboard onto hers for the paddle back to shore. Rob was vigilant of oncoming waves, coaching us to brace ourselves to ride them as far as possible. Brent recognized my daughter immediately, and acknowledged her habit of doing switch stance maneuvers. She smiled and was comforted by this immediate familiarity, recognizing him as well. This awesome duo of fearless surfers helped carry her onto shore where two more helpful surfers passing by, stopped to load us onto their pickup truck for the ride to an ambulance, which happened to be tending to a separate, unrelated shark bite victim, two hundred yards north.

The news crews always report shark bites, so when I agreed to speak to reporters only once at the hospital, it was to convey the behavior of the shark, the heroism of these two surfers, and to remind surfers that surfing in the vicinity of others is often a lifesaving practice. Yes, it was horrifying. But, God must have been working in the hearts of the men who shielded us from further harm, leaving our daughter with a lasting positive vision of their calm faces, words of constant encouragement, swift purposeful actions, and absolutely no contempt for the shark behaving normally in its environment. The wonderful sport of surfing carries its risks, rewards, and some amazing heroes. We thank our heroes and pray that they will be protected from any harm and blessed with many wonderful waves. F

 Medical Tips:

If you suffer an animal bite, do not go home and treat it yourself. Since Sydney’s bite, her friends and acquaintances have shared their own shark attack stories and we have seen many bad scars on surfers who did not seek medical attention after a shark bite. Sometimes they require sutures or steri-strips but they always require expert medical attention. One interesting fact that stands out is that using hydrogen peroxide regularly to clean a wound after the injury is ﬁrst cleaned, is actually bad for healing wounds because it kills viable and non viable tissue. Also, using ice packs on a freshly healing wound is a sure way to constrict the blood vessels and cause the tissue trying to heal to die!



Shark bites host a series of pathogens that can infect the wound and therefore, require thorough cleansing. In Sydney’s case, meticulous intraoperative

scrubbing and ﬂushing with antibiotic solution was performed. Also, keeping healing wounds moist with a thin layer of Bacitracin ointment will keep the granulation tissue soft ( that’s the nice pink new tissue closing the wound). This helps reduce drying, scabbing and scarring. Anecdotally, Sydney’s surgeon prefers Bacitracin ointment as he has seen hypersensitivity reactions occur in up to 15% of his patients using the triple antibiotic ointments.

Sydney’s Advice:

First, always be prepared to help people in need. There are countless times when strangers are brought together in times of great duress and it is the ones who risk their safety and comfort to help others that have saved lives.

Take a first aid class. It can only help, especially when participating in dangerous sports in the wilderness. Basic first aid skills will stimulate the mind and may put you at an advantage when there is trouble.

If you can, surf within earshot of at least one other surfer. My son was so far away, he had no idea what was happening, and I could not warn him to get out should this shark continue bumping or biting surfers. Despite two shark attacks in the water within a half hour of each other and about 400 yards apart, I had to plead with the beach patrol to get all the surfers out of the water, which they did, for one hour. As much as we like the solo sessions away from a crowd, nearby strangers saved my daughter in an area devoid of lifeguards.

Practice a mental relaxation technique often and during your surf sessions. Specific activities such as slow deep breathing/ yoga/prayer or meditation will help. During this entire episode, Sydney recalls that she was practicing slow deep breathing, which she has learned and practiced over and over during her yoga classes and in many stressful situations. She also focused on calm prayer which she feels really helped her to stay focused on getting to shore with her helpers.

Do not fool yourself into thinking “you know what a shark is going to do” or what behavior constitutes attack mode. While the shark was not a huge great white or tiger, for a lone child, weighing 100 pounds, bleeding profusely, in overhead seas, separated from her board, she was no match for a six to seven foot charging bull shark. We could not assume we knew what it was going to do next. We did not see it before it struck. If you do see a large shark near you, I would say let the ego know “you are in charge” and get out.

Don’t blame sharks for behaving as they are programmed to do. The purpose of sharing this story is not to sensationalize how bad sharks are. They are necessary creatures which have been on the Earth for millions of years, serving important biological roles. We have chosen to leave the “Inlet” at New Smyrna Beach to the feeding sharks and we will surf at other breaks which do not boast the world’s highest number of shark attack stats.



Eat a raw pineapple a day, bromelain in the core helps reduce swelling in the extracellular spaces of the body. This is easy to do, just blend it with ice, water, juice or milk. Drink lots of water, eat healthy, and take in extra protein and Vitamin C rich foods. Elevate the wound above the heart to reduce swelling and make the healing process more efficient.

 

Photo: Gabriel Fernandez | fernandezphotoart.com

Think healing thoughts and visualize a great healing process! Give thanks and praise to God.

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Surf Stoked . . . Giving Back

LOVE

Is Here...

Ride Nature in Nicaragua

Story & photos by Melissa Diamond | www.girlsurfsworld.com

“Amor es aqui,” the weathered Nicaraguan woman said to William, her mute and quadriplegic grandson. I knew enough Spanish to grasp the meaning of her words, “Love is here,” she said.

first skate contest the town may have ever seen. Most kids took turns with shared bikes and skateboards, as many won skateboards and Penny boards that they would be able to call their own. Smiles and the words “gracias” and “thank you” flowed in abundance. “Cuando regresas?” A mom asked slow enough so that I could understand her question. She wanted to know when RN would be back.

Hammering shook the house as men with the Ride Nature team replaced the old, rusted abused roof. One stroke at a time, girls in the group painted vibrant hues of yellow, blue, and green that swallowed the faded, lifeless walls. I used a small sponge and wiped dust and grit from the table, sink and cabinet. I pried at least 30 shriveled and living spiders and their intertwined webs out from the springs on William’s bed. That morning, our mission was to beautify Roberto’s home.

Typically, swells don’t like to cooperate with surf contests scheduled months in advance, but on August 3rd, the swell was punctual along with the eager local surfers. More than 300 surfers and spectators gathered at Playa Maderas in San Juan del Sur for the contest. Tangible, electric excitement surged across the beach generated from big waves, the high level of competition, and blasting, upbeat music. Similar to the skate contest before winners were announced, and all attention was arrested, Mark Koch, of RN, presented the good news of Jesus Christ through a Spanish translator.

Ride Nature, (RN) is a non-profit, Christian organization whose purpose and goal is to impact the world through action sports. The missionfocused ministry reaches out to people living in extreme poverty all over the world. On this specific trip, founders of RN, Mark and Shannon Koch, collaborated with other Christian ministries based in Nicaragua. The first three days RN teamed with Waves of Love in the Las Salinas area. Waves of Love arranged a project to repair a well that six families drew water from along with surf and skim-board lessons with local kids. The second part of the trip RN linked up with the new chapter of Christian Surfer’s, (CS) in San Juan del Sur. Working together, CS and RN organized a skateboard contest in Rivas, a surf contest at Playa Maderas, and repaired a roof on a home. Raw talent of skaters, BMXers, and inline-skaters was exposed through the organized chaos of the constant motion at the skate park. At least 200 local kids and adults flooded the park that night in the town of Rivas for the

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“Without the gift of eternal hope, all of the work that we are doing is completely temporary. What good is it to give a child a free board if we are going to pass by the opportunity to share with them the greatest gift any of us have ever been given, eternal life through a relationship with Jesus Christ,” explained Koch. RN

awarded prizes that symbolized freedom to the winning contestants, freedom in the form of a set of wheels or a surfboard, but they heard a message of absolute freedom that only comes from the ‘living water,’ the most epic gift that is good for eternity. As Mike scaled up the rickety, home-made, splintery ladder to balance on the rooftop in the mid-day sun, Jen toted her hefty camera and tirelessly captured moments and expressions. Denise’s motherly, tender love manifested through encouraging words and warm hugs, while the girls in the group drew from their endless source of energy and laughter, and

lifted spirits as they played with local kids. With RN, I witnessed an outpouring of pure love, in an organic and natural way. Each individual performed different tasks, yet operated in such unison; each job equally important to form a beautiful picture of God’s hands and feet. No one focused on self, enabling a total absence of any sort of dissonance in the group. The focus was putting love into action. The team followed the same orders from the same leader.

“For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve others and give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:28 “Ustedes siempre son beinvenidos a mi casa, ustedes son como mi familia,” the Nicaraguan woman said as she stood at the head of the table lavishly covered with chicken wings, pizza, cabbage salad, rice, fruit salad, fried plantain chips, and smoothies. Waves of Love spent months praying with this family and watched God transform their lives. Because the Waves of Love founders were returning to the states the next morning, this meeting was to be one last stop to pray once again for the family and say goodbye. Even though RN never met the family before, they accompanied them to pray, and received extravagant love in return. The family gave a week’s worth of food they could not afford. Two purple streamers hung from a concrete wall to signify this was a surprise going away party. The table of generosity and the woman’s heart-felt words to the RN group, “You all are always welcome in my home. Even though I have just met you, you are like family,” are seared in my memory.

This photo melts my heart! The boys were such good skaters & none of them had their own board Denise Main, a volunteer with the Ride Nature group

Consistent swell accompanied my time in Nicaragua. After RN left, I stayed another week and surfed two sessions a day. I caught challenging, fast waves twice the size of me, and went home with rashes and bruises to prove it. Of my 14 days in Nicaragua, my most cherished moments were working beside people who served God so naturally with their passions, showing that love is an action. Impacting the world through action sports roughly describes Ride Nature. An equally appropriate motto occurred to me, “Love is here,” as there are many more layers to the heart of RN than just stopping at impacting the world through action sports.

For more information or to support Ride Nature... visit www.ridenature.com F

The swell at Playa Maderas... FUN!

Melissa, with her 3 friends and winners at the contest Winners!

This picture illustrates the idea of being God’s hands and feet

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Surf Stoked . . . Lesson Learned

Sonia and Robin, on a layover on the way home

A Costa Rican

Souvenir By Robin Pacquing-Medeiros Photos by www.surfingnosara.com

Robin and Sonia ... beach walk Teo, the local who saved me!

Instincts told me the trip would change my life... My best surf buddy, Sonia, and I eagerly waited for months, so when we boarded the plane destined for Costa Rica, we knew we’d have the time of our lives. Nine incredible days passed. Skies were bright, and the surf was pumping as we enjoyed the company of new friends in and out of the lineup.

(below) Pictures the doctor took just before and after he sewed me up.

Our last morning in Nosara began like every other – woke up, black coffee, waxed the board, then walked to the beach, cheerily wishing everyone a “Buenos dias!” along the way. I strangely felt a dread that warned me to anticipate something. It happened about forty-five minutes into my session. I pearled, wiped out hard, and then felt a sharp and intense blow. In the darkness of the Pacific I thought, “that’s totally gonna bruise”. I swam to the surface and touched the deep gash on the right side of my face knowing it was far worse than any bruise. The set rolled in as I held my face together. It was all adrenaline at this point, so I retrieved my board, paddled with one arm towards the shore hoping to catch the white water in. A few yards from the beach, a local noticed my state and sprinted towards me. He took off his rash guard and immediately applied pressure to my face. If he hadn’t spotted me at that critical point, who knows how that day

7 months later

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could have unfolded. I remember telling him my friends were still out there and I needed to find them. His calm tone (he spoke English!) told me that he would come back and look for them once I was with the doctor. The next thing I knew I was on the back of a motorbike, in shock and barefoot as the bike cruised along the dusty road to the clinic. To my luck (again!), the young, friendly doctor also spoke English. Right after an injection of morphine, Sonia came running into the room. My heart burst when I saw her. We shared a few moments and tearful words of support before the operation, but I infinitely felt comforted with her soul being close by. After thirty-six hours, a long drive while suffering morphine crash, bush fires in the horizon, one broken down taxi, one layover, countless looks of concern, and twenty-six stitches later, Sonia and I arrived back in Canada. My dear husband greeted me at the terminal with flowers and my heart burst again. It was probably the fin that lacerated my face. It was beyond flattering when friends compared my accident to Keala Kennelly’s Teahupoo wipeout in 2011. I can only dream to rip like her. Professional or just your every day surf betty, this kind of thing can happen to anyone. I’ve learned that surfing is nothing unless you use it to learn about yourself and meet kind souls along the way. The crazy thing? The scar resembles a wave. F

Sea Legs By Devon Holloway DeMint | themermaidchronicles.com Photos: Scott Demint

I arrived at my parents’ beach house around eight, wearing slippers, my monkey pajamas and a red fleece robe... I had basically decided that today I

would take a day off from surfing, sure that the howling wind and consistent rain from the day before would have left the ocean with some serious re-organizing to do. I was wrong. Offshore winds from the east had helped the ocean put itself back together. I watched from the cliff as big grey peaks came in all over the beach and broke in a very ride-able fashion with the white water gracefully chasing the waves’ grey faces in both directions. It must have been at least six to eight feet. No one was out for what seemed like miles. But why? I thought to myself. The waves looked nice enough and even though the water was probably slightly polluted from the rain, that never stopped die-hard surfers from getting their fix. Watching the waves, my mind became divided. Half of me wanted to go home and get work done, avoiding a pain in the arms paddle and a frozen headache, but the other half of me wanted to take on those daunting waves alone. I felt almost as though the ocean was calling me to see what I was made out of and I knew I wasn’t going to walk away from that. I made my way through my parents’ yard to my bike to get my wetsuit, hood and board. I felt surprised by my strong feelings to confront these daunting waves as my early days of surfing had been filled with fear of riding waves just like them, especially alone.

I couldn’t stop my legs now, though. They listened to my heart. They knew this was a rare moment where the perfect challenge had arrived right in front of them. When I entered the neighborhood beach parking lot, I had to make my way past groups of men standing around, coffees in hand, discussing the surf. They looked at me like I had my wetsuit on backwards. Their conversations slowed as I made my way through them. Whether I was going to flail or shred, it was clear now that it would be public knowledge. I made my way down the dirt beach path and ran right into the ocean. The recent dredging of a nearby creek left the water looking like dishwater and smelling like the bottom of a pond. It took me about seven minutes to paddle to the outside.

A ride-able wave came to me and I didn’t hesitate in taking it. I paddled two strokes and dropped onto the steep wave face. It always seems as though time slows down when you ride waves that scare you, but I couldn’t have been riding for more than three seconds before the whole thing exploded and blocked the path in front of me. I paddled back out again. This time it seemed to take me a little longer. The freezing, grey, smelly water washed inside my hood and made my face feel like it had been dipped in a dirty snow cone. I made it to the outside and waited for another ten minutes before the next decent wave came to me. It was a right. I dropped in realizing this wave was breaking rapidly and I would have to make up my mind quickly about what I was going to do with the section ahead of me. I could straighten out and allow the explosion of water to occur behind me, or I could pump up the face and ride on top of the impending explosion.

The decision wasn’t hard. I didn’t come out here to play it safe, I came out today for the challenge. Using the speed I had from the

steep drop, I did a quick bottom turn and then made my way up the wave’s formidable face. I did a top turn before the lip could catch me and then rode out in front of the white wash with a content feeling jumping around in my heart. When my feet hit the sand, I felt like laughing. I came up to the parking lot and made my way through the men still congregating near the path. “How was it?” one with a green hoody asked. “Umm. It was… It was challenging” I finally replied with a smile. When I returned home I hung up my wetsuit more carefully than usual. This apparel carried more value now. It had been my suit on a day when I accepted a challenge from the sea. F

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Surf Stoked . . .

Alana Palma Waikiki, Oahu, Hawaii

Sarah Manning Waikiki, Oahu, Hawaii

Mia Shea

6-year old Mia Shea, eyes up what’s down the line on a perfect summer day at her home break in Deal, NJ.

Reader Submitted Photos “My first time surfing!”

(This page: Londyn & Alana... first surf sessions for these ladies. Below: Jane on her first wave ever! Jane was talked into surfing by her niece Hannah - this trip to Hawaii was Hannah’s graduation present from high school. Both from Minnesota, it was their first time surfing. As you can tell by the photoJane did GREAT! Photos by: Greg Rose, WaterLogged Video Productions / Lesson: Jojo, Gone Surfing Hawaii www.gonesurfinghawaii.com.

Mia’s been in the ocean since before she remembers, but this is her first season on her very own board- a gift from her father, Brian. Her room is plastered with WSSM photos, so we thought it only fitting to learn more about this enthusiastic water bug! Look for an in-depth profile on Mia in our next issue!

Jane Debbie Walker

Waikiki, Oahu, Hawaii

Cocoa Beach, Florida

Photo by Patricia S. Dittrick

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Alex Irvin & Becca P.

Waikiki, Oahu, Hawaii

Ava McGowan

Teresa Williams

Port Aransas, Texas

“My first surfboard!” Little Ava McGowan is now 7, she has been surfing since she was 5! She live across the street from the beach in Deerfield Beach and anytime she has a chance to surf she does! She loves to surf and is always asking to check out the waves! What

Ava photos by: Gabriel Fernandez (fernandezphotoart.com) got her into surfing was her dad and brother. They are always out in the water so one day Ava decided to go out with them. From there on she was hooked!!! Grant, her brother, competes and she asked if she could enter a contest and we let her! She loves competing and competes up and down the coast of Florida and is shredding it up with some big wins for such a little girl! The wins just push her more to want to get better and better! The Gnarley Charley Grom Series was the biggest commitment she made and held us to it! She truly loves Charly and all of her new friends that surfing has brought into her life! Winning the grom series for her division was a huge acomplishment for her! She is one to watch and has her whole family and friends supporting and rooting for her now and her future, we love Ava!” - Heather (Ava’s mom) We love her too! Look for a profile on Ava in our nex issue!

Becca P. Waikiki, Oahu, Hawaii

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WSS m womens surf style magazine

Photo: Marc Cartwright / Vistalux - www.marccartwright.com

“The best surfer out there is the one having the most fun!” This holds true to all of life’s moments! Dream Girl: Her true beauty is inside, she is passionate about her dreams, and we adore one another Occupation: Builder/designer/wood worker/artist

Home Break: The Bowl / K road, Long Island NY Motto I Live By: “Live your life, it’s your movie” Favorite quote: by Duke Kahanamoku

XCEL SOS shapes, Nutz boards

Age: 37 | Years Surfing: 22 Paddle Surfing/Racing: 3 Sponsors: ZICO, Black flys, Sector9,

Neil Schumejda

CenterfoldHottie

Community . . . Industry

Meet the DESIGNER

Dragonfly Blue

Lifestyle photo: Hoche Pulcherio

Martha Booke... Founder / Designer

OW IT BEGAN...

I started surfing in my last couple years of college in Northern California, Humboldt County, to be exact. It was freezing cold, even in the summer time and we wore 5 mil wetsuits, booties and usually gloves. I remember opening the car door after surfing with both hands pressed together on the key as my fingers wouldn’t close enough to grip the key! The beach was typically foggy and the water deep green or grayish. It was full of sea life of all kinds, including the occasional Great White shark! The ocean was serious and the conditions harsh. Usually no one was watching on the beach and surfing was never about image. Only soul surfers in the water those days! I can say that starting to surf in those conditions, only leads to warmer and bluer water almost anywhere else! My first surf was a surf date. I didn’t like the guy, but I wanted so badly to check out surfing. I bought my own board and wet suit the very next day!

success and I sold out of all the major surf shops and some boutiques and eventually opened my own shops.

Top 3 Designs...

One of Dfly’s signature pieces is the Fru Fru Bottom. It evolved from a favorite piece of lingerie of mine and was originally cut from the traditional lycra used at the time. We started making the Fru Fru before the ruffle craze had taken off in the mainstream, so the design was an instant success just due to it’s originality at the time. Now that we only use our soft lingerie grade fabric, the Fru Fru is even more of a best seller and remains a favorite among our follow-

ible halter top. This bikini top has an original yet retro feel and can be worn on the beach or with a pair of jeans!! My personal fav is the Graffiti Print with Hot Cherry on the reverse!

It’s in the Fabric!

We use a very high quality lingerie grade material. We swear by it and we promise you that once you wear it and feel the difference....you will NEVER GO BACK! And on top of the feel...it dries much faster!! We have a range of coverups and a few T-shirts, but what really stands out is our clothing made from the same fabrics as the swimsuits! It is so soft and light on your body! Total ecstasy!

Our Team & Community Outreach…

We have always chosen our riders based more on lifestyle than mainstream competitions. Back in our original Bali days...any girl out at Ulus or Padang was most likely wearing Dfly! Today our riders are in various regions of the world. Marina Werneck represents our quintessential Brazilian surfer girl and lives the life we all dream about! She just came back from filming a television show in Sri Lanka and is currently based on the beautiful surf destination island in south Brazil, Florianopolis! Her surfing is mesmerizing! Our up coming Hawaii grom is Zoe McDougall. She is the Hawaiian State Champion for long and shortboard and she came in 3rd in the Surfing America Contest in California earlier this year. She has the whole package and is definitely the grom to keep an eye on!!! We will hold on to her as long as we can!! We have many others too...!

My Swimwear Design Roots…

I started designing swimwear in the year 2000 when I decided to discontinue with my other company that was primarily resort wear. I was living in Bali at the time and good swimwear was nearly impossible to find. The surf companies produced with local lycra and no one really imported any swimwear. I started my company using an imported Italian lycra far superior to anything available at the time. I never really liked the swimwear from the surf companies anyway because it seemed like they were designed for teenagers. I wanted something of a better quality, with more sophisticated designs and something that could be mixed matched and combined by each person to create their very own style. I only used solid colors then, but the color pallet was always edgy and I always paired at least two colors together that combined. I also wanted to use the lines of the Brazilian cut bikinis but enlarge them just enough. To this day, Dfly is based on this concept. Swimwear is flattering because of the lines of the cut and a bad or good line makes all the difference on anyone’s body type! I also wanted something that stayed on in the water…even in a commendable Indo wipeout!! Dfly in Bali, or Dragonfly Blue, was an instant 76 | womenssurfstyle.com | wSSm

Age: 46 | Years surfing: 25 Years as an artist: Designing Swimwear for 13 years Homebreak: Uluwatu when in Bali and Arpoador in Brazil

Photos: Andre Batista

ers! Another Dfly staple is our Bloomer Short that evolved from a favorite pajama of mine! We started this piece the year that we switched to the lingerie fabric and it was the perfect addition to our line! People use it for everything from a surf short to a running short to a yoga short and I’ve been told that some people sleep in it too, so it’s even made it back to its roots!! One of our hit items this season is our revers-

We have also just enrolled in a volunteer project here in Rio and will be teaching English to some local kids who would not otherwise have this opportunity. I can’t tell you how much I am looking forward to this!

LEARN MORE AT:

Website: dflyswimwear.com Facebook.com/Dfly USA Sales: Ashley Tatum | ashley@dflyswimwear.com International Sales: dragonflyblue.rio@gmail.com F

Top 3 Designs...

Many of my favorite cuffs are being worn by friends and family! A) This is one of my favorite cuffs that I regularly wear. It is from one of my earliest collections, and I just never get tired of it. The next two cuffs are ones that my 17 year old daughter wears fairly often. B) It’s a fun and flirty twisted zebra pattern., and brightens up so many outfits! The next one (C) is a gorgeous and very elegant cuff. It’s beautiful with a t-shirt and jeans (her usual attire) or that cute little black dress for special nights out. I just love it!

OW IT BEGAN...

I started a little over 5 years ago, with the idea that I don’t want to just see my art on a wall, but to be enjoyed in the simplest way and that’s how the bracelet came along. It is constantly close to my heart and it reminds me of the awesome nature of God and believing He has given me a gift. I believe that everyone has a gift waiting at their feet, and part of life’s journey is finding that gift. Mine happens to be creating unique jewelry designs. The majority of my inspiration is derived from my surroundings. I am in constant awe of the gorgeous things God surrounds me with. It can be something as simple as a flower or a smile, or as intricate as a multi-colored west coast sunset or the city’s skyline. Anything has the potential to become a piece of inspiration.

It’s in the Materials!

There are a few things that make my brand unique. I only use leather and Swarovski crystals for my cuffs. It’s unique and totally different from the standard bracelet you see in stores. My cuff snaps are the most identifiable piece since they have my name etched into the metal. They definitely set me apart! Lastly, is my signature on the back. That signature really lets my customers know that they are wearing an authentic and original Caroline Rocha cuff, and it really makes me feel connected to everyone who wears my pieces.

Other Artistic Passions Besides Cuffs…

Age: 48 | Years surfing: None yet Years as an artist: Lifelong artist Homebreak: San Luis Obispo

I play around with so many ideas. I’ve painted rocks, canvasses, belt buckles, necklaces, scarves, purses, and so much more! I love sculpting, too! Custom orders are a rarity, but every so often I hear a story that moves me and I will design something for the cause.

Community Outreach…

We donate cuffs to charity organizations holding fundraisers for their cause. It ranges from women’s homeless shelters to cancer research to school booster bashes. I love using my art to help a good cause.

Future Plans…

I don’t know, but I am so excited! I plan to be designing and creating wearable works of art for many, many more years. I never get tired of seeing others wear my designs, especially when I’ve never met them. It makes me feel connected to that individual, and it’s a truly special feeling. It always brings a smile to my face! Life is good! F

LEARN MORE AT:

Website: www.carolinerocha.com | Facebook.com/CarolineRochaLLC | Twitter.com/CRochaJewelry

Meet the DESIGNER

Caroline Rocha

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Community . . . Industry

M i m i C haos Meet the DESIGNER

Age: 26 | Years surfing: 6-7 | Years as an artist: 21 (I’m sure I made some macaroni masterpieces in kindergarten) Homebreak: I can’t tell you ;)

Angie Menghini... Founder / Designer

Designer: Angie Menghini Photo: J. Brown

Photos: Mitch Degeus

OW IT BEGAN...

I surf as often as I can. I love it, it keeps me sane, makes me content—it’s both therapy and a source of happiness. I didn’t start surfing till I was a lot older than most people who grow up here in Hawaii, but I fell in love when I caught my first wave. I learned on longboards with friends. I skateboarded growing up, so I wanted to jump right on a shortboard, but a good friend told me how important it is to longboard first because it allows you to really feel the wave and use the energy of the wave instead of just thrashing around. I now ride both, but I am a firm believer in what he taught me.

My Swimwear Design Roots…

Designer: Angie Menghini with her GoPro camera

I discovered my passion for sewing at a very young age while watching my mom sew; she’s a very crafty lady. She bought me my first machine from a thrift store when I was about 8. I was immediately fascinated by the way you can start with a two dimensional piece of fabric and manipulate it with cuts and seams to create a 3-dimensional garment. My mom tried to get me to use patterns, but I found it much more fun to make my own. I definitely had to cut myself out of my amateur designs more than once… I love seeing my finished products and knowing that they started out as just a vision in my head. I started sewing bikinis shortly after I started surfing when I realized none of my cute, flattering bikinis were very functional for surfing. That is exactly what inspires my designs. I strive to design bikinis that allow a girl to feel girly, but still keep up with the boys.

Top 2 Designs...

Right now I am so stoked on the Mimi Chaos Nose rider bottoms. I live in these bottoms. They are so comfortable. They 78 | womenssurfstyle.com | wSSm

have a flattering cheeky cut, but the waistband and drawstring allow me to be active and have fun. My other favorite swimwear design is my first bikini I ever made. It’s not my favorite because of the actual design (the top is lopsided, and there are strings sticking out all over), but it was the beginning of something exciting for me. I had to rip the elastic out at least 4 times to get it just right, but I finally got it and wore it with pride. In fact, I still wear the bottoms! They’re a bit of a Monet…they look okay from a distance, but are kind of a mess up close…

It’s in the Details...

Because I have been working with fabric for so long I have learned a lot about qualities of fabric and sewing. I have an appreciation for high quality material and assembly, but being active myself, durability is also important. When I took the step to stop making bikinis by hand and start manufacturing them, it was very important to find a manufacturer that met my standards. Mimi Chaos stands out because of the blend of functionality and flattery of the designs.

Other Artistic Passions…

Recently, Mimi Chaos had a month where a portion of all online purchases were donated to Access Surf, a great organization that helps people with disabilities experience the joy the ocean brings.

Future Plans…

Life always surprises me, so it’s hard for me to say what the future will hold for me. I know it will always hold my four essentials--love, passion, adventure and ocean. F

LEARN MORE AT:

Website: Mimichaos.com Facebook.com/mimi-chaos

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Community

2012 | Gary Linden at the Club

A GoPro of Liz Bradshaw

MICHELLE OCAMPO Years surfing: 20 off and on, 10 years consistently Homebreak: I skip around

An interview with VP, Liz Bradshaw, and SDSL President, Michelle Ocampo

ow did you both get started surfing?

LIZ: I had my first ever lesson with a surf school in Cornwall, England and from then on it was pretty much learning the hard way, by myself and with friends! My first board was a secondhand retro fish I bought in San Diego in 2002, then went back to the UK and found a 9’1” longboard that had been shaped for a girl in the area, It had seen better days, but it was solid and my perfect learning companion! Michelle: When I was about 16, some guys took my friend and me out surfing in Galveston, TX. I didn’t start surfing consistently until 25 when I spent the summer with my brother in Scarborough, Maine. He took me out on a Stewart 9’6” and just told me to paddle, then stand up. Not much of a lesson, but I figured it out quickly enough. When I moved to San Diego the following year, I was already hooked and headed out on a 6’ 10’ fun board. Now my boards of choice are a 6’10” fish and 8’6” longboard that’s narrow and fast!

And the San Diego Surf Ladies (SDSL)? Tell us about that...

LIZ: San Diego Surf Ladies was founded in 2004 by Jennifer (James) Simmonson to create a supportive surfing community for women surfers in the San Diego area. Michelle: She posted the first event on Surfline.com and had an amazing response of 30+ ladies in the water. In addition to many wonderful social activities, SDSL provides unique opportunities for improving our skills and becoming better surfers. Programs such as SDSL Sport gives members an opportunity to work on surfing skills in a supportive environment, through professionally coached surf sessions, core strength and fitness workout sessions, and video monitoring and analysis. 80 | womenssurfstyle.com | wSSm

Our 8th Anniversary | Photo: Mark Bromley

At SDSL Sport | Photo: Nicholas Polytaridis

LIZ BRADSHAW Years surfing: 10 inconsistently, 5 consistently!! Homebreak: I skip around between La Jolla Shores, Tourmaline, and Turtles in San Diego

with the

San Diego Surf Ladies

Connecting women through the love of surfing

You’re in your 9th year, congratulations! Tell us how the journey’s been for you ladies, and what have been some pivotal points in SDSL’s history that kept you going strong? LIZ: I think that as with any club, membership comes and goes, and ladies come and go with new and exciting ideas! For instance this year we held our first ever women’s surf film festival ‘Board Shorts’ which really put the club back in the spotlight and saw our membership base increase significantly.

Michelle: We have also recently re-launched and revived our competitive team ‘Team SDSL’, providing the opportunity for those that are interested to compete on behalf of the San Diego Surf Ladies up and down the California Coast! We have a great group of ladies with lots of amazing ideas and the momentum and our visibility in the surfing community just keeps building! LIZ: On a personal note: joining the San Diego Surf Ladies has hands down been one of the best things I did since moving to San Diego. I’m out in the water more, braved new spots I always wanted to try, but was too intimidated to go on my own, made new friends in the San Diego Surf Ladies and the general surfing community.

Besides just surfing, what can participants expect from SDSL?

LIZ: On top of the different types of surf meet ups we have (Waikiki, Team Carnage, Sport), we provide opportunities for ladies out of the water to have surf related experiences. For instance, in June 2012, legendary shaper and big wave rider Gary Linden spent the day with the club providing tips and stories on competing and big wave surfing. We also host board swaps, film screenings, a surf film festival featuring female surfers, and quarterly parties. In this coming

year we are looking to sponsor more educational events on water safety, oceanography, board shaping and more! Michelle: Expect to be INSPIRED! Within SDSL you’ll meet an amazing group of women surfers who are also artists, athletes, entrepreneurs and environmentalists, who are making an impact in their community. We help each other both in and out of the water. So, you can also expect to make lifelong friendships.

That’s some solid info for women! Is SDSL involved in any community outreaches or sponsorships?

LIZ: Each year as part of our anniversary event, we hold a fundraiser and donate to non-profits in our community both financially and with our time. For 2012, we chose the San Diego Coastkeeper as our non-profit partner! As a group we have also participated in beach clean ups and supported the Wounded Warrior Programs, Maui Ola Foundation and Outdoor Outreach. Most of our volunteer work is based around surfing and the ocean and is really member driven. Any of our club members can propose something and organize participation if it fits the mission of the group.

How can readers get involved?

Michelle: Join the club at www.sandiegosurfladies.com. Each month we host 3 - 4 scheduled SDSL surf sessions and a monthly meeting. In addition, we always love to hear from ladies and men who are interested in surfing for us as part of our Team SDSL! Follow us on Twitter @sdsurfladies and join our Facebook group page for the latest happenings and industry related info. Or contact us at: Liz Bradshaw- VP@sandiegosurfladies.com or SDSL President Michelle Ocampo,

pres@sandiegosurfladies.com F

COMMUNITY . . . Making a Difference

Discovering Pearls

MountainFountainCreations.com

Highlighting Pearls (girls of all ages) from around the world that are shining light into the lives of girls in their community!

“Encouraging girls worldwide to come to the Fountain of the Water of Life where we can experience re-creation through Jesus Christ, Like a Pearl, God covers us with his Grace and refines us by the Truth of his Word. Through that process, he cultivates something of Beauty in us that Reflects who he is to the world around us, each in our own unique and creative way.” -- Christina DiMari

MELISSA DIAMOND Founder of Surf Sisters & Water Women

Words to describe Melissa: Surfer. Adventure. Writer. Positive. Friend. Caring. Quote from recent book you have read: “Living the adventure God planned, becoming the person God created you to be, is not one pursuit among many. It is why you were born. It is worth wanting above all else.” John Ortberg

MOUNTAIN FOUNTAIN CREATIONS Founded by Christina DiMari, Non-Profit Arm of Ocean Star Gifts Providing beautiful high quality products for girls to use in outreach settings around the world to shine light, hope and value into the lives of girls in their own communities. Products include, Greeting Cards, Life Coaching Books, Bible Studies, Journals, Pearl Jewelry, Bibles and more! We do this through discounted prices and donating materials depending upon each situation.

DISCOVERING PEARLS

Highlighting girls around the world who are using our products in unique and creative ways to bless other girls!

Quotes that Inspire you: I love all the verses in the Bible about water. When I am at the water, I hear God’s voice the clearest and I find so much rejuvenation and inspiration. “And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.” “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scriptures has said, streams of living water will flow from within them.” The King James Bible states it, “Out of his belly will flow rivers of living water.” It is interesting to me that the belly is the deepest place inside you- the place where you get anxious or afraid, where you feel hollow or empty, when you are disappointed. It is in that very deepest place that Jesus says he will satisfy. 82 | womenssurfstyle.com | wSSm

nesia Melissa @ Uluwatu in Indo aphy Photo: Kojeck Surf Photogr

MELISSA DIAMOND

In her words as she shared her story with us... “God doesn’t let us go through hard times for no reason. I know that I went through all of that to help someone else,” my friend Megan said through deep breathes

and soft sobs. We were sitting on the beach watching the stars and listening to the ebb and flow of the tide when Megan asked me if I wanted to hear her story. Since I moved back to Florida from Nicaragua, Megan and I became close. We attended the same church and often had sushi dates afterwards. Our conversations drifted from our similar taste in music, to our walks with God, books we were reading, our jobs waiting tables, and of course relationships and guys. I had been taking girls to the beach for free surf lessons after church, and she always came eager to dive into the saltwater, hang out, and laugh. From our time together, I just assumed that her mom and dad raised her in church. I knew her family lived in Oklahoma, but I figured that she moved to Florida because, well, who wouldn’t rather live in Florida than Oklahoma? She always carried herself with confidence and seemed to have it all together. Her story shocked me. That night as we sat on the beach, she shared with me how she ran away from home at 18. Her mom was and is addicted to crack and had Megan smoke it with her for the first time when she was only 13. Megan’s dad had been in and out of jail her whole life for selling and using hard drugs. Because of the rough family life, Megan drowned herself in drugs, sex, and partying. She went to Florida on spring break

up with beautiful paper. We had a hard time finding nice journals that weren’t too expensive for us. The journal I was using at the time was an Ocean Star Gifts journal, and I loved it. I thought about how cool it would be to give the girls something nice, so that they would feel like someone cared about them. Our goal was to make them feel loved and special. When I went on the Ocean Star Gifts website, I realized that Christina had started a non-profit organization called Mountain Fountain Creations. Through this organization, anyone who had a dream to shine for other girls could get materials to use. There was a new post on their website sharing that a new batch of their journals came back from the printers because of an issue with the inside liner of the cover bleeding onto the front page. Because the books were damaged, they were giving them away at a huge discounted cost for girls who would use them in outreach settings. All I had to do was write them a letter sharing my vision of how I intended to use the books and promise not to sell them, but instead to give them away in ways that would bless other girls. I ordered one full box which had 24 books. When Mountain Fountain Creations was storing the damaged books, the interns separating the inventory wrote BAD on the damaged boxes to make sure they did not get mixed up with the ones that were being sold in their retail market. When the box arrived at my house, I got goosebumps because the box had the word ‘BAD’ scribbled across it in bold, black marker. How interesting that the women getting the journals were also labeled as ‘bad’ by our society, but God saw them as precious and stunning!

when she was 18 and decided not to return to her broken family in Oklahoma. In Florida, she met a man that brainwashed her by using drugs and money and basically got her into prostitution. After working for him, she eventually ran away and then started stripping in Orlando. She was so messed up from all the drugs and emotional damage that A PEARL FOR EVERY GIRL she started cutting herself.

As I pulled the journals from the box, they were so beautiShe went to a concert one “Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never ful that I cried!!! I cried again night with thoughts of suicide thirst. but the water that I shall give him will become in him a the next day when two more lingering in her mind. She said fountain of water, springing up into everlasting life.” John 4:14 boxes of journals showed up!!! that night that she prayed When Christina read my letter to a God she didn’t even “I dream of girls coming from the north, south, east, and west. about how I intended to use the believe in, asking God, “If Coming together from diverse backgrounds and nationalities to journals, she sent me more than you are real, help me.” At the form a circle of unity around the Fountain of the Water of Life. I ordered to make sure I would concert she met Dan, a guy Coming together like pearls being strung together on a strand with have everything I needed to who belongs to my church. He a common vision to shine value into the lives of shine! It is so cool how God just treated her differently than provides when we step out in other girls. We hope you’ll join us!” -- Christina DiMari any guy had ever treated her. faith to carry out His will. He invited her to church the following day. She said she was so depressed and in need of any kind of hope, she decided to go. WRITING LOVE LETTERS The next morning, God spoke to her through a worship song, and Megan and I filled each journal with a heartfelt letter and poems she got overwhelmed by God’s presence. People hugged her and sprinkled throughout. We included a way for the girls to get in treated her with acceptance and kindness. Dan’s family took her in touch with us and our church if they felt led to. and helped her to get clean and start a relationship with God. It was around Christmas time, so we wrapped up each journal as A VISION TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE a beautiful gift from God and went to the strip clubs to deliver I wrapped my arms around her as she told me her story, not sure them to the girls. We shared with each girl we gave it to that these what else to do. I closed my eyes and right away had a vision of us were gifts especially created for them to show them that there are writing love letters to other girls trapped in this life. I knew that people out there who care about them. We told the girls to wait God creates everyone for a purpose, and that He loves us all the until they got home and were alone before they opened their gifts. same. These women needed to know how loved they are. We prayed that in the quiet moment when they unwrapped the I shared my vision with Megan, and she said that she already paper to behold the beauty that was created especially for them, thought about doing that. So, the next day I started working on they would know... trying to find journals that we could put the letter in. We thought They are Loved.” F it would be cool to give the letter in a journal so they could also use the journal. We also wanted to give them Bibles and wrap them

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COMMUNITY . . . I am a Surfer

Photos by: Daryl Skytzo Willis

She Surfs Kitty Willis

have been part of the ocean since I was 10 years old living on the East Coast. It’s crazy to think about all of the changes the ocean goes through. The fact that I have seen most of these changes and witnessed the health about the ocean deteriorate is quite sad. I decided to do something about it and began picking up trash at the beach beginning in 1981, encouraging fellow surfers and others to pick up 3 every time they’re out at the beach. We’re all connected to the ocean and most people don’t even realize that the ocean begins at their front door... no matter where they live. Trash has no boundaries, so I continued doing beach cleanups, spanning over 30 years. Each time going to the beach, I was hoping that it would be cleaner than the last time I was there... In 2006, I became involved with the Adopt A Beach program thru the California Coastal Commission and I adopted my favorite surfbreak, Bolsa Chica, to keep clean. Suddenly my love of the ocean became my love for the ocean. Volunteering to raise awareness has been so rewarding. It continues to be as I see the twinkle in the kid’s eyes as they get to the beach, some of them for the very first time in their life.

Do not take life for granted. Here today…gone tomorrow...

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Every time I step into the ocean, I feel that I have been able to unplug from the everyday hustle and bustle and I am now one with the ocean. The feeling is pure bliss. Sometimes I will lie on my board and not catch a wave at all, except to ride in. F

SURF COACH

hen I was 15 years old, my life changed forever. My mom talked me into taking out my dad’s old surfboard and that was it. Ever since then, surfing has slowly taken over my life. When I first started it was something I did for fun on the weekends, but then a little over a year later I entered my first surf contest and two years after that (the summer after I turned 18), I started teaching surf lessons with some friends of mine behind a hotel in Cocoa Beach. Now, at 24, I am still competing and teach surf lessons over spring and summer breaks. Recently, I met a young girl named Kaydi who wanted to start entering surf contests and was looking for a coach. She was 12 years old and had just come off several months of not surfing (or doing much at all) because of knee surgery. The first time I talked to her mom on the phone was after they signed her up for a surf contest. She had a few questions, and after we talked, she set up a surf lesson for her daughter. Before we hung up, she asked me if I thought her daughter was ready for a contest. My response was, “Well, I haven’t seen her surf yet, so I’m not sure, but let me put it this way…was I ready for my first surf contest? No! But doing contests is really what pushed me when I started, so if it’s what she wants to do, then she has to start somewhere!”. Kaydi did amazing at her first contest. Luckily we got to work together a few times before the weekend of her contest and I could keep in touch with her just in case she had any questions. I made sure she was aware of the rules, how a contest works, and had some strategy for her heat. She made it out of her first heat and ended up 7th overall out of 16 little rippers. I was so proud of her! Not to mention the waves were huge and the wind was making very drifty and choppy conditions. Her mom asked if I would continue to coach her for the next contest and of course I said yes! Since then I have been working with Kaydi as much as possible during

the summer, on school breaks, and on the weekends. It can get tough because Kaydi lives on the west coast of Florida and I live about an hour away from the east coast, but we’ve been making it work. We are both lucky to have very supportive parents and family. Kaydi and I have done three other surf contests since the first one and she’s been improving so rapidly at each surf contest. I am very proud to be called her coach! Kaydi is now 13 years old. She is currently riding for Sun Bum Sunscreen and is working on building her portfolio by doing as many surf contests as she can in Florida. She has done many contests in the past few months, but one of her more recent highlights would be 1st place in Jr. Women’s shortboard and 2nd place Jr. Women’s longboard at the 2012 Waterman’s Challenge in Cocoa Beach. I asked her what she thought of having me as her coach and this is what she had to say: “She is an amazing surfer, coach, and friend. Since I met her, I’ve taken my surfing to a whole new level. I love free surfing with friends and competing. Anytime I’m in the water is a good time! One of the most memorable things anyone has ever said to me , “If you’re talking, you can breathe. Get back out there!” Ami told me this when I wanted to quit in the middle of a heat. These words of ‘encouragement’ helped me keep going and I ended up doing well in that heat.” Besides training and doing surf contests, Kaydi has also helped me volunteer at the Special Olympics training sessions for surfing and we will be volunteering at some future Surfer’s for Autism events this fall. Not to mention, we are both going on our first surf trip together to Hawaii next spring! As for me, I ride for Calavera Bikini’s and do as many contests as I can with my busy schedule. In my “spare” time I am a full time student at University of Central Florida with a 3.8 GPA (graduating this fall) and I’m also a substitute teacher. Surfing has been such an amazing sport for me, I have met so many wonderful people and have been a part of some great things. It truly isn’t just a sport, but a way of life. F

She SurfsAmi Berg & Kaydi Archer Ami

Photos by: Buffy Archer

Kaydi

Kaydi and Ami, Cocoa Beach, Florida wSSm | womenssurfstyle.com | 85

COMMUNITY . . . I am a Surfer

MY STORY

ey WSSM, my name is Ally, and I just started surfing this summer. I have always loved the beach, loved to swim and have always wanted to surf. Bethany Hamilton has been an inspiration for my surfing. After I saw the movie “Soul Surfer”, I just couldn’t wait to surf, so I tried standing up on my boogie board out in the water and practiced popping up on our living room coffee table. I surfed for the first time on June 25th, 2012, at a Billabong surf camp in Virginia. When I came home, I entered a Hurley “Rip My Shred Stick” competition. I’ve been surfing all summer. When I’m not in the water I can’t wait to get back to the beach. I also love to design clothes, especially bikinis, and I like to draw people surfing.

Future plans

I’m planning on having a fundraiser for Daisy, Al Merrick’s granddaughter. I’ll also be taking part in a fundraiser that will be held later this summer at a local surf shop. She is fighting cancer for the third time and I want to do as much as I can to help. I’m also working on riding bigger waves, going down the line and turning as much as possible. I plan to enter competitions next summer. I’ve even started a collection of pictures of me surfing, my surf drawings and sketches of all of my bikini designs. F

She Surfs ALLY

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My Daughter Ally... Ally is a young athlete who has lots of interest in becoming a good surfer and in ‘doing good’ as well. She is empathetic, respectful and kind to the people and the world around her while still being an individual with competitive drive and inner motivation. The local fundraiser mentioned in her letter is a surf event in New Hampshire for the ‘Molly’ foundation, a charity that raises money for families who are caring for children battling cancer. -- Hilary

AGE: 11 | YEARS SURFING: 1 Season BOARDS IN QUIVER: 6’2”, Lost Round Nose Fish SPONSORS: Parents | DREAM SPONSORS: Rip Curl or O’Neill

AGE: 10 | YEARS SURFING: 3 HOMEBREAK: Sebastian Inlet, Florida SPONSORS: Fox, GromSocial.com FAVORITE BOARD: CT Taylor Surfboards

QUIVER: CT Taylor 4’9 and a Orion 4’11

AT RANDOM:

If I had a special power it would be: Teleporting,

She Surfs Caroline Marks Photos: N. Adams

IN THE BEGINNING…

I’m number three of six kids. My two older brothers are both competitive surfers, so they have taught me how to surf. My whole family surfs and we mostly shortboard, but will longboard when it’s smaller. In the beginning, I started to surf a break near our house in Melbourne Shores. As I got better, I started to go to Sebastian Inlet with my Dad and brothers. Sebastian Inlet is a right wedge that rebounds off the jetty. It’s a fast punchy wave for Florida. A lot of very good surfers surf the inlet. I have seen CJ Hobgood, Kelly Slater, CT Taylor and Dave Spier surfing. Sebastian Inlet is also very crowded. I have a huge family, so we all watch after each other when we’re surfing. We surf there a lot, so we kinda know almost everyone. There are a few girls surfing, but mostly boys, and about 95% shortboards. Some of the girls I surf with are Nikki Visens and Emily Ruppert. They rip and are good role models.

My Scariest Surf Experience: My dad took me surfing when I was 7 years old. It

was a pretty good size day. I saw a set wave breaking out the back, so I paddled as hard as I could. My dad was right next to me telling me to paddle hard. I almost made it, but unfortunately the lip landed right on my head. The wave knocked the breath out of me and held me down for a bit.

3 people who inspire me the most: My brother, Luke, my mom and Jesus

for sure!!!!!

The character quality I admire the most: Commitment. The people I look up to are very committed to their sport. My Pets: Two dogs and a bearded Dragon. One thing I want the world to know about me: I want to be on the world tour some day.

The biggest wave I’ve surfed was in: Bongo, in El Salvador. I just try and keep up with my brothers. Last time I got hurt out surfing was: One week ago. My friend’s board hit my face. The fin cut my eye and I got a black eye. When competing, I feel the most important thing, prior to paddling out is: Reading the waves and have a good heat strategy.

My Sponsors: Fox Clothing just brought me on. The

East Coast Team Manager, Geoff Armstrong, helps me at most of the bigger comps. Fox has a small, but really tight surf team. They really take care of their riders. I also ride for GromSocial.com. It’s the best social networking site for kids! It’s Facebook for kids.

My favorite surf buddy is: My dad and brothers A foundation I love is: To Write Love on Her Arms

(TWLOHA)

Someone once told me this, and it really made an impact on me. It was: I’ve learned that GOD is one of the most important elements to maintaining contentment in life. F

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COMMUNITY . . . I am a Surfer

She Surfs

AGE: 14 | YEARS SURFING: 10 HOMEBREAK: San Onofre, CA SPONSORS: Hurley, Hobie FAVORITE BOARD: Rachael Tilly

Model at Hobie

Rachael Tilly

Photo: Jefferson

IN THE BEGINNING… Growing up surfing means that for the past 10 years I have been at the beach almost 24/7. I sleep, eat, and breathe sand and salt water. It means early morning surf sessions, late nights at the beach, and many sunburns. It also means showing up to school with wet, salty hair, sand stuck on my legs, and seaweed in my hair! I absolutely love living the beach lifestyle.

T-Street a lot. T-Street is more of a beach break and I have to surf there almost every morning for my high school surf team. It can be kind of hard on a longboard at times, but is always manageable. Most people in San Clemente are pretty cool out in the water. Every once in a while there are a few locals that don’t make being in the line-up pleasant, but that doesn’t happen too often… the crowds are overall pretty cool. There are definitely more men surfing here than there are women. Even though we have some awesome girls ripping out in the water, the line-ups are usually male-dominated.

My dad got me into surfing when I was super young and since the first day, I was always begging to get back out into the water, even though it was close to winter and the water was freezing. I originally learned on a longboard and stayed with it. There is something about the gracefulness of longboarding that I just fell in love with. I learned at Doheney, a famous beginner spot, but it can also be an incredible wave with the right swell. The first time my dad took me out, it was foggy and he wasn’t sure about it, but I had already made up my mind that I was going to get out in the water. On top of that, as I was walking out to the water, I found a 1 1/2 foot dead leopard shark on the beach. That didn’t scare me. Instead, I picked it up and got a picture with it because I thought it was so cool! Surfing has always been a part of my life and I can’t picture myself not living by the beach.

Three years ago I met a famous surfboard shaper named Terry Martin when I was doing an interview with him for a school project. I later got put onto the Hobie Surfboard team and he became my shaper. We created this really special bond that is hard to find! He came down to the beach almost every morning to watch me surf and helped me evolve my boards from a single fin to a more high-pro board. He became one of my best friends, even though he was 75! He always brought me into the shaping room so I could help shape my own boards and he taught me how to shape! Sadly, Terry passed away this past May. It was a very hard loss. He wasn’t just a shaper to me, he was like a grandpa. However, I did have the privilege to speak at his memorial and that was a very special experience! I still miss Terry a lot, but I feel so blessed that I was able to become so close to him in the last 3 years of his life.

The surf culture is very popular where I live. I live in a beach community, so even if people don’t surf, they still live the surfing lifestyle. The most popular break around here is Lowers Trestles. There are usually at least 100 people out there everyday and they are mostly all shortboarders. Just south of there is San Onofre. This break has quite a few different peaks and has a lot of locals. I would say there are about 200 people surfing in the mornings there every day; although, it’s not bad because everyone is so spread out. This spot is more of a longboard-dominated spot (even though my brother can rock it on a shortboard there!). I also surf

When I was young, I made a goal to become a world champion. For the past 5 years, I have worked really hard and competed in many contests so I could achieve this goal. Now, I’m super excited because all the hard work is starting to pay off with my qualification for the 2013 world tour.

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The character quality I admire the most would be… Humility. I always love meeting people that are so down to earth and know their purpose here on earth. It’s always very refreshing because some surfers can be just the opposite.

Photos: www.rachaeltilly.com

Pets… I have two dogs named Riley and Kuipo and two cats named Kalia and Kekoa. Apparently we like names that start with K. We also have a big fish tank that has about 50 fish! I used to have two birds, but last year we had to give them away, which was sad because we had them for about 7 years! Lastly, I have a pet rock named AUZ. My parents wouldn’t let me get my own fish for my room, so I got a rock and put it into a fish tank and named him AUZ!! Don’t worry, he is a friendly rock!

always a wipeout each week that gives me experience.

If I had a special power… I would have to pick two powers. I would

for a few scrapes. However, one time I did get hurt when I was about 9 when the rail of my board hit my ear during a contest. I got out of the water to run down the beach, because the current was so strong. I couldn’t stop crying because of the pain in my ear, so my dad finally stopped me and looked at it. The inside of my ear started dripping out blood! It turned out that I had burst a blood vessel places! After traveling the world by in my eardrum. It wasn’t plane, I would travel the world by sailing! too serious, but it did hurt a lot! When I was little, I loved to: climb all over things and be a daredevil.

pick breathing under water and flying. It would be so cool to go underwater for as long as I want and swim with all the sea creatures like a mermaid! I could just picture myself swimming for hours and hours with sea turtles (my favorite animal) and lots of cool fish! However, I can’t leave out flying. Flying is just one of those “special powers” 3 people who inspire me the everyone wishes they most: 1) Jesus, 2) Terry Martin, 3) My had! I mean wouldn’t it parents be cool to just jump off a cliff and fly wherever you In my lifetime, I’d love to see: want?! Australia.

AT RANDOM:

My Other Hobbies…

You’re not really a surfer unless: you actually get in the water I love sailing and ballet! and surf! I have been sailing ever since I was little and I’m working towards: eating always just took to it. healthier and keeping my room clean! Now I help teach it during Job, fitness goal, personal growth, etc. the summer to kids at the My favorite surf buddy is: Do same program where I I have to pick?! I would say my brother learned how to sail! I am and dad. also a part of the Mariners Sea Scout program where If $$ was no option, I would: I’m learning the ropes of still continue my education and travel racing. Ballet is fantastic! the world with my family! I would pay for Although I am out right my brother’s pilot school and he would now because I tore the be able to fly us everywhere. We would tendon in my foot, I am be able to find great waves in exotic still jumping around the house doing little ballet things here and there. I also successfully made it to pointe, which is a goal I had ever since I was little! (Pointe is where you dance on your tippy toes.) Ballet also helps a lot with longboarding. It helps with balance and grace, which is an important key for longboarding.

If there is one thing the world should know about me…

is that I am a strong believer in Jesus Christ and I believe He is the Son of God and He died on the cross to save us from our sins.

The biggest wave I have ridden… is probably an 8-foot wave at Sunset Beach, Hawaii. I love big waves! The bigger the waves…the better, so maybe one day when I’m older I will go searching for big waves! Hopefully, one day I will ride a really big wave that I have to get towed into!!! Getting Hurt… I have never been seriously injured from surfing except

A charity/foundation/group I love is: the Children’s Hospital of Orange County. When I’m stressed I: Go surfing or take a nap. Someone once told me this, and it really made an impact on me. It was: stay simple. I’ve learned that: Keeping up a spiritual relationship with God is one of the most important elements to maintaining contentment in life. Happiness is: knowing Jesus and riding long waves. I love the smell of: Wax and the way the air smells after it rains.

An EPIC session that stands out in memory… is a ses-

sion I had at Rincon. It was foggy and cold and I didn’t want to go out, but my brother was able to convince me. We paddled out and there were only about 5 other guys out. At one point we were the only ones out there! The waves were 2-3 feet and felt like they went on forever! That was my very first time I surfed Rincon and it will always be a good memory.

My Sponsors... I have two sponsors, Hurley and Hobie. I got onto Hurley when I was ten. We saw Pat O’Connell down at the beach one day and he saw a picture of me surfing and asked to meet with us! The next week we met with him and before I knew it, I was on Hurley! I really like being on Hurley because they are a great team and really supportive! I joined the Hobie team about 2 years ago. Terry Martin really loved my surfing and wanted me to join Hobie. We had a meeting with them, showed them my resume, and they accepted me on the team!

MY SURF LIFE:

Contest results… I have won a few, but the most important ones that

My last major wipeout… The last time I got punished while surfing was going over the falls on a big day at Velzyland. With that said, there is

My goals as a competitive surfer… My main goal as a competitive surfer is to be a world champion as well as becoming U.S. champion next year. I plan on reaching that goal by working really hard in my surfing and being the best I can be! F

The last surf trip I took was in August to Virginia Beach for the East Coast Surfing Championships. It was the last contest to qualify for the world tour, so I had to do it! Luckily, Hurley paid for everything! One tip that I could offer is not to be intimidated by an unfamiliar crowd. You belong out in the line-up just as much as anyone.

I have won are 5 west coast longboard titles over the past 4 years, 3 state longboard titles over the last 3 years, and one east coast championship this year!

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COMMUNITY . . . I am a Surfer

Photos by: Lockie Caldwell

She Surfs Alexandra Durant By Sasha Leitner

Down Under on the Western coast of Australia is a region of rugged, beautiful coast line called Red Bluff, which is on the Quobba Station. Located 140km north of Carnaman, it is one of Western Australia’s most dramatically beautiful and remote areas. It just so happens to also be the home of a very talented 16 year old girl, Alexandra Durant.

Lucky for Alexandra she lives beach front on an amazing break, and she gets to travel Western Australia, exploring killer breaks up and down the coast.

“I love my life!” Alexandra tells me. Surfing is not her only passion in life; she also likes drawing, hanging out with her friends, and she loves music. Not to shabby of an existence for a 16yr old girl!

At her home break of Red Bluff Point, Alexandra has the privilege of surfing some of the world’s best uncrowded waves. She lives on the beach with her parents and five sisters on an Eco campground 2 hours from the nearest town. Alexandra is homeschooled, so she gets to surf when the surfing is good, and it has paid off cause this kid rips! As long as she keeps up with her school work, and keeps her grades up, her folks let her surf when ever it’s firing!

“I just really LOVE surfing,” she tells me. “I thrive on the feeling of accomplishment when I finally make that trick I’ve been practicing!”

“I’ve only been surfing for 3yrs, but I intend to do it much longer!”

“I love competing. I’ve had too many 2nds and 3rds under my belt, but that only makes me train harder and to push myself to surf better. It makes me want to win even more.”

This spunky 16yr old has a love for surfing that is inspiring!

“Surfing has become a HUGE part of my life in the past few years, and I could not imagine what I would be doing if I did not surf. My life would be so boring.” 90 | womenssurfstyle.com | wSSm

Alexandra is currently sponsored by Modern Image, Sticky Feet, and Gravelle Surfboards. She has placed in Taj’s small fries contest, Sunshine Surf Masters contest, Rip Curl Grom Search, and she was 2nd for the state title round 1 U18 girls 2012.

Quite a list of accomplishments for such a young surfer. Alexandra has a drive and persistence that will take her far. I am sure we will see great things in the future from this talented young Aussie Surfer Girl! F

She Surfs Lauren Ashley Oiye … an Amazing Waterwoman!

By Sasha Leitner

If I told you Lauren Ashley Oiye has only been tandem surfing for a year, you would probably think I was full of it. If you have ever been privy to see Lauren and her tandem partner, Chuck Inman, grace the waves, you would assume this dynamic surf duo has been training together for years. This is not the case. The new World Champions just started surfing together a little over a year ago. This was also right around the time Lauren got into surfing herself! They make it look so effortless, like they are both seasoned surfers in a sport that requires a mastering of many different skills. Lauren is originally from Cali, but she did not grow up as a surfer girl. She was definitely a waterwoman, but one of the chlorine persuasion. Lauren was an accomplished synchronized swimmer, which is actually a perfect training component for her newly found tandem career. From 12yrs old on, Lauren was on the US National team for synchronized swimming. A strong background in gymnastics and sports acrobatics, all teamed with the lung endurance from synchronized swimming, are key components for a great tandem partner. It’s no wonder she eased right into the dynamic, technically challenging world of tandem surfing. As a part of the renowned Santa Clara Aquatics club (known for their alumni of Olympic athletes), Lauren honed her synchronized swimming skills with top coaches. Rigorous training regimens with dance, gymnastics, and swimming, prepared Lauren (unknown to her then) for the world of tandem surfing. By the age of 16, Lauren earned a spot on the Junior National team and was training at the Olympic Training center in Colorado Springs. Her synchronized swimming career took her as far as the Olympic trials for 2008, a huge accomplishment for any athlete! Being on the Olympic level of competition made Lauren into a strong and focused waterwoman.

“I fell into tandem surfing when I came to Hawaii for college,” Lauren tells me. “It was March, 2012 when I met Chuck Photos: WSSM Inman. He saw me on the beach doing land lifts with some other tandem surfers. He thought I was super young! I think he was in shock when they told him I was 25!” Lauren laughs at the recent memory, and fills me in on Chuck’s

history in the tandem world. Chuck is definitely the seasoned surfer of the duo. Originally from Oregon, Chuck decided to change his life and move to the Islands in 2008. An accomplished waterman and athlete, Chuck is an avid SUP paddler, surfer, and regularly partakes in the local island contests for both. Chuck has 2 former World Titles with his pervious tandem partner of 5 years, Tiffany Rabacal. “Chuck definitely is the surfer between us. I trust

him and his ability to get us into perfect waves for lifts. He just understands the ocean and waves so well; it makes doing maneuvers a lot easier.” It was fast. From the time they met, to the first contest, there was only a four week period. They had a small window of opportunity to prepare and get a rhythm down together. “Once Chuck figured out how dedicated of

an athlete I was, and we did a few lifts on the beach to see how we worked together, we paddled out together to see what happened. He asked me to partner up that day. We had four weeks to prepare for our first contest on the tour which was Surf the Nations.”

The training that they underwent was intense. Just to be a competent surfer you have to surf daily, now throw in some technically difficult lifts on a board...to say the least, they had their work cut out for them.

“We did countless hours of Acro Class at UH with the coaches, and at least 2 hours of lifts a day on land to perfect our technique. Then we would paddle out for 2 to 3 hours 2x a day so we could execute our routine as flawlessly as we could on a board. It was intense.” After four weeks of training, they came in 3rd at the Surf the Nations contest…an impressive feat for a new surfer and tandem team. Lauren and Chuck, both fierce competitors, were not satisfied, and dove into training again for the next stop on the tour which was the Steel Pier Classic in Virginia Beach. “The contest in VB was so much fun. The east

coast surf community was bigger than I thought it would be. We met so many amazing surfers, and we took first at the contest which stoked us out.” Their rigorous training schedule, school and work kept Lauren and Chuck busy while preparing for the next leg which was the Kiwi Surf Fest in Biscarrosse, France. It’s a long journey from Hawaii to France, so the duo focused their energy and worked on perfecting their routine.

“France was Amazing! We had a blast over there. We trained so hard for the trip. We were in a battle for points with Krystal Apeles, and her partner, Paulie Chambers, and we wanted to keep up our placing. Taking first in France was just what we needed.” Lauren and Chuck headed back to the Islands and prepared for Dukes Fest in Waikiki. Lauren’s background in synchronized swimming really proved invaluable. Her ability to be graceful and flexible made executing new lifts so much easier for the duo. She has a dancer’s grace, and the gymnastic background that has enabled them to do some creative lifts.

“Dukes Fest was such a fun contest. It was a weeklong event, so Waikiki was busy with surfers. We were at our home break, but we came in second. It was disappointing after France, but it made us train harder for the next leg of the tour.” They headed back to the East coast for the ECSC contest in Virginia Beach. The pair needed to keep up their points to stay in the top ranking spot. Another 2nd place finish was good, but they really needed to step it up to take the point lead. It was motivation for the duo to push their skills on the board, and on their lifts. The ECSC in Virginia Beach was also a second place finish for Lauren and Chuck. “The 2nd place finish in Virginia made the pressure come on for

the last contest. We were super close in points with Krystal and Paulie. Before the NKF Cocoa Beach for the World Title, we only had a few days to get there and surf Cocoa Beach together. Getting used to a wave to tandem surf together well for a contest is kinda hard to do in a day.” The pair proved their skills at the Cocoa Beach contest and the First place finish gave them enough points to take both to the ITSA World Tandem Tour Champions, and the ISA World Title champions! “We were so happy with the win! It was a whirlwind of an experience, and we met so many amazing surfers! I really enjoyed being on the tour! Chuck and I make a great team. He is really the surfer between us, but my love for surfing has definitely been solidified!” An impressive journey for any athlete. It’s nice to see hard work paying off for such dedicated athletes. I look forward to seeing more of Lauren’s newly budding career in tandem surfing. Surf to Live. F wSSm | womenssurfstyle.com | 91

COMMUNITY . . . I am a Surfer

She Surfs Jessica Swenson My Early Surf Days:

My dad was the one that introduced me to surfing. He would take us to the beach a lot when we were growing up; my mom loved the beach and my dad was always surfing with his friends. I remember getting pushed into some whitewash waves on my stomach a few times on his longboard and taking them into the shore. It wasn’t until I was 18 that I really started getting into actually standing and catching waves. Watching the movie “Point Break” sparked me back into surfing. I remember asking my dad if I could use his old Surfers Union board. Instead of just borrowing it from him, he told me I could have it. It was a straight out of the 80’s neon yellow/green fun-shape board. I took it out and taught myself how to paddle and surf, eventually catching the first wave that got me hooked!

Jessica @ New Smryna Beach, FL Photo: fernandezphotoart.com

My Scariest Surf Experience

I’d have to say surfing Sunset Beach in Hawaii a few years ago. I paddled out into the line-up, caught a nice right and somehow got stuck on the inside right after. I was almost back out into the line-up and this sneak set came in and all of a sudden I was being held under for a few waves. It was hard to hold my breath longer to make it through and I thought I was going to drown. I swam to the surface right after the last wave of the set rolled in, gasped for air at the surface, and ended up about 50 feet from the shore in shallow reef. I got out, looked back at the water and a guy came up to me telling me he saw me get barreled on the last right I took. I guess he didn’t see me getting worked after it! Haha..It was definitely a humbling experience!

Favorite Quote: “Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that,

and living alone won’t either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself you tasted as many as you could.” - Louise Erdrich

Besides surfing, I love: Photography, snowboarding and anything to do with the

water.

My biggest wave: The biggest wave I’ve ridden was double over-head (Jersey and Florida). It’d be great to one day get to the point where I can surf 15-20ft Waimea Bay.

When competing, the most important thing I feel is:

Contests always syke me out, but the ones I’ve done the best in were the ones I was having the most fun.

Best surf tip: If I get a ding in my board while surfing, instead of getting out and going to get it fixed, I just cover it with wax…in fact I have a board right now that has three really deep skeg marks in it and all three are covered with wax…keeps the water out and my board hasn’t turned yellow from it! FINS & Wax: Lately I’ve been using fiberglass fins, they have been helping a lot with my turns and maneuvers.Wax? LOTS! Can’t get enough of it...I just keep adding layers!...and I live by Mrs. Palmers wax.

Man-made surf parks: Don’t care too much for them. I wish more artificial reef surf breaks were being made though, too many breaks are being taken over by marinas and hotels. Just look at what Trestles in California has been going through. An artist I know, Marc B, has a song out called “Coming Up”. It explains it all.

Someone once told me this, and it really made an impact on me. It was:

Life has its ups and downs, stay positive through it all…everything happens for a reason…things may seem bad when they are happening, but down the line you will look back on it and see that it brought you someplace better. F

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Photos by Jessica Swenson

Photos: Chris Grant, Jettygirl.com

My Surf Roots:

She Surfs

Haley Michelle Watson

I got a late start on the surf scene. I was an Olympic hopeful gymnast, and when I was 14 my mother suddenly passed away from heart disease, and I quit gymnastics. AGE: 20 | YEARS SURFING: 6 | HOMEBREAK: Flagler Beach Pier | SPONSORS: NVR My dad and brother, Hunter, have been Strings Swimwear, Barrellicious, Healthy Souls, Sully’s, Drew’s Surf Stick, The Surf Station, RW surfers their whole lives, and encouraged Surfboards, West Wetsuits | FAVORITE BOARD: 5’4 R-Dub shaped by Rusty Whitlock me to try it. Former world champion surfer, Frieda Zamba, our neighbor, was great friends with both my mom and dad. She was always there for me after my mom passed Current quiver: My “go to” board is my 5’4 R-Dub. away, to be a great role model, offer me advice, and At A Glance: It can handle anything up to head high. I also have a take me surfing. Favorite food: Fried chicken and handful of 5’6”s, and a 5’10” set up. I met my best friend & surf buddy, Michelle, at my potato salad. My last surf trip: My most recent surf trip was to first Easterns Championships. We always go on super Slippers or high heels: My BarCalifornia this summer. I competed in the US Open fun surfing adventures! Break preference? There’s rellicious hand carved sandals! Pro Jr in Huntington Beach, and got put out in the nothing better than surfing fun waves. Of course quarter finals. I also surfed in my first WQS event, Favorite dessert I can cook: point breaks are ideal, however there are not many of the ASP 6* Supergirl Pro, held in Oceanside. I was so Brownies, cookies, cheesecake. those in Florida, so your best bet is to find an empty stoked to make it through a few heats to Round 3, sand bar somewhere! My home break of Flagler Favorite guy surfer: Kelly Slater. and surf against some of the girls that I look up to. Beach pier is consistent, New Symrna Beach and Top 2 fav magazines: WSSM and Ponce Inlet are great spots, too. Biggest wave ridden: I have surfed some pretty ESM big waves during the winter time in Puerto Rico. I’m Flager Beach has the most amazing surf community. Dream surf destination I haven’t not a huge fan of big waves, I prefer mid sized waves It is made up of young and old, short boards and been to yet: Indo you can have a lot of fun on without having to worry long, competitive and soul surfers. But what makes Favorite color: Pink! about getting worked, or hitting the reef. our community so incredible is what happens out of Siblings: My older brother, the water. Everyone is always volunteering, setting The last time I said “At sun-up, I’m gonna be up events and fundraisers to help others. We all have Hunter. out there!” and was: It was a south swell from a a special love for doing the right thing and making a Traction pad or bareback: difference, and surfing is what brings it all together. tropical system this summer. Ponce Inlet was the only Traction pad. good spot due to the south swell, and people travFavorite fastfood: Not a fan 3 people who inspire me the most: Frieda eled from all over the state, so the crowd factor was Zamba, Leslie Knope, and, of course, my mom Dollie of fast food, but when I do it’s at an all time high. Determined to get our share, my Sue Watson! Chick fil A. boyfriend, Nic, and I were up extra early and at the beach. It turns out we were a little bit too early, and Favorite quote: “Believe in the Future plan & goals: I will be representing my ended up standing on the beach for a while because magic of your dreams, and they hometown of Flagler County in the Miss Florida USA it was still pitch black out, and the recent numerous shall be your’s.” 2013 pageant this year. It would be my dream come shark sightings did not help make it anymore inviting. true to win the title of Miss USA, and go on to compete in the Miss Universe pageant. But for now, I am working on my real estate license, and hoping to run for a local government position, such as City Council. I would love to be a home owner. I hope to accomplish these things, all while continuing to grow and prosper the foundation I began after losing my mom; The MayDay Memorial. With our biggest event of the year, the annual MayDay Memorial Surf Classic, this is a non profit organization aims to promote awareness of heart disease, especially in women.

My sponsors: I ride for a lot of small businesses. I feel very fortunate to know and work with all of the owners personally, and to have their support! Sure it would be cool to have a big, corporate sponsor, but I personally am very grateful to support more “grassroots” companies. Contest wins: My biggest accomplishments are my 2x consecutive East Coast Titles (2011-2012)! F wSSm | womenssurfstyle.com | 93

SUP COMMUNITY . . . I Love SUP

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Gillian Gibree SHE SUPS Left photo by: Meg Haywood-Sullivan | meghaywoodsullivan.com Top photo by: Morgan Hoesterey | www.seamonstermedia.com

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SUP COMMUNITY . . . I Love SUP BENEFITS: F This SUP Yoga pose strengthens the arms, legs, and spine. It also calms the brain, improves digestion, and helps relieve stress.

How To Do... Supported Headstands (Salamba Sirsasana)

By Gillian Gibree

Photos: Ken Hoeve

From a kneeling position, interlace the fingers and bring the forearms on the board. Place the base of the crown on the board and nestle the back of the head into the interlaced hands.

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Inhale, lift the knees off the board and slowly walk the feet towards the elbows keeping a straight spine and creating an inverted “V”. Stack the hips over the torso and firm the shoulder blades to prevent the weight from collapsing onto your head and neck.

Engage the core and lift up the toes while keeping the knees bent. Slowly begin to straighten the knees and actively point the toes towards the sky. Keep the weight evenly balanced with the core still engaged. Tuck the tailbone to decrease strain on the lower back and to create one long straight line of energy. Hold for three breaths.

Slowly begin to lower one leg at a time back into dolphin pose. Drop the knees and take a long child’s pose. F

The constant movement of the water challenges your core more than a floor ever could and the wide open space of an ocean allows your mind to wander

Photo by Kelly Girl

moved to Hawaii in 1980 from Memphis, Tennessee. My dad was in the military and stationed at Barber’s Point...

Aloha SUP Yoga

I got a job as a lifeguard working at White Plains, which we called “O” Beach back then, since it was the Officer’s beach. There were a handful of locals who would paddle out from the other side of the fence from Ewa Beach to surf here. One guy in particular (I think he had a crush on me...) would come every day and he taught me how to read the waves, determine hi/lo tide, taught me which limu (seaweed) you could eat and not eat and how to make a whistle from a pipi shell. A lot of time wasted in those 8 hour days.

There weren’t a lot of women surfing back then, but my favorite female idols were Debbie Bowman, Linda Boyle, and Rell Sunn. I liked their style, very humble, but very sure of themselves. My 1st surf board was a yellow swallow tail twin fin. Needless to say, it took me a while to learn how to actually stand up because it was such a small squirrely board, but it sure looked cool on top of my ‘66 faded Pink VW Beetle.

TAKE A CLASS Participants will need their own SUP board, the wider the better. Don’t worry, there are plenty available to rent in Haleiwa if you need one.  Classes are on Saturday from 9-10am, and registration in advance is

required by contacting Judy via: (website) GetFit808.com (email) alohasupyoga@yahoo.com | (phone) 808.627.9444 .  Wear suits, shades and sunscreen. Regularly $15 per person... Mention this article and receive a class for $10! I consider myself fortunate to have been able to surf every day back then in uncrowded conditions. I remember finally saving up enough money to buy my 1st tanker which cost about $150, that’s what we called a longboard back in the day. It was a single fin, with two long blue stripes from nose to tail making it look even longer than the 9’0” it was. That’s when my surf skills rapidly improved. I remember really feeling my 1st cut back, when I was in control and connected with the waves. Harnessing the

with Judy Kosaka

Started surfing in 1980 Favorite break: Ali’i Beach, Haleiwa, Oahu - Hawaii

power of Mother Nature was and still is a RUSH!

About three years ago Stand Up Paddling (SUP) was getting popular. I decided to give it a try and instantly got hooked. I noticed my shoulder pain from all those years of surfing had faded away, no more therapy! By standing up, I could also see the waves coming earlier and they didn’t look as big, so I become fearless and started charging bigger waves once I mastered the basics. It’s like any sport; you must crawl before you can run. With SUP, it doesn’t matter if there are waves or not, you can still enjoy a good workout by paddling on flat water. That becomes a little boring after a while, hence SUP Yoga!

For me, the idea of Aloha SUP Yoga was a no brainer. I’ve been surfing for over 30 yrs. and teaching yoga for about 15 yrs. In my trade journals, I discovered that SUP Yoga is very popular on the mainland and I wondered why no one was trying it here. I decided someone should, so it might as well be me. Teaching SUP Yoga on the open ocean is pretty tricky with the wind, current and waves to contend with. I have narrowed down a few ideal locations that are suitable for this type of activity. Since I live closest to the north shore, my 1st choice for teaching is in Haleiwa, of course. But I have taught on the West side, Waikiki, and Hawaii Kai.

My goal with Aloha SUP Yoga is to share, educate and introduce alternative methods of exercise that women (and men) will enjoy and incorporate into their daily lifestyle. By taking yoga off the mat and

placing it into an aquatic environment, it blends the best of both worlds. The constant movement of the water challenges your core more than a floor ever could and the wide open space of an ocean allows your mind to wander. It’s both serene and healing at the same time. Being in Hawaii, it’s also a nice way to share our relaxed lifestyle with our out of state visitors. F wSSm | womenssurfstyle.com | 97

SUP COMMUNITY . . . I Love SUP

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SHE SUPS

Mirabai James

I started SUP surfing two years ago just to try something new and fun when the waves were small. I now SUP surf any waves I can…the bigger the better. I love it so much. It actually makes my shortboarding so much stronger and precise. Using the paddle is also really cool. It gives you that extra push when you are trying to get a wave which is so helpful and acts as a pivot point for different moves.

well on different equipment is so awesome.

SUP surfing is also an extremely important part of my training for big waves this winter. I want to do more Much Mahalo to SUP surf contests and hope Blackflys/Flygirls, to be on the Women’s World ZICO, Sector 9, Da Tour for SUP surfing. I am Kine, Maui Girl, super motivated to do well in this sport. XCEL, and SOS

Shapes. Sup surfing has taken me I started on a 9’6” Paddle Surf places I wouldn’t have gone They are always Hawaii board and now ride on my shortboard and I love supporting my good a 9’2” Paddle Surf Hawaii All that!!!!! Arounder, and an 8’2” SOS Lift. habits... Being able to explore the My small board is basically a ocean and surf at the same shortboard, but with a paddle. time is an amazing thing. It really gets me excited to My sponsors have backed me through all my learn new things and pull new moves on a shortboarding endeavors, and now through SUP paddle board... Don’t get me wrong, I love my surfboard to death, but being able to perform surfing as well. I am blessed! F Photos by: Jimmie Hepp

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SUP COMMUNITY . . . SUP Fitness

She SUPS Sarah Tiefenthaler

AGE: 30 | YEARS SURFING/SUP: 2 SPONSORS: Suplove, Supconnect APPAREL: by CASTA... www.castaliving.com

ell us how you got into SUP’n? It was the same week I returned home from my month long Yoga Teacher Training in Costa Rica that I had first been introduced to SUP. It couldn’t have come at a more perfect time. A month in a tropical jungle: everyday in the outdoors hiking, swimming, horseback riding, zip lines, and of course Yoga. Our Yoga training took place out on a deck at the top of a hill that overlooked the beautiful green jungle, and not to mention an ocean view for as far as the eye could see. You can imagine why I had become so desperate to keep a lifestyle that existed out in nature. It was only natural that I took to SUP like a fish to water. I was able to escape the day to day each time I stepped out onto the board and paddled out. It was only moments before I first attempted Yoga poses on the board. As SUP becomes more popular, what aspect of it has drawn you the most & why? Probably the same things that draw most people. The wonderful thing about SUP, and what is most likely the main reason for its quickly growing popularity, is that it really can be for everyone and it can be as mellow or extreme as you like. You can cruise around on the calm water to find peace, practice Yoga, you can take the board out onto the rocky open ocean, or you can take it into the surf and catch some waves. What’s more, it’s easy to pick up. Most of my students that come out for a YOGAqua class have never been on an SUP board, but after only one class they become comfortable on the board and paddle with ease. You’ve taken your love of Yoga, and applied it to SUP’n, thus YOGAqua was born! Tell us about that, and what it is about these two activities combined, that you feel so strongly about, and have pursued? Like I mentioned before, it only took moments before I attempted my first Yoga poses on the SUP board. It simply felt natural to do it. As I continued to go through the poses, I quickly began to understand all the wonderful benefits that come with SUP Yoga. First of all, there is the most obvious benefit, the added challenge. When practicing Yoga on a SUP board, you are taking already challenging poses and performing them on an unstable surface which forces your body to engage more muscles. Of course this is a core strengthening activity, but it is also activating all your stabilizing muscles you may have never even known existed! Even if you have been practicing Yoga for 30 years, you will find this to be a quite humbling experience this first time, as you will feel like you are learning Yoga all over again. Some of the simplest poses on land can feel like the hardest on a SUP board. You really begin to understand how and why to distribute your weight just right… If you don’t, you fall in. You also understand the feet and hand placement much better because if you don’t do that right, guess what...you fall in! In a way, the boards teach you.

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In case you are not ready to spend all that time in the water, let me or my amazing instructors guide you. I have spent many, many hours on the boards customizing sequences so that I can show you all the proper modifications to be done to take you through your flow on the board, spending as little time as possible in the water. The other benefit I would like to mention, and to me it is the most important, is the peace you can find practicing Yoga on the water. When you go through your practice while floating under the sun, you are able to leave everything back on shore: your worries, your stress, your cell phone, all that day to day stuff that tends to weigh you down. When you are going through the poses out there, you will find that after a 90 minute class, you thought of nothing else but what you were doing on that board (except for that occasional “I wish I had my camera!”). The real reason we practice Yoga is to what? Silence the mind. Well, SUP Yoga will do that for you. While floating on the water, finding your balance, maintaining your center, that chatter in your mind will naturally just fall away, and the silence creeps in and by the time you reach the end of class for that 10 minutes of Savasana (final resting pose), you will experience peace like never before. Gently bobbing along the water, feeling the wind on your face, hearing seagulls glide by... well, there’s nothing better. YOGAqua... is it hard to do? Is it ok for beginners? What areas specifically do you target the most? YOGAqua classes are for all levels of SUP Yogis. We begin going through the poses slowly with very detailed instruction and then pick it up a bit, depending on how the class is doing as a whole. For the more advanced Yogis, not to worry, we throw in some fun variations to keep you challenged. However, if you are a new Yoga practitioner or maybe you have never been on a SUP board, don’t hesitate to come out. This class is still for you! Most of my students have never been on an SUP board the first time, so you will not feel like the odd one out, I promise. A complete SUP Yoga class will touch all the areas of the body, but it is safe to say that this is a core focused class. What should someone do to prepare for taking a class? Get ready to have fun! That’s it! YOGAqua provides all the equipment necessary for the class. Just go online and sign up on the schedule page and we will have a board waiting for you at the beach. In the meantime, here are 3 basic SUP moves to get you started! F

TAKE A CLASS YOGAqua classes are held in Marina Del Rey, CA and Newport Beach, California. www.yogaqua.com | sarah@yogaqua.com (805) 283-YOGA(9642)

SIDE PLANK

CROW POSE

Set the right knee down, near the center of the board, turn the left foot on its side, and place your right hand at the front center of the board. Bend the arms with the elbows facing straight back behind you.

Rise up onto the toes and tuck yourself in tight, bringing the shins onto the back of the arms. Gently leaning your weight forward, pick up one foot and then the other.

Come into a squatting position, like a frog. Place both hands outside the handle of the board. Fingers will be spread wide apart with hands pressing firmly down. Bend the arms with the elbows facing straight back behind you.

Rise up onto the toes and tuck yourself in tight, bringing the shins onto the back of the arms. Gently leaning your weight forward, pick up one foot and then the other.

Once both feet are off the board, bring the feet together to keep your weight more centered. Look out rather than down. While you hold the pose, you will feel the water moving beneath you, which will require you to work even harder while holding crow.

Once both feet are off the board, bring the feet together to keep your weight more centered. Keep your eyes looking down and raise the left arm up high. Once you have this, you can step it up by bringing both feet to the back of the board, placing one foot directly in front of the other, lift up the hips, and raise the arm up. Make sure to do both sides.

NOTE: Side plank takes a lot of focus and strength on a SUP board. You are balancing all your weight down the center line of the board. Make sure you slowly come into the pose. Not only will this help you stay balanced, but you will be working your muscles even harder, so take your time.

WARRIOR 1

From downward dog, step your feet together at the back of the board. Then lift your right leg up high. Fingers should be spread wide apart with hands pressing firmly into the board.

Step the foot through, in between the hands, directly to the front center of the board. You want to make sure the right foot is stepped all the way up past the handle on the board. The back heel will press down so that both feet are pressing flat down. You want to line up the heels so that you can draw an invisible line down the center of the board connecting them.

From there, use the strength in your right leg to start to bring yourself up to standing. Keep your eyes looking down at the front of the board to help with your balance. Then come all the way up to standing and reach the arms up high.

Press into each foot with an equal amount of weight like you’re trying to hold down both ends of the board. Stay here for a few breaths. (While you are doing this, you are not

only working the muscles you would in a studio Yoga class, but you are also activating your stabilizing muscles because you are floating on an unstable surface.) On an exhale, slowly come back down to plank

(vinyasa), and do the other side. F

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SUP COMMUNITY . . .

Wintertime

sup tips Photo by: Evelyn O’Doherty www.justlovephotography.com

SUP in the winter... Staying fit no matter what!

Here’s what we do at Paddle Diva once the cold weather sets in, so we can feel fabulous on our winter vacations. Then, as soon as spring rolls in we are on our “A” game! www.paddlediva.com

Run or power-walk 15 minutes out and 15 minutes back three times a week and increase it to 20 minutes out and back. It’s not about speed, it’s about duration!

We get out and SUP year round! All it takes is the proper outerwear, dry-fit booties and gloves. We wear Ocean Rodeo Soul Dry Suits. They are the only ones made for SUP, easy to get on, and cozy inside. Then find a local SUP shop who paddles year round, there are plenty of hearty paddlers out there!

Commit to a core focused workout at least three times a week. We love TRX classes, but also go to Pilates, power yoga, surf-set and spinning classes. It is so important to keep that inner body strong year round!

Plan a trip to someplace where you can SUP. There are so many reasonable options out there and if you book early many of them offer discounts!

Get an Indo Board and keep up your balance practice at home! These boards are the best way to keep you in SUP shape and you can use them while talking on the phone or watching tv!

Paddle Diva founder, Gina Bradley

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5+ Smoother Travel Small, Must-Pack Items for

By Amanda Rigney

By now we all know a handful of packing tips to prepare for our next surf adventure -keep a spare bikini in our carry-on, bring a first aid kit with supplies appropriate for our destination, don’t forget wax, sunglasses and sunscreen! Sometimes situations arise where we find ourselves saying, “I wish I had my _____” or “I should have packed a _____.” Filling in the blanks can mean the difference between a quick solution or spending valuable vacation time hunting down necessary items. Next time you’re preparing to hit the road, consider including these essentials: Duct Tape/ Packing Tape, and scissors to cut it: From packing up exotic marketplace finds to mail home, to taping up minor cuts and scrapes, to fixing that busted handle on your suitcase, a roll of tape can quickly become the most useful thing in your bag. You can also tape over any minor board dings for a quick, temporary fix.

Plastic Kitchen Bags: Kitchen bags roll up super small and tuck easily into your suitcase/ board bag without compromising a ton of space. Use them for keeping wet stuff together, covering dry stuff in the rain or protecting your bag on a soggy boat ride. Feeling fashion forward? Create a stylish pancho to protect yourself from any unexpected downpours.

Screw Driver & Fin Key: So necessary, yet so easy to forget at home, a screw driver and fin key can make or break fin installations/ change-ups. You’re probably going to take your fins out for travel, so a good rule of thumb is to tape your fin key and screwdriver to your fins when you’re packing and immediately stick them in your board bag.

Pens: Yep, that’s right… pens! From filling out customs forms to writing that postcard home, the mighty pen will save the day. Long line at customs because there’s only one pen chained to a tiny side desk? Not a problem as long as you’ve packed your trusty ball point.

Note: be prepared for many inquiries of, “Hey, can I borrow that?”

Stickers: Local kids are always thrilled to receive stickers from their cool, new foreign friend: you! Spread the stoke with a handful of decals from your favorite surf companies. Stickers also come in handy for temporarily patching dings, just like that trusty duct tape noted before.

SURF ART & MUSIC . . . I am an Artist

Margriet Zwart Age: 40 | Years Surfing: 6 | Years as an artist: 23 Homebreak: Santa Teresa, Costa Rica

My Surfing Roots... I grew up, in Ontario, Canada, about as far away from the ocean as possible. I had the opportunity to travel a lot as a young adult and even spent a year studying in Paris when I was in high school, so I always had the travel bug. I attended college and eventually completed my second degree in art in Canada. When my studies were finished, I recognized that I needed a change from North American life. I had just graduated from art school and I needed a break, so I booked myself a ticket to Costa Rica. I remember sitting on the plane thinking to myself, “Anything is possible; I’m open to any opportunity. When I arrived in Costa, I signed up for a surf camp with Pura Vida Adventures. I don’t recall what kind of board I learned on, but I do remember it WAS a sizable, cumbersome beast. After a lot of practice, I graduated to a used 7ft junker that soon got me to a 6ft wobbler. Now I love my 6 foot Al Merrick, as our waves are slammers. Now that I have worked out this amazing life in Santa T, I get to surf A LOT. My day usually starts with a first light check of the surf. I am an early riser, so it’s easy for me to be the first one in the ocean in the morning. I also have a flexible job, a great team of wonderful women working at my café/studio, and one of the best surf breaks in the world is only a 60 second walk. Like I said, I get to surf a lot. The surfer’s life in Santa Teresa was so refreshing and such a change from Canada. The ocean and beaches are amazing, but the surfing was really what pulled me in because it meets every challenge an athlete could want. After six years of surfing every day, I don’t think I could ever live without it again.

Artist In The Making...

I have been an art junkie since my crayon days. I most certainly drove my parents crazy across the board growing up, however they are amazing people and have been incredibly supportive my entire life. I won my first art award at 5 years old, and got the art bug! My first undergraduate degree is in Physical Heath Education and French; however I took as many classes in art as I could. After travelling for a few years, I realized I wanted to study art. So, I did end up back in art college. I can’t say that a singular art mentor has inspired me, but lately I’ve been impressed by many of today’s graffiti artists. I love free style eclectic and the merging of art and architecture. I also love the wacked and crazy illustrations in Fructose Magazine. The color and weirdness is spectacular. Now I feel most inspired

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by the sun, the surf, my three dogs, my cat, and the energy of the beach.

Other Artistic Passions...

I’ve been lucky to partake in all sorts of artistic adventures and now I dabble in a lot of different types of art. Currently I am working with my friend and business partner Josie Green to design and screen surf inspired t-shirts as well as illustrating a children’s book called “Surfer Girl”. I also love to work with Photoshop tweaking and twisting my ink drawings. Lately, combining my poetry with art has been really fun. I really like to find and paint driftwood which I make crazy hanging mobiles out of. It is really fun, different from traditional art, and I have to admit that I like searching for the perfect piece of driftwood on the beach as much as I like painting it. It’s recycled ocean art with a vibrantly colored beach feeling. I’m really open to any project as long as it’s creative and I get to put my personal artistic spin on it.

3 Favorite Pieces...

I have painted an incredible amount of art. It’s challenging to single out a few pieces. I am a fan of my series of magic trees. I also did a series of pin up surfer beach girls that were fun and funky. The most carefree and flexible pieces are the hundreds of driftwood pieces that I combine into huge mobiles. They are hard to photograph, so everyone should come to my studio and check them out.

At the Studio

My Art Style Is...

I would describe the art as contemporary, my style as free flow.

Giving Back...

I live in such a unique place, it’s been challenging to figure out how to navigate the ways to survive and then try to thrive. When I’m able, I offer painting time to children and people that come by my café and studio. I sponsor local surfers so they can attend the national competitions. I also offer the competition judges that come through our town lunch or breakfast at the café.

Future Plans...

I hope the future holds for me new surf breaks and sunny days. I plan to travel for my surf and for my art. I am hoping to set up art shows in Central America, North America and possibly Europe.

Reach Out To Margriet...

We, Josie and I, are still working on getting all our projects to spider out from one simple webpage. At the moment, I have my zwartart@gmail.com email and my zwart art FB page. We can also be reached at www.zaastore.com F

Pin-Up Girls Photo: Antonio Russo | info@mr-yeti.com

Jonathan (Akro) N ichols My Surfing Roots...

I love to surf, but I’m not TOO good at it! I started about two years ago after I painted my first surfboard for a friend of mine. The same friend invited me out into the frigid waters of the Pacific Northwest; I’ve been hooked ever since. I ride the one and only Keoki K2!

Artist In The Making... My artistic discovery came by chance

when I visited Seattle, Washington and saw some amazing Northwest Native American art. Inspired by the solid black and red shapes they used to portray ocean animals, I went home and picked up a pen and paper. Haven’t stopped since. Also, growing up near Los Angeles, I was surrounded by some of the best graffiti artists in the world. Seeing the skills required to use spray paints as a medium also truly inspired me. My parents were incredibly encouraging when it came to creativity. My mom used to sit me on the kitchen floor, where she would lay down newspaper and give me paints and paper. I would create shapes and goofy eyes out of finger paints while she filled the house with lovely smells from the stove.

Other Artistic Passions...

Graffiti has to be my number one inspiration. All of my paintings consist

Age: Timeless Years Surfing: 2+ Years as an artist: 7 Homebreak: Rockaway Beach

of using spray paints and acrylics. So naturally, painting on walls or trains was what I wanted to do early on. But destruction of private property isn’t exactly constructive, so I now paint canvas, surfboards, skateboards and anything else that calls me to it.

My Art Style Is... Space age colorful tribal pimpin’ (chuckles)... it’s abstract yet very defined. Sharp edges. Amazing color combos. Multi layer chaos somehow pulled together with in-depth precision and love. Giving Back... I donate a portion of each sale to the fight against international whaling. I donate to the Jacques Cousteau Foundation as well as The Sea Shepherds.

Future Plans... For me the future is NOW. I live each day as if it’s my last. I strive to inspire. I strive to think and live outside of the social box we’ve been born into. I Love nature. I Love all life forms. Respect yourself. Give positive energy to the universe and it will come back to you. That is my future!

Reach Out To Jonathan... Jonathan (Akro) Nichols akrodome@yahoo.com 360.314.5549 F

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SURF ART & MUSIC . . . I am an Artist

Comfortable in Her Own Skin... The Unfolding Life of

Mary Schmader

Story by Ray Piña | Photos by Chrissy Swain

Born in Indiana to an army general in 1980, Schmader spent her childhood roaming around the country from base to base, developing the closest thing to roots at Fayetteville, N.C, immediately adjacent to Fort Bragg, home of U.S. Special Forces.

Who’s this bikini-clad blonde bombshell delicately poised on the nose of her board, careening down the face of a Puerto Rican double-overhead bomb? It’s Mary Schmader, a wanderer of the world and her inner self that has found home amidst the calming chaos of breaking waves...

“You learn to adapt quickly when you move all the time,” said Schmader. “I never grew up on a block with friends. I never had time to develop those relationships. I had to figure out how to be happy at each place one year at a time.” The experience resulted in a very tightknit, happy, though secluded family unit. Instead of friends, Schmader was introduced to painting, sewing, bead work and sculpting by her mother. “I don’t think my mom would consider herself creative, but she signed us up for all the art classes,” said Schmader. “ It was

something to do. It was built around a do-it-yourself lifestyle.” Schmader’s life led her to the sea at 18 while stationed in Virginia. Though not invited, her senior year classmates were maintaining a tradition of venturing down to Nags Head, the Outer Banks of N.C., upon graduation – daddy Schmader would have none of it.

“I wasn’t friends enough to be part of the group and my dad wouldn’t lend me the car so I just took myself down to the beach. I hitchhiked,” said Schmader. “I slept on the beach and found a boogie board. I made friends for the first time and went to parties.” Daddy Schmader eventually found her and brought her back to base in Virginia, but the new found freedom jived well with her innate transient nature. After a single season working and snowboarding in Vermont, the beach called Schmader back to Nags Head, where she still resides – her first surfboard found her soon after.

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Eventually he gave me a Royal Hawaiian. That’s where longboarding started and stuck with me for life.” Turns out Schmader’s a natural. And while adept on the shortboard, to see her take off on a longboard and pop up elegantly straight to the nose, or pull into barrels or gracefully bottom turn into large beasts bolsters nothing short of envy in those of us who have to diligently work to achieve lesser results… still, she’s never seriously pursued surfing as anything more than enjoyment, despite winning the few contests she had entered.

“I never got into it. I didn’t like the pressure to perform,” she said. “With contests you’re generally in one place with a lot of people, it’s very social. I figured out how to make a lot of money and not compete and take myself around the world with people I want to be around.” Schmader got the Outer Banks gig wired, though: rack up dollar bills as a blonde bartender during the summer, follow the surf and sun to Puerto Rico, Central and South America, Hawaii, Baja or anywhere else she fancies during the winter. But there’s no denying that anyone who knows Schmader is left with an undeniable feeling that she still hasn’t tapped into her full potential: she should be surfing professionally! She should be selling the custom board bags, window blinds, blankets, paintings, jewelry and other one-ofa-kind creations that she gives away. Schmader feels it, too. She has recently enrolled in massage therapy school and will be staying put in the Outer Banks for the first winter in over a decade.

“I want to be good at it. I’ve gotten all 100s on my papers so far,” she said. “I’ve been healing people for years with alcohol and now I want to heal them from the inside out. Even if it turns out not to be a career choice, I’m excited to do whatever I put my mind to. I’m applying myself and taking books seriously for the first time. I didn’t know my brain could process all this information. But ask me in January how cool with it I am when it’s freezing.” With Mary Schmader, there’s no website to direct one to, there’s nothing to sell or promote. Regardless of the destination, she’s on her own journey. And that’s the point.

“Even though I was raised traveling, living in a different place every year, my parents couldn’t understand living at the beach like a gypsy. They thought I’d wind up living in a cardboard box on drugs,” she said. “Now they’re supportive. They see I’m a good person and that traveling is just a part of who I am. Hopefully I just keep getting better within myself. If there’s one thing I learned, it’s that being a good person shows on the outside no matter how old you are.” F

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SURF ART & MUSIC . . . I am an Artist My Surfing Roots... Surfing is one of my passions in life. I got started surfing when I was 20 years old and had moved from the horse country mountains of VA to the beaches of North Carolina, Outer Banks. I started going to a church which was full of amazing surfers and some surfer girls…it all started there. A good friend of mine and Outer Banks ripper, Craig Watson, got me out on a boogie board first as I had no idea of anything about surf… ground swell, rip currents, duck diving. Everything was completely new and wild to me. I started boogie boarding with Noah Snyder’s wife, Corissa Snyder, for 2 years before I graduated to a longboard. After 4 years longboarding a Jesse Fernandez performance longboard with a lot of rocker and speed, I realized I liked the speed and not the finesse of longboarding and I would probably like shortboarding better. I finally dropped board sizes to my favorite 5’10 pintail Bob Yinger shape that I ride currently in Nicaragua. Nicaragua ,thanks again to Craig Watson for taking me, became my real learning curve… I pushed my limits for years there and still to this day have to back out on some days when Popoyo is maxing out and I’m sitting out there shaking with double overhead waves bombing all around me or when Colorados drills me so hard to the ocean floor I think I won’t ever come back up. I never thought I would learn to ride a short board, let alone bigger waves… God really has blessed me with the ability to surf and friends to spur this passion. Now I’m married to a Nicaraguan local surfer, Roberto Moraga. We look out for each other in the water… and sometimes I think I’m living a dream.

Artist In The Making...

Wow… My Mother said I was artistic from the start, so from my earliest possible memories I remember drawing horses and then in the 3rd grade selling my horse and cow drawings for a nickel at the lunch table. I was always ambitious and had about 10 items on my list of “What I want to do when I grow up”, being an artist was always on that list... along with horse trainer, anthropologist, vet… ha… I had dreams! It wasn’t until I found myself and gave my heart to the Lord while I was living on the Outer Banks, NC in 2002 that I began to paint again and it was like the joy in my heart would come out with each dab of color on the canvas. I know sometimes that people’s dreams seem far from becoming a reality, but I think when you find yourself in a place where your heart heals… the overflow from the healing begins to create the person you were designed to be…. and God gave me this gift… so that is what I became, an artist. I was very blessed to have parents that were supportive of arts and anything we wanted to do. We were never pressured to go to college or get into a field of work that wasn’t fitting for my sister or me. I tried the office job once and would find every excuse to take the trash outside to escape the walls inside, I was miserable. I do work in a very innovative restaurant, waiting tables as well as selling my art, and to be honest, I love it. I genuinely love people and waiting tables has been a fun outlet to meet new faces over the past 10 years as well as a great source of fast income to help support my husband and me as we live in Nicaragua for 5

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months out of the year. I think my parents see me happy and that is all that matters.

Other Artistic Passions...

I love painting murals and also have obtained a passion for making earrings. It began by teaching a jewelry class in Nicaragua to some local women. One of the women taught me more than what I taught her… lol...isn’t that how it always is? She taught me a style of earrings that I call “Nica earrings”. I sell them up and down the Outerbanks, NC.

3 Favorite Pieces...

The first of my favorite art pieces would probably be “October’s Cry”. It’s an abstract right wave that resembles the fall peaceful colors of Outerbanks waves and the painting has a calmness that draws the eye in. 2nd I would say “The Glide”. It’s a very bright and cheery painting of one of my favorite ocean animals...the pelican. I think they are amazing waveriders and I personally have so many wonderful memories of dawn patrol mornings watching them play as they race the waves. 3rd I would say I like “Fiji Dreamin”. It’s a custom I did for a man, but I liked the idea and when the painting came to life I thought, “Yeah…who wouldn’t want to live there.” It inspired a few paintings I have done of places I would like to live or surf.

Giving Back...

I began a mission to Nicaragua in 2006 with my passion for painting murals. I wanted to paint murals as a volunteer effort for poor areas in Nicaragua and to help bring color to the children and pueblos. I love bringing light and color to an area that was once dull and dirty. This passion started in La Chureca ( a huge trash dump community in Nicaragua) where I started selling art in the USA back in 2006 to raise money through an organization I started called, Nicaragua Art Missions. I painted a mural with the local kids of the trash dump, La Chureca, and watched as their lil’ faces lit up with joy. I moved to Nicaragua for the next 3 years focusing my life on doing art classes, murals, surf lessons, and Christmas programs with the village children of the Pacific beach towns of Nicaragua. Nicaragua Art Missions was blessed with the opportunity to be featured on Fuel TV’s “On Surfari/ Nicaragua”. We painted a mural with surf artist Shannon McIntyre in a local pueblo. I look forward to the future years to see what God has in store for my hands and my husbands in Nicaragua. I have had little time for art ministry over the past 2 years in Nicaragua, from getting married, to building our horse farm there and now we are expecting our 1st child in a few weeks. I know where there was once a spark…there will once again burn a fire, so we’ll see what kind of art God has in store in the future for me and the local Nica kids.

Future Plans...

Well, as I write this interview, I am 38 weeks pregnant with our first, a little girl who will be called Marbella Marina. We are so wrapped up in becoming

Dawn Gray Moraga

Age: 30 Years Surfing: 10 Years as an artist: 30 Homebreak: Beachy in Guasacate, Nicaragua and most of the sandbars along OuterBanks, NC

Reach Out To Dawn...

Please check out my links for info on custom or purchases. My website is www.reddawndesigns.com and I hate to say it, but I update my facebook art more often at www.facebook. com/reddawndesigns . For any info call 252-347-8956 or email me directly at reddawn1982@yahoo.com “The Glide”

“October’s Cry” parents that right now I just pray to become the best Mom and role model to her. I am hoping she shares some of my passions of surf, art, and horses and that I can inspire her to be what her heart desires. My husband and I want to build our tiny lil’ dream home on our 10 acre horse farm in Nicaragua. In 2011, we started a tour business called PASO POPOYO HORSE TOURS. We take tourists out riding on the beaches and jungles along the coast! My husband’s family manages it while we work hard in the USA to maintain our dream in Nicaragua. I have a dream to help street kids through therapy with our horses one day in Nicaragua, but I know God has His timing and plan. His are always bigger and better than mine, so for now I’m just waiting patiently to see what this big future holds for the Moraga family. F “Fiji Dreamin”

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SURF ART & MUSIC . . . I am an Artist

Jay Alders

onto the military beach in town. I borrowed boards & wetsuits from friends until I was able to save up for my first used board which was a beat up old Michael Barron Thruster 6’ 3 1/2”. It had an obviously repaired broken nose, neon 80’s colored logo and it had already yellowed by the time I acquired it. It wasn’t pretty, but it was my first board and I still have and cherish it.

Artist In The Making... Photo by Sean Davey

You know, as a child, I seriously sucked at team sports, I was socially backward and an emotional mess. Art for me was how I’d express myself, escape reality and dream. When I felt alone or depressed, I’d get lost in my head, lock my door and draw. There were times my parents thought I was maybe on drugs because I was so bizarre, but after they snuck a drug test into a routine physical, they acknowledged that I was just a bit different than other kids. A quick glance at my childhood sketchbooks would show doodles of army men and ninja’s and drawings of my family. As I got older, I drew skateboarders busting airs, cartoons and waves.

My Surfing Roots... I spent much of my childhood skating backyard half-pipes, launching ramps and cruising down the pavement on my skateboard. Even though I grew up close to the beach, it wasn’t until I got my first car at age 17 that I had an ability to drive to the beach whenever I wanted to. I’ve always been intrigued by the ocean and the coastal lifestyle, so it was a natural progression for me and a lot of my friends to pick up surfing once we became mobile. We’d surf almost every day after high school, which was only about 10 minutes away from the beach. Our favorite spots were the Manasquan Inlet and sneaking

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By my college years, I was exposed to thousands of years of art history and my artistic literacy sprouted. I found myself breaking free of my typical patterns. I started stretching and stylizing my subject matter, seeking to find that delicate balance between simplification and detail. I was desperately looking for something I could claim as my own style without much success. I didn’t even know I had a “style” until probably seven years ago. I remember talking to someone and they referred to a new painting as very “Alders”. Looking at them rather puzzled, I began to acknowledge that perhaps in my abandonment of ego-based expectations that something special was starting to show. My parents tell me that I first started showing signs to them that I liked to draw when I was old enough to hold a crayon. I would draw on everything from restaurant placemats, walls, napkins and

Age: 39 Years Surfing: 22 Years as an artist: Always Favorite Homebreaks: When in Florida, I usually surf Atlantic Beach, The Poles or Jax Pier. When I’m in New Jersey, I surf mostly Loch Arbor, Manasquan, Bradley Beach and Deal.

books. They always supported me to chase my dreams of becoming a professional artist. My Dad had his own business and I grew up learning about sales and marketing. My mom would bribe me to go to the dentist as a child with buying me art instructional books at the art store afterwards. I also had an occasional mentor of my dad’s childhood best friend, Marshall Cetlin who was a professional artist and art director in Manhattan. He’d often bring me art supplies and show me his work. I never was exposed to that popular paradigm that being a professional artist was a far fetched career ambition.

Other Artistic Passions... A friend of mine refers to us as being slashes. To make a living in the arts you often need to be a this, slash that, slash this, slash that. I agree with that philosophy and have lived and breathed that eclectic existence throughout my entire art career. It wasn’t until the past 5-6 years or so that I’ve been able to focus solely on my painting. I did caricatures and airbrushing for fifteen years throughout college and afterwards. I also did a lot of freelance work and running other businesses and took whatever came my way. I love learning new mediums and experimenting with techniques and I became rather proficient in many of them over the years, each of which helped me pay the bills and has contributed to how I see the world. I got my first copyright when I was probably 13 or 14 for a cartoon character named Earl. When I was probably around 15 or 16, my Dad convinced a company that I could do figurines. You know, like the little cheesy sculptures you see in stores. I had never sculpted in any serious manner before that, but I took the challenge and taught myself and ended up doing a series of wildlife figurines and Santa Claus ones that ended up being sold in stores. Knowing how to create in terms of three dimensional space is so vital as a painter. I shot photos semi-professionally for a number of years, mostly models, musicians and nature. Photography really helps to train your eye

and learn about the physics of light and perspective and how to best capture the form. I learned graphic design in college and also taught myself HTML when the whole internet thing was new. I became a Photoshop and Illustrator nerd and I really love doing digital work. So much of my work starts out as solid composition with graphical elements. I’ve designed package illustration for Emergen-C, Ted Shreds Candles and Life’s Lemonade. I did shirt designs for Billabong and Donavon Frankenreiter and I design my own apparel line now. I have a line of longboard skateboards with Original Skateboards, surf art sandals and a newly released custom jewelry line which I designed. I really enjoy keeping variety in both my paintings and projects, it keeps me loose and makes work more enjoyable.

My Art Style Is...

My art is a visual interpretation of my spiritual connection with the universe. The artwork I create is a glimpse at my most genuine and sincere effort at describing the visions and emotions that flow through me. Stylistically I’m influenced, but not restricted to surrealism, impressionism, classical and renaissance painting techniques. I hold my brushes with integrity and direct them towards love and hope to inspire others to feel connected and empowered.

Giving Back...

I am proud to have released a line of eco-friendly iPhone cases with 15% going to Kokua Foundation and Surfer’s For Cetaceans. I am an international ambassador for Surf Aid International and donate a lot to other organizations I support. I think it’s a responsibility for us to offer love to the community and the environment and speak out for causes that we feel connected with and empathetic of.

Future Plans...

The most important goal for my art career is to make art that I am proud of...art that shows a clear involvement of style and technique. Art has a long legacy of influencing, inspiring and connecting people. I am just appreciative to have a part in such a noble pursuit. F

3 Favorite Pieces...

It’s so hard to choose just three since they all are a sincere expression of me. The first ones that come to mind are:

“Right Past The Light” Even though I did my first paintings of surfing when I was a teenager, I consider this my first serious surfing painting. I completed it in oils on wood in 2006 and it has been the pivotal point for my career as a surf genre artist to launch from. The layback is one of my favorite maneuvers for skating and surfing and I felt compelled to create this piece when I set forth to paint a surfing piece shortly after moving to the beach. The title has several meanings. Firstly, I was living on a busy corner and to get to my driveway you had to make a right past the light. Secondly, the light is symbolic of the spiritual energy that I was in need of…I was going through some rough transitional times. Thirdly, the most obvious perhaps, the surfer is taking a right past the light at the wave.

“Left Behind The Wall” I did this piece knowing that it would be going on a limited edition surfboard for a company in California in 2008. I had three months to do it and decided to paint it almost to size on wood. People ask me if it’s supposed to be me, I tell them it’s my alter ego that can actually surf the heaving waves of Teahupo’o. I’m most proud of this piece for the amount of detail and perfectionism that I sought to achieve which can only be appreciated by examining the piece up close. There is a lot of hidden imagery and symbolic references in the ripples and subtle nuances of light in each water formation. The title of course refers to the left the surfer is taking behind this massive wall of water, but also it metaphorically represents the walls we need to move past in life in order to overcome.

“Beaming With Abundance” I was working on my painting, “Sweet Aspirations”, at the time, but when I came to the studio, it was too wet to work on. Feeling inspired, I grabbed a 24”x48” panel I had leaned up against the wall and put it up on the easel. I started painting with no plan, no sketches, no concept in mind, just inspiration. I didn’t know what I was going to paint, I just knew that it felt magical. I remember feeling so much gratitude, appreciation and love and I hope it shows when people see this painting. The title says it all.

Reach Out To Jay...

Official website: www.JayAlders.com Buy Prints, Apparel and Merchandise: shop.JayAlders.com | Twitter: @JayAlders | Instagram: @JayAlders | Facebook.com/JayAlders.Artist

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US Open: 2012

CONTEST SCENE . . . U.S.A.

rom July 28 - Aug 5, and with over 500,000 in attendance and a prize purse for the ladies of $15,000 for 1st place and $9,000 for 2nd, the US Open went off once again in Huntington Beach, CA. WSSM photographer, Dave Gregerson, covered the event for WSSM, and gave us the inside scoop on this impressive contest. Dave, who were some of the stand-out female competitors and why? Sally Fitzgibbons has such a driving force in her surfing, it’s fun to watch her through my lens and look at her face. It’s like she is going to tame this wave she is on and make it work for her! Courtney Conlogue- such an athlete in every way. She shows no fear when riding, and she knows Huntington more than any female surfer I know, from top to bottom. She works the sandbars and the inside reform like it is some sort of dance, and the crowd is really behind her. They would clap and scream when she would get a great ride. Stephanie Gilmore, well what can I say... She surfs with such style and performance. Seeing her running down the beach to get to her heat she has such confidence on her face, and is such a nice person. She is also very giving to her fans, taking the time to thank them and pose for photos with them. This was the first time I had ever shot Lakey Peterson surfing. I saw her surf two days before the contest was getting under way, and she was fun to watch! Lakey has an explosive style- I remember she took off on a wave and I was looking at her through my lens, concentrating on her face. I could see that some thing was going to happen- She threw the tail around and a big fan of water shot up! We hear the set-up of the event is amazing! The US Open of Surfing at Huntington Beach is the largest surfing event as far as attendance, so you’re very lucky if you have a square foot of sand to call your own! When the tide comes up you then have 6 inches to call your own. They really went all out on this event, in every way...Well, not in every way. They had seven portable toilets for 500,000 people, that’s two more than last year. On the up-side, I have never seen them set up cell phone towers for a surfing event. They set up a lot of grandstands also, 112 | womenssurfstyle.com | wSSm

so everyone can see the event. There was a big jumbotron to see replays of the killer rides, and they had a landing behind the grandstands with tables for lunch for VIPs and venders of the sponsors... It even had a tiki bar! For the pros they had an air conditioned lounge with food and cold soft drinks, it also had a nice deck to sit and eat while watching the event. It’s a great event with music at night from some really cool bands. They also had a skate park, bmx, and all kinds of vendors and prizes to win.

Who won, what was her reaction like, and who did she beat out? Lacey Peterson won, and it was really fun to see her win. I look through a really strong lens so I can see a lot of things that the people on the beach don’t see. You can see in the riders face what they may be thinking, and the change in their expression signaling that they are going to make a big move. You can see the sadness in their eyes when they don’t win their heat, and you can also see the joy when they do. When Lakey heard that she had won she had such a big smile on her face. But just moments later her head bent down and she put her hand over her face like she was starting to cry... letting all the week’s tension just go at that moment. She had won something that very few people have done. I remember she looked up and saw her mother running in the water to greet her daughter who had just won US Open. Her mom gave her a big hug and all was right again. Then her dad came down and she was put up on his shoulder along with another guy and they carried her up the beach. She put her arms up in the air and said “yes! I did it! I won!”. You could see it in her face she was the champion for that day, beating out Carissa Moore for the win. Why is this the one contest you always go to shoot? The US Open is one of the hardest contests I shoot. You are dealing with a lot of people and it is for the most part, June gloom (fog) in the morning, so not all that great to shoot. But, I seem to come back every year. I like shooting the competitors in the week before the contest, seeing if I can pick who will win. I enjoy all the different levels of ability of riders, from the groms to full on pros. That makes for some fun days of shooting!

Huntington Beach, California

Photos by Gregerson

Courtney Conlogue Stephanie Gilmore

Lakey Peterson’s mother greets her after her win. Below (right) Lakey’s dad helps carry her to shore

Lakey Peterson, 2012 Champion

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CONTEST SCENE . . . U.S.A.

Jo Pickett

Jennifer Newsom

Haley Watson Beth Schub

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EASTERNS SURF CHAMPIONSHIPS by Chrissy Swain

N agshead, North Carolina'12 Ana Barend

ver 25 women participated in the 2012 Eastern’s Surfing Championship, held here at Jennette’s Pier in overhead conditions at the start of the event on Sept. 16. In the Women’s short board finals, ages 18 to 29, Haley Watson took first place, followed by Kayla Durden in second, Kara Quirk in third and Chandler VonCannon, fourth. In the Ladies short board finals, ages 30 and over, Ana Barend took first place, followed by Jo Pichett in second, Cheryl Williams in third and Sarah Mitchell, fourth. There were also longboard and girls divisions... for their results and more, go to: http://www.surfesa.org/content/category/6/30/37/ Live music was played by Hawaiian recording artist Ekolu Kalama and reggae band Selah Dubb from Wilmington, NC. This was the 45th anniversary of The Easterns Championships which comprises top competitors from the local district-level who have gone on to succeed at the regional level. There are three regions- which span the entire East Coast. There are currently over 7,000 members of The Eastern Surfing Association, which is the largest amateur surfing association on the East Coast. Learn more at www.SurfEsa.org, and be sure to visit www. womenssurfstyle.com (see “contest scene”) for more photos from this event! F

Kristin Tanner Chandler Von Cannon

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CONTEST SCENE . . . U.S.A.

Supergirl Pro 12 '

Huntington Beach, California Photos: ASP/Griggi

he Paul Mitchell Supergirl Pro, hosted at Oceanside Pier in Huntington Beach, California, from Aug. 9-11, 2012, was the first event of the 2012 Supergirl Jam Series. Boasting a $40,000 purse, this contest is the action sports industry’s largest allfemale competition and lifestyle series, featuring more than 150 female pros in surfing, skateboarding and snowboarding. Besides the world class surf, the event also included athlete meet and greets, product giveaways and complimentary hair styling on-site by Paul Mitchell, which the fans loved! The surf division was the highlight of the event, and also the largest in the nation, with 80 female surfers ripping the Oceanside waves. Spectators lines the beach as Courtney Conlogue, (Santa Ana, CA), 19, posted the 1st day’s highest heat total of 16.23 out of 20. The talented Californian was equally effective on both the lefts and rights, unloading deadly combinations on both her forehand and backhand for a pair of 8-point scores.

“I was happy to have a strong start and was trying to just warm up for the rest of the event. I had to put a good show on because Ornella Pellizzari was having a good heat” said Conlogue. Day two began and again Courtney dominated the competition, posting a phenomenal score of 17.46 in her Round 24 heat. The talented Californian also netted the day’s highest single wave score of a near-perfect 9.70 out of 10 with an impressive frontside air, securing the top spot heading into the finals. “It was a tricky heat and there was a lot of potential,” said Rebecca Woods, the

surfer with the day’s second best score.

“All the girls are young and out there to win, but it was nice to get some lefts out there, and make it through to the next level.” After three days of competition,

the field of 80 competitors was ultimately narrowed to two head-to-head semifinal rounds between Sage Erickson and Courtney Conlogue, and Paige Hareb and Jacqueline Silva, sending Hareb and Erickson to battle for the podium. 116 | womenssurfstyle.com | wSSm

Sage Erickson celebrates her win

Despite posting the contest’s highest single-wave score— just shy of a perfect 10 with two outstanding backside turns that earned her a 9.83 and got a roaring ovation from the crowd—Conlogue was edged out by ultimate winner Erickson.

“It was definitely a super close heat and I just couldn’t find the last one,” Conlogue said. “Sage did a good job out there. She got over me on priority and put on a great show.” So day 3 came to a thrilling close with Supergirl vet, Sage Erickson (Ventura, CA) taking the Supergirl cape and the title. The California-based surfer started strong in the final and led the bout after the heat’s opening exchange with powerful backhand turns on the lefts running into the pier. Erickson went on to hold the lead for the remainder of the heat despite Hareb’s valiant effort, making the Paul Mitchell Supergirl Pro, the first major ASP victory of her young career.

“I’m so humbled and excited to come off with a win in the first ASP 6-Star Paul Mitchell Supergirl Pro “ said champ Sage Erickson. “They put on such an amazing event. It’s such a great arena to win in and they’re always so supportive. To be able to win this contest back home in California, in front of all of my friends, family and peers is so amazing.” Rick Bratman, CEO of ASA Entertainment, the event’s management company and one of the leading producers of action sports event and television programming in the US noted that while this was the inaugural Paul Mitchell Supergirl Pro, the event actually marks the fifth year that Supergirl has supported women’s surfing. The fact that several of the current WCT pros came up through the ranks earning spots on the Supergirl podium, and have continued to be incredibly supportive of the opportunity that the contest gives to female athletes is amazing, and they’re thrilled to have Paul Mitchell step up to support the contest this year. The Paul Mitchell Supergirl Pro was broadcast nationally on Fox Sports Net (FSN) and Fuel TV, and you can learn more about it, and their future events by visiting www.SupergirlJam.com F

Sage Sage Erickson accepts her winnings on the podium

Courtney Conlogue showcasing her explosive style

Alana Blanchard

Paige Hareb- 2nd Place Finisher Nikki Van Dijk (AUS), 17, issued the upset of the day, eliminating former ASP Women’s World Champion Sofia Mulanovich (PER), 29

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CONTEST SCENE . . . Peru

Suelen Naraisa

Bianca Buitendag 118 | womenssurfstyle.com | wSSm

r a t s i v o M Pro

WOMENS

Sage Erickson

Photos/Story by: www.jamesvybiral.com facebook: jamesvybiralphotography

LOBITOS, PERU

obitos is becoming a popular International surf destination for those traveling northern Peru. Though it is an undeniable surfer’s paradise, the line-up can be topped up with testosterone. But that was all about to change…. The arrival of the Women’s WQS 6 star event saw a mass male exodus to other nearby breaks. I had descended from a job at 4000 metres in the Andes, was a day late and bus-lagged, but ready for the ensuing madness that followed. A WQS virgin, my expectations were exceeded over and over again.

Sarah Beardmore

Bianca Buitendag

With a sizeable swell predicted, the comp kicked off on the 24th of July with a first round of 60 girls. It seemed we were in for quite a show. Alana Blanchard (HAW) was easy to spot, as was Sofia Mulanovich (PER). A tall goofy footer from South Africa was also making quite an impression, drawing nice lines and mixing it up with some new school manoeuvres, and Nicki Van Dyke’s (AUS) was ripping with her distinctive style. During the warm-up round some men ventured back into the lineup, with three chaps dropping in on young Nikki. Unfazed she simply weaved her way around them, hitting the lip with a huge backhand snap and leaving the guys with their mouths open. The favorite to win the event was the 2004 World Champ and local surfer, Sofia Mulanovich. Other local surfers vying for the top spot included last year’s event winner, Dominic Barona (ECU) and the formidable Anali Gomez (PER), who won the ASP South America title in 2010. Other big names included Pauline Ado (FRA), Jacqueline Silva (BRA), Sage Erickson (USA), Rebecca Woods (AUS) and Felicity Palmateer (AUS). The opening day flew by, with the list of those progressing looking like a who’s who of International women’s surfing. The competition restarted on the 26th after a lay day. Sofia started to turn up the pressure and was considered as the stand out surfer of the day. Though the Peruvian girls were out in force (with Sofia clearly under immense pressure from the local crowd) the majority fell to the foreign competitors, with even the fierce Anali exiting after the final 24. Saturday was finals day, and tensions were high with all Peruvian hopes resting on Sofia. She entered the water a firm favourite against the younger Bianca and scored well to begin with, but when Bianca brought in a 9.5 – a long wave with a mix of strong front side manoeuvres, it was clear the goofy footer would pass through to the final. Unfortunately a suitable wave did not roll through for Sofia to back up her high score and she gracefully body boarded into the beach holding hands with the younger victor. Alana Blanchard faced Sarah Baum to fight for the final spot- she replaced her distinctive no leg/long arm wetsuit with a full steamer and looked ready for business. Her sheer determination shone through as she paddled back to the point time and time again and passed through to the final. Alana quickly ran to the beach to collect her vest and, though surrounded by the camera crazy Peruvian fans, headed straight back into the waves to surf the final. However Bianca, demonstrating confidence beyond her years, clearly had Lobitos wired. She built an insurmountable lead and the victory was hers. Bianca was carried from the waves; her surprised elation evident in her smile. She explained “I never knew the surf was this good (in Lobitos) until I saw it with my

own eyes. I had always heard rumours about the endless lefts along the Peruvian coastline and it was awesome to be able to experience it first-hand. The best surf spot on the WQS by far”. With the podium surrounded, everyone listening to some traditional music, awards and cheques given up, then all of a sudden it was over.

Perhaps it’s just a coincidence, but since the contest there are more women and girls in the line-up. Lobitos is no longer the domain of the macho male. F

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CONTEST SCENE . . . Peru

r a t s i v o M Pro WOMENS

LOBITOS, PERU

Ornella Pellizzari

Sofia Mulanovich 120 | womenssurfstyle.com | wSSm

Anali Gomez Bianca Buitendag

Lorena

Bikini: “T050” Scrunchy adjustable halter top, “B096” wide sides brazilian cut in Zebra Stripes by Makena Surf Wear. This stunning suit is super comfortable and flatters the wearers body with it’s adjustable halter top, offering the perfect amount of coverage. (www.makenasurfwear.com) 122 | womenssurfstyle.com | wSSm

PHOTOS BY: Daniel K. Fine Arts MODELS: Lorena Miller, Sarah Callanscone, Shaholly Ayers, Robbie Guht SET DRESSERS / FASHION COORDINATORS: Becca P., Trish Edwards HAIR & MAKEUP BY: Malia Aloy, Jared Amason and April Kafka, from the Paul Mitchell School Honolulu (http://ulupono.paulmitchell.edu)

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FASHION 2013 Lorena

(Above) Bikini: Quality, brazilian made bikini with brown banded bottoms, and sliding triangle top by Amigas Da Annika (www.facebook.com/Amigas.da.Annika) Surfboard: 6’1” epoxy, by Wave Riding Vehicles (www.waveridingvehicles.com) Leash: 6’ Day Glo in pink by Sticky Bumps (www.stickybumps.com) (Right) Bikini: “Safari” by Guria Beachwear, featuring a strapless (optional straps available) underwire top and wavy scrunch tie-side brazilian bottoms, in rich hues of purple and green! (www.guriabeachwear.com.br)

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Lorena

(Right) Dress: “RL407” This amazing dress can be worn 8 different ways, and both as a dress or skirt, giving you multiple options! Shown in Royal, by Elan (www.clothingobsession.com) Cuff: Add sparkle and glimmer to any outfit as you showcase a stunning handcrafted cuff by the talented Caroline Rocha! Hand painted on leather, and encrusted with a bevy of gorgeous Swarovski crystals... each cuff is handmade, making each one unique. (www.carolinerocha.com) (Below/top) Bikini: “Guitarra” print shown in the “Vivian” underwire top, and casual “Bloomer” bottoms that make a great day-time cover up! Designed by surfer, Martha Booke- founder and designer of Dragonfly Blue. This silky and super soft, yet surf-friendly fabric will make you want to wear it all day! Be sure to check out the WSSM interview with Martha on page 76. (www.dflyswimwear.com) Bracelets: “Glitz Triple Wrap Bracelet” in gold and teal, by Calypso Studios (www.calypsostudiosinc.com)

Sarah

(Below/bottom) Bikini: “Graffite” print shown in the “Silvia” bandeau top, and flattering “Silvia” bottoms... This suit, with it’s rich, vibrant colors, and luxuriously silky fabric makes it a WSSM favorite for the 2013 summer season! By Dragonfly Blue (www.dflyswimwear.com) Watch: “Bar” in teal, combines both technology and elegance, in this LED illuminated watch by Crow Watches (www.crowwatches.com)

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FASHION 2013 Lorena

Hat: “Lily” by Peter Grimm, made from 100% natural fibers, features a wire brim for easy shaping and wide elastic band for a snug-to-head fit. (www.petergrimm.com)

Bikini Top: “Damsel Demi” shown in Tron, offers light padding and attention grabbing detail in this ultra-flattering, underwire top by B Swim (www.bswim.com) Shorts: “Newport Beach” shown in Newport Ombre wash/Mustard. This high quality shorts company is based out of sunny California, where designer Suzie P. Lee, has designed them in a variety of styles and washes. (www.simplyshortusa.com) Shoes: “JC Sandal” shown in Rasta, by Nomadic State of Mind, featuring soft corded, six cross-strap designed uppers, and fully adjustable. Hand made with love. (www.nomadicstate.com) Headphones: “Inspire” for women-- a new earphone choice for action sport females that won’t fall out! Yurbuds sport earphones twist-lock technology locks the earpiece in place, no matter how extreme the activity, and is made from super soft silicone, making them extra comfortable to wear. Designed specifically to fit smaller ears, sweat and water resistant, by Yurbuds (www.yurbuds.com) Choker/Necklace/Cuff: by www.trendyjewels.com / 1-800-722-2309 Wrap Bracelet/Hair Flair Beads: (Bracelet) All natural 20” long triple wrap bracelet is hand crafted using clay beads. Hand strung on a waxed linen cord with their signature metal toggle clasp, by Calypso Studios. (Hair Flare Beads) Fun, fashionable and affordable, these 10” hair accessories make it easy to add flair and your own style to any outfit! Shown in rasta with a beautiful peace sign charm. Clips easily into hair and won’t slip out! By Calypso Studios (www.calypsostudiosinc.com)

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Lorena

Bikini: “Ryder” top in Chevron, by Carve Designs, is bold and fresh, which compliments the medium coverage, Bolinas bottom (in Orient). Wearing this surf-friendly swimwear, you’re supporting a great company who offers apparel for active women of all shapes and sizes. (www.carvedesigns.com) Surfboard: 6’1” epoxy, by Wave Riding Vehicles (www.waveridingvehicles.com) Leash: 6’ Day Glo in orange by Sticky Bumps (www.stickybumps.com)

Leash: 6’ Day Glo in pink by Sticky Bumps (www.stickybumps.com)

Bikini: “Sabai Sabai Cross-Back” top in Fuschia, and “Noserider Drawstring” bottoms in Candy Pink Rose, by Mimi Chaos. These bottoms will stay put in any size surf, due to the slender draw string in the waist that allows you to tighten or loosen them, depending on swell conditions. An exciting new brand on the scene offering quality swimwear for surfer girls! Learn more about Mimi Chaos on page 78. (www.mimichaos.com)

Sarah

Surfboard: 5’8” “Little Screamer” in Hybrid Checkers, by Chick Sticks! The best boards on the market for surfer girls, Chick Sticks offers a complete line of REAL surfboards for girls to learn and progress on, and with the variety of colors and designs available, your hardest decision will be choosing just one! This board was shaped for WSSM publisher, Sandra Olson, and quickly became her favorite board in her quiver! (www.chicksticksbylola.com)

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FASHION 201

SUP Boards/Paddles by C4 Waterman “SUBNine Micro-SUB” in Elp Electric Pink/Bamboo. High-performance surfing for riders weighing up to 190lbs is easy on this SUP! Specs: 8’8” Length x 28.9” Width x 4” Thick x 21.2 lbs. “SUBNine Turbo Spud” Also designed for high-performance surfing for riders weighing up to 190lbs. Specs: 8’4” Length x 28.85” Width x 4” Thick x 19.6 lbs. Shown in Elo Electric Orange/Bamboo. “Pahu-Pahu Paddles” weighing 28oz. and up to 84” in length, featuring Polynesian tattoo art by Keone Nunes. (www.c4waterman.com)

Sarah

(Left & Above Left) Tank: “Sea Dove Tank:” in Tangerine, from paddle surf apparel company, Casta! Comfortable, light and refreshing.-- wear it SUP’n, for yoga... almost anywhere! (www.castaliving.com) Tights: Sweet - Pro Elite “Water-Tights” that feature new all-welded seam technology. These technical compression tights offer muscle support & improve circulation for longer SURF or SUP sessions. The premium Italian Nylon with Xtra-Life Lycra watersport fabric is ultra-thin & it breathes so you won’t overheat like in a wetsuit, while providing UPF-50 = outstanding all-day sun protection & supreme comfort! (www.sweetwaterwear.com) Sportbra-Kini: The sporty & comfortable new Stone print “eXXy” top, a unique sportbra-kini by Sweet Waterwear. Safe, supportive & great coverage up front & seXXy in back. (www.sweetwaterwear.com) Headband: by Violet Love Headbands... the headbands that stay PUT! (www.violetlovebrands.com) Choker: by www.trendyjewels.com / 1-800-722-2309 Bracelet: : “Fabric Wrap Bracelet” in Coral, made from recycled fabric, and available with gold or copper beads. 28” long, by Calypso Studios (www.calypsostudiosinc.com) 130 | womenssurfstyle.com | wSSm

Robbie

Tank: Sweet Waterwear’s mens “Nirvana” race jersey. Great for SUP, Outrigger or almost any watersport. Large open mesh side panels make this “the coolest, lightest & most comfortable paddling jersey on the planet”. The NIRVANA is the premium performance, #1 choice for many racers, teams, clubs & shops all around the world. (www.sweetwaterwear.com) Sunglasses: “Quiet Storm” in shiny black with blue mirror, polarized and lightweight, and features a floating frame! By Peppers Eyeware (www.peppersusa.com) Chill-Towel: Keep cool with an instant chilled cooling towel from Polar Basics! Wet with water, wring the excess out, and then shake lightly for 30-45 seconds. It becomes chilled and refreshing, keeping you cool for hours! Also shown below in pink. (www.polarbasics.com) Shorts: by Dunkelvolk (www.dunkelvolk.com) Shoes: “Carbon/Pewter--Polysorb® Total Support™ Yumi Sandals” by Spenco, featuring an orthotic-quality arch and heel support, impact cushioning and motion control, helping to reduce pronation and supination—common problems associated with flat, slab-style sandals. (www.spenco.com)

Lorena

(Middle/Left Page & a Right) Tank: “Candice Appleby Signature” Shelf-Bra Racerback Tank in Black & Magenta, by Sweet Waterwear. Ditch the lumpy bikini underlayer & feel comfortable in this super flattering and clever, 1pc shelf-bra racerback tank. (www.sweetwaterwear.com) Sunglasses: “Roxanne” in Tortoise to Teal, featuring polarized lenses and Peppers signature golden “P” on the sidearm. In the Bombshell collection by Peppers Eyeware (www.peppersusa.com)

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Sarah

Bikini: Halter top/Hipster Bottoms in Chief, by KARU, who offers sport bikinis for the active woman that wants to play hard, be comfortable and look hot this summer! This athletic line of bikini swimwear not only looks good, but holds tight and feels right, no matter what the sport! (www.karudesign.ca) Surfboard: 5’8” “Little Screamer” in Hybrid Checkers, by Chick Sticks.Surfboards designed BY a woman, for girls and women of all ages & surfing abilities! Chick Sticks offers a complete line of REAL surfboards for girls to learn and progress on. This Little Screamer is the most aggressive in the Chick Sticks lineup. (www.chicksticksbylola.com) Watch: A beautiful watch by eco friendly timepiece company, Sprout. This watch, from the Organic Cotton collection, features a flexible fuschia organic cotton band, corn resin case, mercury-free battery, and natural bamboo dial! Planet friendly and oh-so-feminine! (www.sproutwatches.com)

Lorena

Tank: “#FL502” A super soft, hang-out tank by Flop Life... a company that knows the meaning of relaxation! Slight gathering in the back offers a casual fit, and is perfect for layering. (www.flop-life.com) Lace Topper: This red lace, 8” Mini Cami topper with lace straps hugs your skin with it’s softness. Perfect as a modesty layer, or to add a touch of femininity to any outfit. Available in a multitude of colors! (www.allyrosetoppers.com / 818-876-9187) Shorts: “Newport Stars” in Dip Dye Wash with stars detail shown in red and white, featuring a 3” inseam and containing 2% spandex, for an uber-comfy experience. By Simply Short (www.simplyshortusa.com) Earrings: by www.trendyjewels.com / 1-800-722-2309

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Shoes: “Ol’ Glory - USA Flag Print” shown in Cream Denim will make your heart soar with patriotism! This side-zip (for easy entry) canvas upper boot is light weight and intricately detailed. Fashionable and durable, by PIRO Shoes.(www.piroshoes.com) Sunglasses: Color splash your outfit with “Spicy” in Spicy Wintergreen, by Peppers Eyeware. Featuring polarized lenses and lightweight flexible frames. (www.peppersusa.com)

Shaholly

(Left) DRESS: “Rainbow Falls Triangle Dress” Comfy rayon/ jersey, this a day-to-evening dress is easy to dress up, or down, depending on the occasion! By Rebecca Michaels (www.rebeccamichaels.com)

(Middle) DRESS: “Paris Dress” in Coral, featuring a fitted bodice, A-line skirt cut on bias, with flutter cap sleeves and empire waist. Cool and casual for the Spring season. (www.carvedesigns.com)

SHOES: Fashion forward “Pinpoint” in white, from the Very Volatile collection. Featuring a front lace-up design, and ventilated mesh uppers. (www.volatileusa.com)

NECKLACES & CUFF: Multi-string, long beaded necklace, and beaded cuff by www.trendyjewels.com / 1-800-722-2309

HEADBAND: Silver sequined Bani Band-- a unique, adjustable headband that is lined with their Soft-Grip™ velveteen back, keeping it secure all day! (www.banibands.com)

FASHION 2013

CUFF: Swarovski crystals glitter and delight with this handmade leather cuff from Caroline Rocha. Hand painted, then adorned with stunning crystals, go online to find the perfect cuff to match your personality or special occasion. (www.carolinerocha.com)

SHOES: “Credence” in Taupe... a classic wedge from the Sbicca Vintage collection. A super soft foot bed makes this an ultra comfortable shoe that looks just as cute with a spring dress as it does with jeans! Made by Sbicca, a 92 yr old California based brand, that truly captures the essence of the beach lifestyle, and who proudly makes their footwear right here in America! (www.sbiccashoes.com)

(Right) DRESS: “Marcia Dress” in Rosa Preta by surf brand, Dragonfly Blue. Soft-to-the-touch fabric kisses your skin while femining shirring adds the PERFECT amount of blousiness to this lined silhouette, making any body-conscious female feel confident and sexy! (www.dflyswimwear.com) NECKLACES: Multi-string, long beaded necklace and silver heart pendant necklace by www.trendyjewels.com / 1-800-722-2309 SHOES: “Fly” in black. Part of the Very Volatile collection, this flattering shoe quickly became a WSSM favorite due to it’s “Butterfly” shape, and ability to go with just about anything! See page 52 for another look at this amazing and comfortable shoe. (www.volatileusa.com)

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Shaholly

(Far Left/Below) Shirt: “Anela” in white by the luxury lifestyle brand, Juli And Fred. (www.juliandfred.com) Earrings: by www.trendyjewels.com / 1-800-722-2309 Necklaces: Single strand “Shell” necklace with red, green and black, polished shell briolettes. By Calypso Studios (www.calypsostudiosinc.com)

“Friday” in Shiny Light Gold by PEPPERS Eyeware “Tabloid Kiss” in Black/Red by PIRO Shoes

Eco-Friendly Timepieces by Sprout Watches

“Cali Classic Lo-Top” in Super Model by ZIPZ Shoes

“Reflex” LED watch by Ritmo Mundo

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Watch: “#ST/5046MPWT” Celebrate Spring with this eco-friendly, snow white corn resin cased timepiece, by Sprout! 12 denuine, conflict-free diamonds mark each hour atop a natural mother of pearl face, where the sweetest little bird will keep you smiling all day. By Sprout (www.sproutwatches.com) Jeans: “American Straight Leg” in Chili Pepper, by M2F Brand Denims. (www.M2F.com) Shoes: “Tabloid Kiss” in Black & Red by the always fabulous, Piro Shoes! Stylish, comfortable, and detail driven, these street style side-zip boots with graphic elements and contrast stitching are a MUST for 2013! (www.piroshoes.com) Skateboard: “Pohaku Wahine Rider”-- 48” smooth cruiser by Kahuna Creations (www.kahunacreations.com)

Sarah

(Below) Shirt: “Boy Friend T-Shirt” offers casual luxury in this super soft, oversized tee by Juli And Fred. (www.juliandfred.com) Earrings/Necklace: by www.trendyjewels.com / 1-800-722-2309 Watch: “#ST/3801BKMA” Color splash with this eco friendly, boyfriend inspired, water resistant timepiece by Sprout. (www.sproutwatches.com) Shorts: “Criss Cross- Venice Beach” in Vintage wash by Simply Short. (www.simplyshortusa.com) Sunglasses: “Friday” in Shiny Light Gold, w/flash mirror polarized lenses by Peppers Eyeware. (www.peppersusa.com) Shoes: “Cali Classic - Lotop” in pink sparkly Super Model, by Zipz Shoes. These interchangeable shoes feature tops that ZIP off at the base, and interchange to match your outfit and mood. See our review on page 22! (www.zipzshoes.com) Skateboard: “Hydro™ 44” by Kahuna Creations, Perfect for carving tight turns and riding steep hills. One of the most stable rides that gives ultimate control while shredding! (www.kahunacreations.com)

Shaholly

ASHION 2013

Shirt: “MD6” in Heather Charcoal, by Elan. (www.clothingobsession.com) Lace Topper: “Maxi-Cami” in soft pink lace by Ally Rose Toppers. (www.allyrosetoppers.com / 818-876-9187) Watch: “REFLEX” in Orange by luxury watch brand, Ritmo Mundo. LED illuminated time on this slapbracelet style timepiece merges technology and fashion seamlessly! (www.ritmomundo.com) Shorts: “Venice Beach” in Optic Wash w/Stamp Detail, by Simply Short. These trendsetting shorts feature a 3” inseam, frayed hem. Perfect for layering! (www.simplyshortusa.com) Bracelets: “Copper/Silver/Bronze Metallic Wrap” by Calypso Studios is the trendiest way to mix fashion with casual beach style! This multicolored wrap features hand-strung beads on linen cording, and their signature logo toggle. It’s like wearing 3 bracelets in one! (www.calypsostudiosinc.com) Boots: “Wayne” in Black merges classic western with modern world trends. Soft, slightly scrunched and with just enough heel, these boots easily transform from daytime to evening in a flash. By Nomad Footwear (www.nomadfootwear.com) Hat: “Harrison” in natural fiber pink plaid, by Peter Grimm. (www.petergrimm.com)

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FASHION 201

Lorena

Shirt: “Free As A Bird” in Neon Yellow.Celebrate the vibrancy of life in this glowing, striped tank top, featuring soft braided rope racerback straps. By Lagaci Sport (www.lagaci.com) Shorts: “Criss Cross- Venice Beach” in Vintage wash by Simply Short. 98% cotton with 2% spandex gives these stylish shorts the perfect amount of stretch, sure to make them your favorite go-to pair this Spring! (www.simplyshortusa.com) Earrings: Pop some color in these fun, neon yellow, intricately detailed earrings. www.trendyjewels.com / 1-800-722-2309 Necklace: “Safe From Harm” this pendant is cast from reclaimed silver, and derived from the 19th century wax seals where symbolic meaning was culled from family heraldy. It’s inscription reads “Dominus Custodiat Unum - May God Bless You And Keep You”, and features a castle- a symbol of safety. By Pyrrha (www.pyrrha.com) Cuff: Ocean inspired cuffs by the talented Caroline Rocha, who celebrates and shares her God given talent through these handpainted leather cuffs, adorned with stunning Swarovski crystals that sparkle and gleam in any light! Available in a variety of widths and styles. (www.carolinerocha.com) Shoes: “Coraneon” in Yellow is the ultimate beach lifestyle shoe! Featuring a soft suede footbed and Raffia wrapped wedge heel epitomizes the known comfort and laid-back casual style of the the Sbicca Handmade collection. (www.sbiccashoes.com) Hair Flair Beads: A new trend for 2013, these fun, fashionable and affordable 10” hair accessories make it a snap to add a burst of color and style to any outfit. Clips easily into hair and won’t slip out! By Calypso Studios (www.calypsostudiosinc.com)

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FASHION 201 Robbie

SHIRT: “YeeHaw” in Salmon, mixes old-school western with todays casual surf culture in this light mens t-shirt by OURS, a lifestyle brand from designer Ty Williams. (www.oursgallery.com) JEANS: By Ripcurl (www.ripcurl.com) Hoodie: Super soft and comfy, this vintage inspired hoodie exudes sheer comfort! Featuring flatlock stitching throughout, dyed-to-match cording, and front pouch pocket. You gotta feel it to believe it! By Flop Life (www.flop-life.com) SHOES: Interchangeable shoes by ZIPZ shoes celebrates the patriotic spirit in this “Americana” style. The special Zipz design features a canvas tennis style shoe with interchangeable zip-on/zip-off tops. Durable, comfortable, and available in a variety of stylish tops! (www.zipzshoes.com)

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ASHION 2013

Lorena

Shirt: “Love a Beach Bum” cap sleeve t-shirt by Costa Rican surf artist, Margriet Zwart. This soft t-shirt is great for layering over your favorite bikini top and hitting the beach! By Zwart Art Apparel. Be sure to check out Margriet’s interview on page 104. (www.zaastore.com) Pants: “Cinchy Party Pants” in Party Parrot by B Swim.These form fitting, super comfortable lycra pants are perfect for land paddling, SUP’n, yoga, or just relaxing in. Features include a “cinchy” scrunch butt with contrasting drawstrings, allowing individualized lower back coverage. (www.bswim.com)

Headband: “Wild Azalea” Gorgeous hues of violet and purple... by Violet Love Headbands (www.violetloveheadbands.com)

Bracelets: Color splashing is all the craze this year, and these neon clay, black light activated bracelets from Calypso Studios are a great way to incorporate the most outrageous colors! Strung on stretchy cord for easy on-and-off, shown in orange, purple and pink. (www.calypsostudiosinc.com) Skateboard / Big Stick: “Pohaku Wahine Rider”-- 48” smooth cruiser by Kahuna Creations. Land paddle with the Kahuna Big Stick Classic,and enjoy a quicker and safer way to cruise around. An excellent core and balance workout! (www.kahunacreations.com) 140 | womenssurfstyle.com | wSSm

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Lorena

Shirt: “RS546” V-draped blouse by Elan, in Eggplant. (www.clothingobsession.com) Shorts: “Catalina” full button front shorts by Simply Short. (www.simplyshortusa.com) Beanie: “The Beeskie SU” in Grey by BMC Headwear. This over-sized,100% cotton, light weight beanie is the most comfortable beanie you’ll ever wear. Wear it slouchy, on the side-wear it to express YOUR style! Complete with a small ribbed headband that provides a comfortable grip on the head, toss it on after a surf session to get rid of “surf hair”! (www.bmcheadwear.com) Necklace: This exquisite necklace (Style #NG2106HEM) from W/A Studios is 18” long and consists of a series of cascading chains plated in copper, hematite and oxidized gold. The center emerald cut crystals are faceted acrylic; the faceted beads framing the top and bottom are silver foil beads. Regularly $125, mention Womens Surf Style Magazine and receive this incredible piece for only $95! (www.wastudios.com) Cuff: Soft leather, slate grey, gold and Swarovsky crystals bring to life this handmade cuff by Caroline Rocha. A guaranteed conversation piece, and absolutely brilliant under lights! (www.carolinerocha.com) Stockings: “Burlesque” tights by Leg Luxury brings to life the can-can era, with a uniquely textured modern twist. Perfect for layering and especially under shorts. Many unique and fun styles available online! (www.legluxury.com) Boots: “McGraw”in soft grey. These mid-calf western boots showcase intricate stitching, and a relaxed, casual style that is a welcome trend for 2013. Part of the Very Volatile collection, from Volatile (www.volatileusa.com)

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FASHION 201 Robbie

Shirt: “YeeHaw” in white by OURS. (www.oursgallery.com) Jacket: “The Future” canvas jacket in Purple, by Ragz 2 Muffinz. This jacket is a real showstopper due to it’s exquisite attention to detail. Features include buckles, intricate hardware, hidden stash pockets, contrasting trim, and fully lined! (www.ragz2muffinz.com) Watch: “#ST/3005BK” Eco friendly and super stylish, this biodegradeable, contrasting snow white with deep black timepiece from Sprout Watches displays both the time and date, is water resistant to 165ft, and features a corn resin case and Tyvek® strap! Superb style for the eco-conscious male. (www.sproutwatches.com) Shoes: “Comix” by Zipz Shoes. Interchangeable shoes are finally here! Zipz Shoes offer a canvas tennis style shoe with interchangeable zip-on/zip-off tops. Durable, comfortable, and perfect for shoe-aholics and travelers that want more styles, but don’t have the room to store them. (www.zipzshoes.com)

Shaholly

Wrap Shirt: Perfect as a light cover-up and for layering, Gramicci’s organic “Enza Tie Dye Cardigan” in Moonless Night, is super eco-conscious and features a drapey hem that allows for multiple ways to wear it. (www.gramicci.com) Lace Cami: 12” Full Cami topper in Marigold by Ally Rose Toppers. Layer it under a plunging neckline, use as a modesty layer, or add a splash of color... Available in over 35 colors! (www.allyrosetoppers.com / 818-876-9187) Pants: “Yoga Pant” in Black by Flop Life, a new lifestyle brand we love who’s positive mantra “Let Your ‘SOLE’ Breath” exudes relaxation and positivity. (www.flop-life.com) Scarf: “The Mint Royale “ in Purple, by BMC Headwear. This infinity scarf can be worn double-looped, or over the shoulders, neck or head, to create your own personalized look. 100% acrylic and washable. (www.bmcheadwear.com) Earrings: www.trendyjewels.com / 1-800-722-2309 Shoes: “Confetti” in Black by Nomad Footwear. These comfortable and stylish shoes add a shimmery sparkle to ANY outfit! (www.nomadfootwear.com)

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FASHION 201 Shaholly

(This page) Shirt: “Anela” in white by luxury lifestyle brand, Juli And Fred. Soft, with small capped sleeves and loose through the tummy for ultimate comfort! (www.juliandfred.com) Shorts: “Catalina” full button front shorts by Simply Short. The trendsetting shorts are comfortably stylish, and are perfect for layering with your most outrageous stockings! (www.simplyshortusa.com) Jacket: Iron Fist’s “Glitzy Sweater” features a tapered hem, is fully lined and is absolutely drenched in gold sequins! Available in blue, pink, gold and green sequins. (www.ironfistclothingcom) Earrings: By www.trendyjewels.com / 1-800-722-2309 Stockings: “Peek Holes” tights by Leg Luxury are a fashion statement all their own! Assured, sexy, yet trendsetting, Peek Holes works well for layering and especially under shorts. Lots of other fun styles available online! (www.legluxury.com)

Sarah

(Left page) Dress: Stunning and stylish, the “Cowel Neck Dress” in black and gold offers several styles in one! Wear the oversized, gold embellished neckline off on one shoulder, or over both for warmth, or also as a hoodie. Shirred sides of this tunic style dress offer adjustable ties at the hem that can be loosened and worn as a dress or cinched up, tranforming into a cute top over your favorite pair of skinny jeans. By Ragz 2 Muffinz (www.ragz2muffinz.com) Boots: “Wayne” in Black, by Nomad Footwear, features a slightly scrunched look that transitions easily between dresses, shorts, and jeans, making them a wardrobe essential. (www.nomadfootwear.com) Bracelet: “GEN X Bracelet - Limited Edition” in Geometric Gold Leather & Gold Links. A beautiful combination of pliable leather, gold rivets and a secure snap closure. Perfect for the style conscious woman. By Marissa Del Rosario. (www.marissadelrosario.com)

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Shaholly

Sweater/Lace Tank: “HC70” Dolman style, handmade sweater in Olive, by Elan. (www. clothingobsession.com) Color splash with the red lace “Mini Cami” by Ally Rose Toppers, that adds the perfect splash of color. (www.allyrosetoppers.com / 818-876-9187) Shorts: “Newport Beach” shown in Newport Ombre wash/Mustard. By Simply Short. (www.simplyshortusa.com) Hat: A stylish fedora by Peter Grimm, with a Rasta colored elastic band keeping it snug and secure all night. (www.petergrimm.com) Bag: “The Prima” a one-of-a-kind Migdalia upcycled bag, transformed from the discarded- into art. (www.recyclemybag.com) Link Bracelet: “GEN X Bracelet” in Merlot Leather & Silver Links, by Marissa Del Rosario. Silver rivets and tarnish-free silver links secure this stylish bracelet together. (www.marissadelrosario.com) Wrap Bracelet: “Red/Gold Glitz & Glass Triple Wrap Bracelet” by Calypso Studies. Made with both metallic and glass beads, this 20” triple wrap bracelet is hand-strung on a waxed linen cord, and features Calypso Studios signature metal toggle clasp. (www.calypsostudiosinc.com) Purse Holder: “Transparent Red” Clipa keeps your purse clean and safe. Holding up to 45pounds, it works well as a purse hook, bracelet, or bangle. Snap it on your wrist as jewelry, then snap it on your purse for an easier way to keep your purse close & clean. (www.clipa.us)

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FASHION 201 Lorena

Sweater: “SW17” A boxtop with rips, dolman style sweater in Tan, by Elan (www. clothingobsession.com) layers perfectly over the orange lace “Full Cami” by Ally Rose Toppers. 100% stretchy lace tank that layers beautifully. (www.allyrosetoppers.com 818-876-9187)

Sarah

Sweater: “HC78” A crop-top, dolman style sweater in Sand, by Elan (www.clothingobsession.com) layered over the teal lace “Topper” by Ally Rose Toppers, a 100% stretchy lace bandeau. (www.allyrosetoppers.com 818-876-9187) Jeans: “Indie Skinny” in refreshing Wintermelon, by M2F Brand Denims-- high quality denims for fashion forward females. (www.M2F.com)

Pants: “Sneaky Cheeky Denim Pants” feature micro polka dots on stretchy demin, and pleather bow details on the back pockets. By Iron Fist. (www.ironfistclothing.com)

Shoes: “Hombre” stripes are bold and beautiful in Purple/Multi by Volatile, makers of some of the most comfortable wedges & heels on the planet!.Part of the Very Volatile collection. (www.volatileusa.com)

Boots: “Lovelace Platform Booties” in Nude by Iron Fist. Stunning faux lace-up booties feature a small platform base and side-zips for easy entry. (www.ironfistclothing.com)

Cuff: The perfect accessory to any outfit, Swarovski encrusted, handpainted leather cuff by Caroline Rocha. See page 79 for more info on this exciting brand. (www.carolinerocha.com)

Cuff: Swarovski encrusted, handpainted leather cuff by Caroline Rocha. (www.carolinerocha.com)

Necklace: www.trendyjewels.com / 1-800-722-2309

Earrings: www.trendyjewels.com 1-800-722-2309

Bag: “The Messenger Bag” a unique Migdalia bag, created from recycled fabrics & materials. Unique fashion for eco-conscious females! (www.recyclemybag.com)

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Felicity Palmateer at Off The Wall, Oahu- Hawaii Photo: Morgan Maassen | Courtesy of Billabong

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featuring...

Felicity

Palmateer AND... Anali Gomez Dominic Barona Tarryn Chudleigh Tanika Hoffman

Nicolle Pallett Taryn Kyte Jordan Wible Ana Carol Fernandez

Emma Smith Carissa Moore

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PRO-Files

THANK YOU To My Sponsors...

PRO-FILES Photo: Morgan Maassen | Courtesy of Billabong

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F Billabong F Electric Sunglasses

F Simon Anderson Surfboards F Stick Feet Wax F Squid Surfing Accessories F Future Fins F The Surfboard Room Scarborough

Felicity

Palmateer Felicity surfing her favorite wave in West Oz called “Lefthanders” Photo: Coops/Loaded Barrel

MY EARLY YEARS...

I guess I could say I was born a beach baby. My family has always lived close to the ocean so the beach was the place we headed for on hot summer days. When I was about six years old either Mum or Dad, I can’t remember who, bought my two brothers and me a body board each. I would take it out and ride the waves all the way into shore.

Home grown in Australia

Then I saw people standing on their boards and I thought to myself ‘that’s pretty cool, I’ll try that’. I started standing on the body board and my Dad saw me one day. Being the amazing surfer he is, and with his love for the ocean, he started taking me out on one of his old boards and taught me to stand up properly. After that I was hooked and we surfed every morning together before school, and sometimes after, and every weekend. I grew up in Perth, Western Australia and the waves there aren’t that great so we often took off in Dad’s old Land Rover and made the three-hour trip down south to Margaret River, which is renowned for its world-class powerful waves. I guess I could say that’s where I honed my surfing. Now my Dad and I share a great bond through everything he’s taught me and the time that we’ve spent together surfing. wSSm | womenssurfstyle.com | 151

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CHARACTER QUALITIES I ADMIRE... I love someone who is true to themselves

WORLD... KNOW THIS I’m definitely a glass half-full girl Felicity on tour during the European leg of the Womens World Qualifying Tour

I am drawn to people’s personalities more than anything. I love someone who is true to themselves and can have a good laugh. Someone who is open minded and empathetic towards others… Someone you don’t need to try and have a good time with, you just do, no matter what you’re doing. In Australia we have a saying that someone who has a positive outlook on life is a person who always sees their glass as half full rather than half empty. I’m definitely a glass half full girl.

Felicity Palmateer THEY MADE AN IMPACT ON ME...

My Dad... He taught me everything about surfing

MY OTHER HOBBIES... My other passion besides surfing is art.

My family has been the biggest impact in my life and in particular my Dad. My Dad would patiently push me into waves every day, waiting for the day when I could hold my own. He taught me everything, how to charge, to have no fear and to embrace the pain that comes with getting smashed. I’m so thankful that he taught me how to surf because it’s given me so many opportunities in and out of the water. I was also very fortunate to gain sponsorship from an early age. The support of Billabong, Simon Anderson Surfboards, Squid Surfing Products, The Surfboard Room, Sticky Feet Wax, Electric Sunglasses and Future Fins has made it possible for me to achieve my dream of becoming a professional surfer. I love hanging out with my friends from home because I hardly get to see them throughout the year. I think I’m away more than I’m home so I guess coming home is sometimes like a little holiday where I get to unwind and see the people who are most important to me. My other passion besides surfing is art. Most of my inspiration comes from the ocean and I use watercolors and inks because I think they best translate the fluidity of the ocean onto the paper. Where ever I go I try and take some inks and a few paintbrushes with me. Now that I’m home though, I have been painting a lot and hopefully one day I will have a big enough body of work to have an exhibition.

ON THE WQS TOUR... Globe-trotting is a great educator and I’ve certainly learnt a lot over the last few years.

The best thing about travelling around the world on the WQS is the amazing places and cultures you get to experience. Globetrotting is a great educator and I’ve certainly learnt a lot over the last few years. You’re kind of thrown in at the deep end and you have to constantly adapt to whatever situation is thrown at you whether it is trying to catch connecting flights after delays from ash clouds in Northern Europe or just adapting to the different languages, customs and wave conditions at each contest location. It’s exciting and I love real life situations like that. The best thing about travelling though, is the people you meet, and the friends you make along the way. I now have friends all over the world and I know that if I was in their country they would be more than happy to look after me and vice versa. F

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PRO-Files

Anali Gomez

2 Friends

& Dominic (Mimi) Barona Photos & Captions by: Casey Rossi

(Bottom right) Anali sticking with her roots- always one to give her respect and acknowledgment to all her people and parts of Peru, in and out of the water. Here she is saying HI to her friends with wings (Above) Piscinas in Peru. A small day, but doing its thing on the inside. Lobitos Point is seen in the background (Top right) Anali and Mimi waiting for the “tutu” taxi ride back to the pad and ready for an after ceviche lunch siesta

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2 Friends Anali Gomez & Dominic (Mimi) Barona (This page) Anali letting it fly... Raising the bar and pushing the level of each session

(Top right) Mimi keeping it lively and staying sparky just as she does out of the water. Yeah, Mims! (Bottom right) Best of friends, best of waves and pushing each other every step of the way... Sharing the ride together, assessing the situation, and getting ready to have a dig in Northern Peru 156 | womenssurfstyle.com | wSSm

Photos & Captions by: Casey Rossi

PRO-FILES

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2 Friends Anali Gomez & Dominic (Mimi) Barona (This page) Whenever she’s not power gouging, tube hunting, or connecting the dots on the numerous points around Peru, Anali loves to get above the lip when she can. Here she is just toying around on a fun lil section south of Punta Hermosa

Photos & Captions by: Casey Rossi

(Top left) Here’s Anali really just laying into some open face and letting some aggression out at one of her favorite waves close to her house in Punta Hermosa (Bottom left) One of the girls favorite waves in the North. The pool in the foreground, ”Piscinas”, is formed from the incoming of the tide and excess water explosions that fill it up F

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PRO-Files

Carissa Moore A Glimpse at Life on the Dream Tour

By Ella Garth

Underneath the sun-bleached hair and lightly golden skin lies a ruthless competitor. Think sirens: with sweet songs of innocence, they cunningly lure victims into their grasp. She baits her adversary with an angelic voice and a smileto-top. She ensnares them, more often than not, winding them down the deadly trail to defeat. Moore sits in a pass-holder’s only stand at the Rip Curl Pro, Bell’s Beach. She begins, like any surfer with a vague training in interviews, by discussing how wonderful it is to travel the world and visit exotic locations. She smiles and throws up her hands, “Look at today! It’s sunny and gorgeous and the waves are amazing!”

in 2011. According to the ASP, Moore finished the season with an astounding three wins, three seconds and one third out of seven events. She topped the World Championship Tour rankings, making her the youngest ever ASP world champion. Her 2011 WCT prize pool of $114,500, also wasn’t bad for a nineteen-year-old. Perhaps her stellar year had something to do with her father, Chris Moore. He is her coach and manager, and travels almost everywhere with his daughter.

Life on the Dream Tour isn’t quite what it seems. There can be exhilarating highs and shocking lows. Perhaps it’s closer to Snakes and Ladders than the game, Family Vacation. Think four-oclock alarms, eight-foot closeouts and ten-foot broken dreams. What if injury strikes? What if sponsors drop you? What of the sixteen competitors and two wildcards that desperately want you to fall on your next wave? What of the added pressure to perform when you have been hailed as a future star from the age of twelve? For Moore, who has experienced all of these things, nothing compares to the strain of being away from home. “I love home,” says Moore, the smile dropping from her face. “So travelling, being away from home, and finding that comfort on the road is something that’s really essential to competing well. It’s tough. I didn’t expect it in the beginning.” Moore, however, certainly found that comfort 160 | womenssurfstyle.com | wSSm

Robertson spends the early hours before each day of competition out surfing with Moore. He talks about making landmarks and knowing where to sit. He coaches her to be comfortable surfing at low tide in The Bowel, and high tide at Rincon. “She gets a lot of confidence from knowing the wave,” says Robertson. “Building confidence and building their knowledge of the wave is essential. It will mean a lot less stress come heats.” But the clouds have stormed in on the final day of competition. Bell’s Beach has turned back to its usual gloomy self. The tension is high. Robertson consoles Moore in the competitor’s area while a raging five-foot swell churns into the bay. She looks more nervous today than she has been all competition. Robertson says that in situations like these, it’s all about positive reinforcement.

Truthfully, there are pumping waves, unusually warm weather and a pod of dolphins forming a rainbow near the horizon. But like Bells on the threshold of winter, the good times are fleeting. Competitive surfing isn’t just about travelling to exotic locations. There is a vast amount of pressure that spectators never get to witness. “Their livelihood is performance based,” says Richard Bennett, former surf psychologist on the Association of Surfing Professionals World Tour and author of the book, The Surfers Mind. “There’s a real perception that it’s a dream lifestyle. But at the same time there are a lot of challenges, both on a human level and on an elite competitive level.”

Moore’s only coach, however. She employs the help of local coach, Adam Robertson, to help combat some of the challenges at Bell’s Beach. Robertson, according to the ASP, finished runner up at the Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach in 2009, has now taken on the role of Surfing Victoria’s High Performance Coach. Coaching an elite surfer like Moore isn’t too different from his usual role.

His eyes light up with the notion of someone doing a feature article on his little girl. He didn’t blink twice at the spectators during the early hours at Bell’s Beach while Moore trained, yet he now readies to hand out personal contact details and arrange his daughter in photo shoots. He does his job well. Moore has been one of the most documented female surfers and notably, the fourth ever female to make the cover of SURFER magazine since its beginning in 1960. Moore, who mentions her father as an inspiration in her ASP profile, smiles obligingly to the media. She looks tired: her smile is welcoming, but her eyes tell of food and bed. That’s her father’s job as coach and manager: that’s business. So she stands around and readies for the media assault, hands shaking, teeth chattering and water cascading down onto her bright purple wetsuit. “I think sometimes it’s challenging to mix those rolls together,” says Moore of her father, “because I live with my coach. Usually you’ll see the coach at practice and you’ll leave it at that, but sometimes it’s …” she pauses momentarily, then smiles. “I think we have sort of mastered turning on and off the coach and father switch.” Her father is not

Moore heads down the stairs with her chin up. She says a small prayer before disappearing into the explosion of whitewash. “I always just say a small prayer before I paddle out,” says Moore. “It’s just something I always have to do.” Moore’s defeat on the final day of the Rip Curl Pro to eventual competition champion, Sally Fitzgibbons, was heartbreaking. She followed up her third place at Bell’s Beach with a second place at Taranaki, NZ, and a ninth place at the Beachley Classic in Sydney. Moore realizes she just hasn’t backed up the results she saw in 2011. “I think that means I’m out of the race”, says Moore in an interview on beachleyclassic.com This is just another roll of the dice for Moore; another snake to slide down. But that’s life on the Dream Tour. It offers, like Bell’s Beach, perfect rolling waves and sunny skies one moment, and hurricane winds the next. Like any year that seems too good to be true, you can be sure the storm clouds are looming. “You have to learn from your mistakes”, says Moore. “You have to keep pushing forward.” Moore will certainly be doing this as she readies for her next event, the Billabong Rio Pro, in three weeks time. F

PRO-Files

Meet Up & Comer

Jordan Wible

Words by Kashi K. Photos by Gregerson

Surfers that compete at a high level are typically athletic. Jordan Wible shares that common athleticism amongst surfers of her caliber. What isn’t common is Jordan’s origin as a surfer. Surfers that compete at a high level are typically athletic. Jordan Wible shares that common athleticism amongst surfers of her caliber. What isn’t common is Jordan’s origin as a surfer. She didn’t grow up next to a beach where she could easily soak up the surf culture. In fact, she was born in Soldotna, Alaska. Her family moved to Pittsburgh when she was just two years-old. In Pittsburgh, she spent much of her time on a football field and ice hockey rink where Jordan cheered on her older brother during his games. Growing up as her brother’s biggest fan, she was exposed to a lot of sports. Prior to surfing, she played soccer for 9 years, basketball for 5 years, and she’s an avid skateboarder. Her keen athleticism was evident before she hopped on a surfboard. Her prior years as an athlete

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helped mold her foundation and core strength to make for a more smooth transition to surfing. Jordan and her family moved to Manhattan Beach, California from Pittsburgh when she was 8 years old. She fell in love with the water upon moving to California. She couldn’t find a better way to celebrate her newfound love of the ocean than by learning to surf, and so Jordan pleaded for a surfboard. By age 9, she was already teaching herself to surf on a soft top. Nobody else in the family surfed, it was simply something little Jordan took up on her own. A family friend and neighbor, Eric Noll, was a positive influence on her beginnings as a surfer. Jordan recalls Eric taking her out to surf at Bluff Cove and San Onfre. Eric made sure to accompany her at least a few times a month to help her fine tune her surfing skills. By age 11, Jordan moved up to a shortboard. By age 12, she was already riding a 5’6”. Jordan’s mother recalls a group of local guys approaching her while she was out “ripping” on the water. The local guys asked her mother, “Who’s that little woman out on the surfboard?” Jordan’s mother laughed and replied, “That’s my 12 year old daughter.” In disbelief, the guys joked around

and responded, “No way, that’s a little woman!” These guys were really impressed that such a young girl was out there in the lineup on such large waves. They couldn’t fathom she was just a young girl. She was in fact, just 12 years old, and only getting stronger in the water and more skilled on her board. We took a moment to ask Jordan’s mother if she was worried by her daughter’s interest in surfing. Her mother mentioned feeling concerned at times when there were lots of big overhead waves. Otherwise, she’s confident in her daughter’s ability and very supportive of her surfing. We asked Jordan if she remembered her first time catching a wave. She recalled her first time “gliding” down the line and described it as “absolutely awesome” and emphasized the “thrill” she received from the sensation of that “glide”. Jordan also described the amazing feeling of being able to control the board while steering and angling down. “I remember just feeling so stoked to experience that moment.” To make it more memorable, she recalled, “I was still on my soft top at the time and wasn’t paying full attention to the wave as much as the feeling of riding it… so the wave closed out and I just remembered my board flipping up on

PRO-FILES the side as I landed stomach first onto the rail! I was so stoked after taking the wave that I just got back up and powered back out and thought to myself, ‘that was so awesome!” The summer before she entered high school, Mira Costa’s surf coach asked Jordan to try out for the surf team after seeing her in the water. Jordan’s initial interest was to take on basketball in high school. She reconsidered and tabled the basketball and soccer and she began devoting her time to crafting her skills as a surfer and prepared to take her surfing to a competitive level. Jordan worked hard at surfing her freshman year and it paid off as she took a couple of high school titles in shortboard and longboard. She has been an allstar surfer for both longboard and shortboard for 2 years in a row since she began her journey as a surfer in high school. Jordan started in the WSA last season for the girls U16 division. That division in WSA is one of the largest women’s divisions in all the surf leagues and she became a top surfer in that arena. Jordan went on to qualify for the Surfing America Prime Series this year. She is currently competing in the WSA girls U18 division and the Surfing Prime Series U18. Jordan is just as much of a threat on her longboard as she is on her shortboard, placing first in almost every competition for the longboard last year. Jordan is also showing some exciting versatility as a surfer because she can excel on the shortboard as well. Jordan can be found surfing at 26th Street Manhattan Beach with her Mira Costa surf team. She said she loves to surf in the winter for the waves, but she loves to surf in the summer for the weather. Currently, her favorite spots to surf include El Porto and Manhattan Beach. She rides Spyder Boards. We asked her about her first board. “I loved my first board! It was an 8 ft., turquoise green, soft top, and I loved that board because I could really rip on that thing!” Jordan recalls breaking the board: “because I ripped on it so hard.” During the interview with Jordan, we learned that it’s really not about the competition for her. She enjoys the freedom and solace from being out in the water alone or with friends. Jordan admits that the tension and pressure of competition can detract from her focus on just being at one with the waves. She finds peace in the refuge of the open water and she loves the escape from what she describes as the “ordinary world.” We asked her to elaborate on her perspective about the differences of surfing freestyle and surfing in competition. For Jordan, the difference is significant, “Surfing is relaxed and free for me,

but in competition I have to be aggressive, strategic, and it can get quite stressful, especially when the conditions aren’t great and being judged can be nerve wracking too!” When sharing her feelings on being photographed, it paralleled the same emotions about competition. Jordan said she feels the pressure to perform for a shot and the same frustration of seeking out prime conditions for the day, but she also commented on the advantages of being photographed. “I like being able to study my moves on the water.” Jordan took a moment to reflect on what surfing means to her and she said, “It’s my escape from the normal world. I don’t have to worry about anything else except for myself and the waves and surfing. Especially when I’m out there by myself….” And then we catch a candid glimpse of Jordan’s individuality when she interjects, “I don’t really live in a normal world in my head,” as she snickers. This uniqueness was validated later as her nose began dripping salt water mid interview (a true testament to Jordan’s time spent in the water). Most girls would probably get really shy and self-conscious and seek out the nearest tissue, but she just laughed and casually stated, “Oh no, I’m getting drip nose.” Her mother just chuckled and said that she is basically a product of her male dominated surfer environment, and so she deals with her “drip nose” accordingly. Jordan certainly has a free spirited air about her. It’s not deliberate, but rather quite subtle. It speaks to her style and her approach to surfing. At her age, the non-conformist mentality is quite common, but Jordan’s desire to be herself seems more genuine and deep-rooted. I wouldn’t call her a rebel, but she tries to do what she wants and she’s not afraid to share her sentiments on her personal mantra: “Eat, sleep, surf, and live on the beach…!” Jordan sounds absolutely content with becoming a surf instructor someday, working at a surf shop, and traveling the world for excellent surf destinations. “That would be pretty cool,” she adds. It’s hard to beat that lifestyle, whether you surf or not, it sounds pretty fine. She has a very easy going and friendly demeanor. She loves surfing with friends, “They make you feel more amped about your waves.” She quickly reminds us that she also loves the solo ride because it helps her think and reflect on things. At this point, we found a nice opening to pick Jordan’s brain about the difference between the male and female surfing mentality and style. “Girls tend to be more friendly... I think girls are more laid back… and trying to have some fun. Guys tend to be more agro.” She then goes on to

explain, “Girls are more graceful… with the wave. Guys tend to throw more tail and surf in a more powerful way.” Jordan doesn’t leave the notion of power between the sexes open for interpretation as she quickly adds, “But there are girls out there that can rip just as hard as men.” Jordan highlights her favorite pro-surfers; Courtney Conlogue, Holly Beck, and Carissa. In terms of style and approach to the sport, she really speaks volumes to Holly Beck’s style. She appreciates the way Holly Beck surfs just to surf and doesn’t chase the glory, even though she has all the talent to take on the spotlight. Jordan’s mother reminded us how hard Jordan works to cultivate her surfing skills. Her surfing coach is Jamie Meistrell from Surfing by Profession. Her personal trainer is Meredith with Level Ten who also trains Misty May from the Team USA Olympic volleyball team. Jordan is sponsored by Spyder Surf, Dizm sunglasses, and Gregerson Photography. She remembers the pleasurable experience when Spyder unexpectedly approached her about sponsorship. She exclaimed, “I was so excited and I’m one of the first girls Spyder has sponsored in a long time!” Dave Gregerson of Gregerson Photography is a special sponsor for Jordan.. “I love having Dave as my photographer, his photos are so Epic! Dave is a really, really, funny - great guy to be around. I have fun hanging out with him. We both love root beer floats, too! I feel lucky to have him because his photos are better than anything I have seen. He spends a lot of time making sure the photos are perfect and flawless and I really appreciate his attention to details.” Jordan is obviously a fan of Dave and with the awesome shots Dave snaps of her, you can’t blame her. Having an easy going guy like Dave shoot her really helps take the edge off of being photographed. Jordan emphatically stated, “I CAN’T WAIT FOR HIM TO SHOOT ME AT LOWER’S!” Neither can WSSM! Jordan is definitely keeping in line with her dream of living through surfing. She had her first job this year as a surf instructor at Perfect Day surf camp. She also volunteered several times with the Jimmy Miller Foundation in assisting with the Wounded Warriors surfing therapy program. One day, she dreams of surfing with a friend in Australia at Snapper Rocks. “That would be awesome!” We asked if her prospective friend is a male or female. Giggling, Jordan quickly replied, “female… or a guy, if he’s really cute!” There’s no reason Jordan Wible, talented young female surfer out of Manhattan Beach, California, will have trouble realizing her dream. She has more than just a bright disposition and surf talent; she has a bright future as she stays focused on living her surfing dream. F wSSm | womenssurfstyle.com | 163

South Africa’s

Emma Smith Story & photos by Greg Chapman

PRO-FILES

PRO-Files

Emma Smith is an 18-year-old surfer girl from Jeffery’s Bay, South Africa. She is the eldest of three girls in her family, who all surf. She started surfing at the young age of 11 and by the age of 15 was taken pretty seriously, as she quickly became a force to be reckoned with on the competitive scene. Emma is a Billabong team rider and has represented South Africa at two World junior games. In 2012, she was nominated by ZigZag Surfing Magazine as, “the next big thing” behind Bianca Buitendag and Sarah Baum. Not only is Emma a talented surfer, she is the nicest, most down to earth person I know and is always giving back to the community and those less fortunate than herself.

Emma’s introduction to surfing came about when spending family holidays and weekends at the beach, when her selftaught dad gave her and her sister a go on the board. The first time she stood up on the board, Emma was hooked. Her Dad soon organized lessons for Emma and her sister. Emma went on to surf in the South African Grommet games that year, placing 2nd in the U12 division. The competitive bug had bitten and the following year she made her provincial team and placed 3rd at the South African junior champs. In 2009, Emma and her family moved to Jeffery’s Bay and was approached by Billabong to ride for them.

“Surfing is a lifestyle to me, a unique sport that has taught me so much! The ocean is my playground, and when I’m surfing, I am in my happy place. I surf when I am sad, happy, excited, sick, relaxed, to train and for a ‘break’. Said Emma when I asked her about what surfing means to her. “I love how every wave is different, that there are constant changes, and surfing is my passion. I am so blessed to have been part of this sport, and to live in JBay with the best waves! To be able to surf with my two sisters, dad, and dolphins sharing waves with us, is very special! When I am surfing and in the sea, I am forever thankful and blessed to be in the Lord’s beautiful creation. It has brought 164 | womenssurfstyle.com | wSSm

such peace and passion, and has saved a lot of people! Through surfing, I have traveled all over the country, the world, and experienced so many cultures. I have made the best friends and memories that will be with me forever!”

So what is life like outside of surfing, for somene with such a full and active life? “My life outside of surfing still involves being on the beach and in the sea. When I am not surfing, I am teaching my friends how to surf, going for long cycles with my sister, spending the day on the beach, playing tennis with friends, baking, sector 9 and even the odd childish occasion where I am making experiments with my youngest sister, dressing up with her and doing some creative arts and craft things. I also enjoy helping the kids in the township at a recycling project. Living in a small town I often find something to do outdoors, as I am not exactly a mall and shopping type of girl.” Family is important to Emma and she had this to say when asked about her family and the role they play in her life.

“Family is the most important factor for me. My family always comes first and they are extremely close and supportive. We have no secrets and are always involved with each other’s lives. Without my family I would never be where I am today: surfing wise, and just life in general. They support me and provide the best for me all the time. They

offer opportunities that benefit me not only in surfing, but in the world today. When I am with my family, no matter where, it is always a sanctuary and place of love, restoration and happiness. They brought me up with good morals and because of them I have received what I have. No matter the circumstance, my parents will always support and provide, I am truly blessed with a family like mine. Family always comes first. In the end, they are all you have.”

Emma finishes school this year and has some big plans and goals she would like to achieve. “I have a lot of passions and big dreams in life, but they definitely involve surfing. I am still in the pro junior age group, and will definitely be travelling and doing some QS contests, training as much as possible, exploring and surfing the best waves. I will also be involved with a program the first 3 months, Csalt, which is involved with Christian Surfers internationally. It is a leadership program that has been designed specifically to let you explore your passion, whether it is surfing or skating, while at the same time drawing you closer to God and find out His plans for your life. My passion is surfing and children. I want to use surfing as a tool to get into the communities and less fortunate areas, where I can get the children surfing and off the streets, where they can find that same passion I found through surfing. There are

Emma with her sisters after Gina’s win at the SA Junior Surﬁng Championships, 2012

so many people today that are battling financially, physically, emotionally, etc and there are children on the streets that are then forced to get into gangs and drugs, etc. Surfing is something that can save so many people, where they are off the streets, in the ocean, and in nature, and where they can find a passion, love and hope. I want to surf as many international contests and use surfing as a tool. There is a bigger picture, and I want to look past ‘today’. I definitely believe it is better to give than to receive, and everyone needs to experience the stoke of surfing, it saves lives. I have a lot of dreams and goals, but short term, it will definitely involve getting some good results next year, equipping myself to put my dreams into action.” F wSSm | womenssurfstyle.com | 165

PRO-Files

The Girls of

South Africa By Greg Chapman

Taryn Kyte and Nicolle Pallett “Longbeach” is located in Kommetjie, Cape Town, and is our go-to wave here! It is one of the most consistent waves on the peninsula... And one of the most crowded! Like most spots on the west side of the peninsula, the water is always cold and VERY cold in summer (freezing actually). However, it is a fun wave that provides something for all surfing abilities..

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Tarryn Chudleigh Taryn Kyte

Tarryn Chudleigh and Tanika Hoffman An awesome girls trip we did last summer to a scenic beach about 40-60 min outside of Cape Town, called Koeel Bay. Tarryn and her friend, Lisa (not shown here), were keen to surf something different and escape the ice cold water of their home break in Kommetjie (a little village in the south peninsula). Tanika joined us at the very last minute, so I had a good group to work with. This was such a fun mission; the girls were in high spirits. They also have known and surfed with each other for years. All the girls have represented the South African junior surfing team and all 3 have won major events here in South Africa. The only downside to this trip was that the wind came up pretty hard and quickly- thus detoriating the fun waves somewhat, but nevertheless, the girls ripped and enjoyed themselves immensely! F

Tanika Hoffman Nicolle Pallett

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PRO-Files

PRO-FILES 168 | womenssurfstyle.com | wSSm

Follow the Journey...

Ana Carol Fernandez

How I started surﬁng: With my Dad’s surfboards.

am always analyzing. We are always shooting, so after practice I can study my mistakes and figure out where to focus on to improve. We also review films in which my opponents compete to create strategies.

Where do I stand? I’m currently ranked 3rd in the South American Pro Juniors, but I’m training hard for much better results.

We train every day in the morning and the afternoon, do Pilates and functional training, and I’m starting classes for stretching.

How do I train? My coach is my father, but it was my brother Pedro Henrique who started in competitions first. In 2000, he won the Junior World Title, and was in the WCT tour in 2006.

Who sponsors my career? I am without major sponsorship, but I have support from UP-DROP Surf Accessories, Team Lead Triple tale and also TBC Surfboards Brazil.

I started mirroring him at 5 years of age - his training, his tactics and maneuvers. We always train together when he’s not traveling, and from all the hard labor good results have started to come along.

My plans for the future? I’m training to do the WQS next year, because this year I’ve done the Pro Junior and all phases of the Brazilian Amateur scene.

I was born in Rio de Janeiro and relocated to live in Saquarema when I was 6 years old.

Now my father is my training partner every day (without pressuring me!). I

What do I think about women’s surfing in Brazil? Female surfing is growing. I see many girls in the up and com-

Words & photos by Luciano Santos Paula and assisted by Darlan Lopes and Tia Calvo

www.superframes.com.br ing generation showing new ground in form, and they are already competing and improving a lot. The trend is growing. There are several companies that invest in representing female surfers with equipment and events - companies like Rip Curl, Roxy, Mormaii and other brands. However there was a time of crisis when few girls were competing, and that level was being compromised. Now growth has normalized, but we still need support in Brazil from more sponsors. Sponsors who believe in the girls, so they can evolve more and play on the same level as the WCT quality girls. My message? I would rather that companies pay more attention to the new female talent. We are here waiting for an opportunity to shine and show our talent on the World Tour. Support the surfing and believe in the girls! F wSSm | womenssurfstyle.com | 169

SURF SHOP DIRECTORY | WSSM OAHU | Hawaii (area code 808) . . . . . . . . . . . .

Ballistic Board Co............................................................ 258-8393 Barnﬁelds Raging Isle Surf & Cycle ..........................637-7797 Blue Hawaii Surf (Ala Moana)........................................... 947-9988 Blue Hawaii Surf ............................................................ 845-9300 Blue Hawaii Surf (Pearlridge) ........................................... 488-8811 Blue Planet Surf Shop (WSSM sold here) 596-7755 Boardriders Club Hawaii (International Marketplace) ........... 921-2794 Boardriders Club Hawaii (Waikiki) .................................... 926-5800 Classic Surfboards ...........................................................735-3594 Diamond Head Surfboards (WSSM sold here) ....... ..................................................................... 691-9599 Downing Hawaii .............................................................737-9696 Drift Surf LLC .................................................................941-6699 Edge Board Works.........................................................847-3154 GoNUTS .........................................................................926-3367 Hale Nalu Surf Company..................................................696-5897 Hans Hedemann Surf Schools ...................................... 447-6755 Hawaiian Southshore Outlet ...........................................597-9055 Hawaiian Watersports (Kailua) .......................................262-5483 Hawaiian Watersports (Diamond Head) .......................739-5483 Island Glass Surfboards .................................................. 457-9919 Inter-Island Surf Shop.....................................................945-2982 Jon B. Mar Surfboards ...................................................277-0800 Kimo’s Surf Hut ............................................................262-1644 Koa Board Sports .........................................................923-0189 Local Motion: Ala Moana ........................................................ 979-7873 Hawaii Kai.............................................................. 396-7873 Windward Mall .................................................... 263-7873 Waikele Outlet Center...................................... 668-7873 Hawaii Kai .......................................................... 396-7873 Minami Surf......................................................................637-9994 Modex Surfboards Hawaii ..............................................421-7517 North Shore Boardriders Club ....................................... 637-5026 OffDaLip.com Inc. ..........................................................396-8676 Pang Dennis Hawaiian Surf Designs & Hawaiian Paddle Boards ..................................... 638-7339 Planet Surf .................................................................... 637-5002 Rush Jay ....................................................................... 596-0580 Russ K Makaha Quiksilver Boardriders Club ................. 951-7876 Quiksilver (Waikiki) ....................................................... 921-2794 RIPCURL (Ala Moana Center) .................................... 943-2490 RIPCURL (Kalakaua Ave) ............................................ 922-2330 RV’s Ocean Used Surfboard ....................................... 348-0441 Sera’s Surf & Shore Ala Moana Center.................... 949-7828 Strong Current Surf Design ...................................... 637-3410 Surfboard Factory Outlet Hawaii.................................. 543-2145 Surf Garage (WSSM Sold Here).............. 951-1173 Surf ’N’ Sea (WSSM Sold Here) ................ 637-9887 Surf News Network Hawaii ....................................... 593-2170 Town & Country Surf Shop: ......................................... 733-5699 Uptown Pearlridge ........................................ 484-5499 Tropical Rush Surf Co. ............................................... 637-8886 Wave Riding Vehicles................................................... 637-2020 Wet Feet ....................................................................... 373-7873 XCEL Wetsuits Hawaii: Honolulu / Ward Center ......................................... 596-7441 Haleiwa................................................................... 637-3248

MAUI | Hawaii (area code 808) . . . . . . . . . . . .

Action Sports Maui ..................................................... 871-5857 Boardriders Club (Kihei) ................................................. 667-7978 Boardriders Club (Wailaha) ................................................ 891-1503 Boardriders Club (Whalers Village) ................................... 661-3505 Billabong (Lahaina) ..................................................... 667-1840 Da Beach House Maui: Harbor Shops at Ma’alaea ........................... 986-8279 Kihei Kalama Village ..................................... 891-1234 Hawaiian Island Surf & Sport ..........................................871-4981 Hawaiian Surfworks.........................................................242-1431 Hi-Tech Surf Sports ....................................................... 877-2111 Honolua Surf Co. (toll-free).......................................... 466-6582 1000 Limahana Pl., Lahaina ......................... 667-9781 845 Front St. ................................................. 667-1863 Whalers Village............................................... 661-5455 Honolua Underground ................................................ 661-5722 Kazuma Surfboards Hawaii......................................... 575-7510 Local Motion: Lahaina Gateway ........................................ 871-7873 170 | womenssurfstyle.com | wSSm

1819 S. Kihei Rd., Kihei ................................ 879-7873 Ka`ahumanu Shopping Center/Kahului......... 661-7873 M. Miura Store ............................................................ 822-4401 Maui Surfboards .......................................................... 264-2648 Maui Tropix, Kihei ............................................................ 879-6868 Maui Tropix, Kahului ..................................................... 871-8726 Maui Tropix, Lahaina .................................................... 661-9296 Maui Windsurf Co. ........................................................ 877-4816 Neil Pryde Maui.............................................................. 877-7443 Ole Surfboards ............................................................ 661-3459 Outrageous Surf ............................................................ 669-1400 Pakaloha Bikinis (Lahaina) .............................................. 661-6088 Pakaloha Bikinis (Paia) .................................................... 579-8882 Sailboards Maui .......................................................... 579-8432 Second Wind (WSSM sold here)................ 877-7467 Shapers ......................................................................... 877-7873 Surf Dog Maui ............................................................. 250-7873 Timpone Hawaii ............................................................. 575-2649 Valley Isle Surfboards................................................... 244-5230 West Maui Cycles.......................................................... 661-9005 West Maui Sports & Fishing Supply .......................... 661-6252

KAUAI | Hawaii (area code 808) . . . . . . . . . . . . Aloha Surf Lessons ..................................................... 639-8614 Deja Vu Surfwear ............................................................ 822-4401 Hanalei Surf Co. Backdoor ............................................... 826-1900 Hanalei Surf Co. Paddler ............................................... 826-8797 Quiksilver Kai Kane Surf Shop .................................... 826-5594 Quiksilver (Poipu) ........................................................... 742-8088 Kauai Water Ski & Surf Co. ......................................... 822-3574 Nukumoi Surf Co. ....................................................... 742-8019 M. Miura Store ............................................................... 245-2174 Poipu Surf ..................................................................... 742-8797 Progressive Expressions.............................................. 742-6041 Rex Kauai....................................................................... 828-1141 Tamba Surf Co. ........................................................... 823-6942 Wellman Surfboards...................................................... 338-0888

BIG ISLAND | Hawaii (area code 808) . . . . . . . . . . . .

Big Island Surf Co.......................................................... 959-2472 Honolulu Surf Co: Waikoloa................................................................. 886-1019 Kona....................................................................... 329-1001 Jeff Hunt Surfboards LLC............................................. 965-2322 Kona Boy’s Inc.............................................................. 328-7234 Kona Boy’s (Captian Cook) ........................................... 329-3245 Local Style..................................................................... 959-6121 Miller’s Surf and Sport................................................. 326-1771 Orchid Land Surfshop................................................... 935-1533 Paciﬁc Vibrations........................................................... 329-4140 World Core Surf Shop................................................... 329-8825

CALIFORNIA

. . . . . . NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

Aqua Surf Shop: Sloat Blvd.......................................................... 415-242-9283 Haight St. .......................................................... 415-876-2782 Cowells Beach N Bikini Surf Shop....................... 831-427-2355 O’Neill’s: 41st Ave. ........................................................... 831-475-4151 Cooper St. .......................................................... 831-469-4377 400 Beach St. ..................................................... 831-459-9230 Paciﬁc Wave ........................................................... 831-458-9283

CENTRAL CALIFORNIA

Clout Women & Surf Shop ................................. 310-457-1511 E.T. Surf / Just Longboards ... 310-379-7660 | 310-376-8847 Horizons West Surf Shop ..................................... 310-392-1122 Malibu Surf Shack .................................................... 310-456-8508 Ocean Echo Sportswear....................................... 310-823-5850 Players SurfBoards................................................ 310-545-9626 Spyder ..................................................................... 310-374-8276 SpyderII .................................................................. 310-374-2494 Surf Concepts........................................................ 310-545-7397 Ventura Surf Shop ................................................. 805-643-1062 WaveFront Surf Shop ............................................ 805-652-2201 ZJ Boarding House................................................ 310-392-5646

Zuma Jay Surfboards ............................................ 310-456-8044

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Action Beach Surf Shop ...................................... 760-722-7101 Active Ride Shop ................................................. 909-592-0661 Alternative Surf ..................................................... 562-277-4719 Becker Surfboards (Pier Ave) ............................. 310-374-7626 Becker Surf (Malibu) ............................................. 310-456-7155 Bruce Jones Surfboards........................................ 562-592-2314 Bunker Surf Shop ................................................... 858-488-7412 Catalyst Surf Shop................................................... 949-492-5721 CBS Board Shop .................................................. 949-455-0237 Cheap Rentals No.2 .............................................. 800-941-7761 Chuck Dent Surfboards ...................................... 714-960-2882 Clairemont Surf Shop ............................................ 858-292-1153 Dan Taylor Surfboards ........................................... 949-642-1316 Dive N Surf ............................................................. 310-372-8423 Elyzium Surf & Skate............................................ 619-460-0797 Emerald City Surf n Sport ..................................... 619-435-6677 Endless Summer Surf Shop ................................. 858-488-8983 Dan Taylor Surfboards ........................................... 949-642-1316 Dive N Surf ............................................................ 310-372-8423 Greenroom Surf Shop ............................................ 619-226-1311 Girl In The Curl (womens surf shop) ........................... 949-661-4475 Hansen Surfboards................................................ 760-753-6595 Harbour Surfboards ............................................... 562-430-5614 HB Wahine (womens surf shop) .................................. 714-330-3350 Herbie Fletcher Surf Shop ...................................... 949-492-5721 Hobie (Dana Point) ..................................................... 949-496-2366 Hobie (Laguna Beach) ............................................... 949-497-3304 Hobie (Corona Del Mar) ................................................ 949-706-8090 Hobie (San Clemente/El Camino) .................................... 949-542-3355 Hobie (San Clemente/Avenida Del Mar) .......................... 949-542-3400 HSS Billabong (womens surf shop) .......................... 714-374-6266 Huntington Surf & Sport (Pierside)........................... 714-841-4000 Huntington Surf & Sport (Warner)............................... 714-846-0181 Huntington Surf & Sport (Bella Terra)........................... 714-890-0800 Icons of Surf ........................................................... 949-429-7133 Inflight Surf and Sail ........................................... 562-493-3661 Island Surf ............................................................... 619-435-1527 Jacks Surfboards (Hunt. Beach) ............................... 714-536-4516 Jacks Surfboards (Newport) ..................................... 949-673-2300 Jacks Surfboards (Dana Point) ................................. 949-276-8080 Jacks Surfboards (Hermosa Beach) ............................ 310-374-7873 Jacks Surfboards (Corona Del Mar) .......................... 949-718-0001 Jacks Surfboards (Irvine) ........................................... 949-242-7020 Jack’s GIRLS (Hunt. Beach) ..................................... 714-536-2563 Jack’s KIDS (Hunt. Beach) ........................................... 714-536-4516 K5 Oceanside ......................................................... 760-754-1982 K5 Encinitas ............................................................. 760-436-6613 K5 Poway ................................................................ 858-679-6822 Kane Garden .......................................................... 619-405-3189 Katin Surf Shop ..................................................... 562-592-2052 Killer Dana Surf Shop........................................... 949-489-8380 La Jolla Surf Shop ................................................ 858-361-4957 La Jolla Surf Systems.............................................. 858-456-2777 Line Up Surfboards .............................................. 714-842-1648 Liquid Foundation Surfboards ............................ 858-488-3260 Longboard Grotto Surf Shop ................................ 760-634-1920 Mission Surf............................................................. 858-483-8837 Mitchs Surf Shop ........................ 858-459-5933 / 858-481-1354 Ocean Beach Surf Shop........................................ 619-225-0674 Ocean Girl (womens surf shop) ................................ 858-456-9283 Ocean View Board Sports ..................................... 818-541-9127 Offshore Surf Shop................................................ 760-729-4934 Old Town Surf Co................................................ 619-299-9207 O’Neill (flagship store)................................................ 714.635.0424 Pacific Beach Surf Shop (Promenade)...................... 858-373-1138 Pacific Beach Surf Shop (Grand).............................. 858-270-2466 Pacific Beach Surf Shop (Boardwalk).......................... 858-270-1695 Pacific Drive Surf Shop....................................... 858-270-3361 Palapa Surf Shop................................................... 619-224-2715 Pesce Surfboards ................................................... 310-999-5379 Pier Surf.................................................................. 310-372-2012 Plumeria Surfboards.............................................. 714-878-0900 Pride Surf Skate & Snow...................................... 619-222-1575 Rip Curl (3rd St.) .................................................. 310-656-2875 Rip Curl (San Clemente) ......................................... 949-498-4920 Raw Skin Surf n’ Sport .......................................... 760-434-1122 Rockin Figs Surfboards ....................................... 714-536-1058 Rockys Surf Shop.................................................. 619-223-4460 Rusty Surfboards ................................................. 858-551-0262

WSSM | SURF SHOP DIRECTORY Safari Surf & Sport ................................................. 818-349-9283 Safari Surf School.................................................. 858-488-2334 Salty Sports .......................................................... 310-532-1781 San Diego Surfing Academy .............................. 760-230-1474 SoftCore Surfboards............................................... 916-663-0611 Soul Performance .................................................. 310-370-1428 South Coast Wahines (womens surf shop).................. 858-273-7600 South Coast Ocean Beach...................................... 619-223-7017 South Coast Longboards ........................................... 619-223-8808 South Coast Pacific Beach ................................... 858-483-7660 Sun Diego Surf & Sport (Carlsbad) ........................... 760-607-1220 Sun Diego Surf & Sport (Wavehouse Mission) .......... 858-866-0108 Sun Diego Surf & Sport (Fashion Valley) ................... 619-268-2295 Sun Diego Surf & Sport (Westfield Plaza Bonita) ....... 619-399-7959 Sun Diego Surf & Sport (Solana Beach) ................... 858-523-1733 Sun Diego Surf & Sport (Westfield UTC) ................... 858-452-2963 Sun Diego Surf & Sport (Westfiled Pkwy) ................... 619-441-5213 Sun Diego Surf & Sport (Westfield North County) ........ 760-743-4133 Surf Club................................................................. 858-483-4854 Surf Hut .................................................................. 619-575-7873 Surf Ride Board Shop .............. 760-433-4020 | 858-755-0858 Surf Savvy School ................................................. 858-459-4790 Surfboards by Kennedy ........................................ 818-225-1999 Surfside Sports (WSSM Sold Here) ... 949-675-2855 SurfNStuff.com ..................................................... 727-643-9395 Thalia Street Surf Shop ........................................ 949-497-3292 The Rusty Boardhouse........................................ 858-551-0262 Toes on the Nose (Laguna Beach) ............................. 949-494-4988 Toes on the Nose (Adventure Hyatt@Hyatt Regency) .... 714-845-4638 Val Surf (Woodland Hills) ............................................ 818-225-8177 Val Surf (Valley Village)............................................... 818-769-6977 Val Surf (Pasadena)................................................... 626-796-0668 Val Surf (Valencia) ..................................................... 661-222-7288 Val Surf (Thousand Oaks) ........................................... 805-497-1166 Valley Surf & Skate................................................ 818-892-5566 Vanguard Surf And Skate ..................................... 310-373-2501 Waterlines Unlimited................................................ 858-449-0402 Wavelines ................................................................858-675-9696 WindanSea Surf Shop .......................................... 858-488-9374 Witts Carlsbad Pipelines...................................... 760-729-4423

FLORIDA

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . NORTHERN FLORIDA

Aqua East Surf Shop (Neptune Beach/St. Augustine) 904-246-2550 Blue Sky Surf Shop ............................................ 904-824-2734 Clean Ocean Surf Company................................... 904-247-3810 Driftwood Sun and Surf ........................................ 904-321-2188 Fluid Surf Shop..................................................... 850-244-3554 Girl Next Door Surf Shop (womens surf shop) ........... 904-461-1441 Innerlight Surf and Skate: Pensacola Beach ...................................... 850-934-9004 Pensacola ................................................. 850-434-6743 Gulf Breeze................................................ 850-932-5134 Gulf Shores ............................................... 251-948-4222 Mr. Surfs Surf Shop .............................................. 850-235-2702 Outer Limitz Surf and Skate ................................ 904-260-2320 Pipeline Surf Shop ................................................. 904-277-3717 Pit Surf Shop ...................................................... 904-471-4700 Quiksilver Retail..................................................... 904-363-8898 Sunrise Surf Shop .................................................. 904-241-0822 Surf Station (St. Augustine)..................................... 904-471-9463 Surf Station II (Crescent Beach)................................ 904-461-5395

CENTRAL FLORIDA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Balsa Bill Surf Shop.............................................. 321-779-8580 Catalyst (Melbourne) ............................................... 321-728-2960 Catalyst (Orlando) .................................................... 407-380-7427 Catalyst (San Clemente) .......................................... 949-492-5721 Catalyst (Deerﬁeld) .................................................. 954-725-1499 Cocoa Beach Surf Company ....... 321-799-9930 | 321-799-9921 Longboard House ................................................. 321-951-8001 Mad Dog Surf Shop ................................................ 386-761-5999 Maui Nix Surf Shop: (635 N. Atlantic Ave) ...................................... 386.253.1234 (250 N. Atlantic Ave) ................................ 386.253.9099 (1700 W. Intl. Speedway) ......................... 386.254.5099 (Coconut Grove) ........................................ 305.444.6919 MTB Surf Emporium ........................................... 321-777-3685 Nekton Surf Shop ................................................ 727-593-8292 Red Dog Surf Shop.............................................. 386-423-8532 Safari Surf School.................................................. 386-299-3609

SALTY DOG SURF SHOP: (S. Atlantic Ave.) .................................... 386-253-2755 International Speedway Blvd ................. 386-258-0457 N. Atlantic Ave ....................................... 386-673-5277 Spectrum Surf Shop ............................................. 321-768-7873 South Beach Dive & Surf Center ........................... 305-673-5900 Suncoast Surf Shop .............................................. 727-367-2483 USW Surf Shop .................... 321-725-1333 | 321-953-4879 ZWAVE SURF SHOP .................................. 386-439-WAVE(9283)

SOUTHERN FLORIDA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

B.C. Surf and Sport...................... 305-715-9912 | 954-564-0202 Boca Surf and Sail................................................ 561-394-8818 Catch-a-Wave Surf and Skate.............................. 305-569-0339 Epic Surf Shop....................................................... 561-272-2052 Impact Zone.......................................................... 305-374-6528 Groundswell Surf Shop ...................................... 561-622-7878 Island Water Sports ............................................ 954-427-4929 Island Water Sports ............................................ 561-588-1728 Juno Surf Shop.............................. 561-626-3569 | 561-575-6649 Maui Nix Surf Shop (Biscayne Blvd.) ........................................ 305-692-9191 (Ft. Lauderdale) ......................................... 954-522-5255 (Destin) ........................................................ 850.269.1234 Nomad Surf Shop ................................................ 561-272-2882 Ocean Magic Surf Shop .................................... 561-744-8925 SALTY DOG SURF SHOP: Panama City Beach ......................................... 850-230-3430 Surf Central ...................................................... 772-283-9002 Surf World- Pompano ........................................... 954-545-7873 Viking Surf Sup (Ft. Lauderdale).............................. 954-321-9277

MARYLAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Malibu’s Surf Shop (Ocean City)................................ 410-289-3000

NEW JERSEY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

KITTY HAWK / KILL DEVIL HILLS / NAGS HEAD

17th Street Surf Shop ............................................ 252-441-1797 Cavalier Surf Shop ............................................... 252-441-7349 Coastal Edge .......................................................... 252-449-5560 Kitty Hawk Sports Inc. ........................................... 252-441-6800 Nolte Surfboards .................................................... 252-491-2590 Outer Banks Boarding Co. ..................................... 252-441-1939 Pit Surf Hang Out .................................................. 252-480-3128 Secret Spot Surf Shop ............................................ 252-441-4030 Wave Riding Vehicles .............................................. 252-261-7952 Whalebone Surf Shop ............................................ 252-441-6747

SOUTH CAROLINA

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Berts Surf Shop................................................... 843-272-7458 Eternal Waves Surf Shop..................................... 843-839-1239 North Shore Surf Shop.......................................... 843-280-5071 Pipeline Surf Shop................................................. 843-626-8945 Sydney Surf Company........................................... 843-839-4845 Village Surf Shop...................................................... 843-651-6396 Wallerbears Surf Shop.......................................... 843-238-4079 Wave Surf & Sport.................................................. 843-235-8902

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7th Street Surf Shop.............................................. 609-398-7070 Brave New World: Ocean Port Ave .............................................732-842-6767 Point Pleasant ............... 732-899-8220 | 732-892-8220 Toms River ................................................... 732-505-3600 Eastern Lines Surf Shop (Belmar) ...................... 732-681-6405 Freedom Surf ........................................................ 609-494-6554 GoingOFFSurf.com Heritage Surf and Sport: Sea Isle City .................................................. 609-263-3033 OceanCity ...................................................... 609-398-6390 Vetnnor Ave. ................................................. 609-823-3331 Inlet Outlet ............................................................. 732-223-5842 OG Surf & Skate ..................................................... 732-869-1001 Primal Surf Shop .................................................. 609-264-1999 Right Coast Surf Shop ......................................... 732-854-9300 Ron Jon Surf Shop ............................................... 609-494-8844 Spellbinders (Main St) .......................................... 732-531-SURF SheBeSurﬁn (womens surf shop) ............................... 609-967-3110 Summer Sun Surf Shop ......................................... 609-884-3422 Surf Unlimited “The Complete Surf Shop”.............. 609-494-3555

NORTH CAROLINA

. . . . . . . . . . . . . WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH / CHARLOTTE

Surf City Surf Shop ............................................... 910-256-2265 Sweetwater Surf Shop ......................................... 910-256-3821 Wallerbears Surf Shop ................... 704-341-3414 | 704-369-7873

WILMINGTON / CAROLINA BEACH

Aussie Island Surf Shop ..................................... 910-256-5454 Bert’s Surf Shop ........................... 910-392-4501 | 910-458-9047 Hot Wax Surf Shop .............................................. 910-791-9283 Island Kite And Surf ............................................. 910-458-7005 Pride Surf Shop ..................................................... 910-799-7811

SURF CITY

On Shore Surf Shop ............................................... 910-328-2232 Bert’s Surf Shop .................................................... 910-328-1010 Spinnaker Surf & Sport ...................................... 910-328-2311

wSSm | womenssurfstyle.com | 171

SURFER RESOURCES DIRECTORY | WSSM SURF LESSONS OAHU, Hawaii - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - April Grover’s Surf School ................................... 808.561.7142 www.surﬂessonhawaii.com

Girls Who Surf ....................................................... 808.371.8917 www.girlswhosurf.com Loco Boyz Surf School ......................................... 808.739.5588 www.locoboyzsurf.com Hawaiian Surf Adventures………………............... 808.396.2324 www.hawaiiansurfadventure.com SURFCLINICS.com by Nancy Emerson .............. 808-294-5544 Sunset Suzy Surf School ..................................... 808-781-2692 www.sunsetsuzy.com Hawaii Surf Retreat ............................................... 808.636.7873 www.hawaiisurfretreat.com

MAUI, Hawaii - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Maui Waveriders .................................................... 808.875.4761 www.maiwaveriders.com Girls Gone Surﬁng ................................................ 808.280.0103 www.girlsgonesurﬁng.net Big Kahuna Surf Adventures ............................... 808-875-6395 Maui Surfergirls .................................................... 808-280-8165 www.mauisurfergirls.com

KAUAI, Hawaii - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Garden Island Surf School ................................... 808.652.4841 www.gardenislandsurfschool.com

Kauai Surf School ................................................. 808.651.6032 www.kauaisurfschool.com Learn to Surf........................................................... 808.826.7612

BIG ISLAND, Hawaii - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hawaii Lifeguard Surf Instructors........................ 808.324-0442 Kona Beach Boys.................................................. 808.326-7686 Ocean Eco Tours................................................... 808.324-7873

CALIFORNIA - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - THE NEXT WAVE - Progressive Surf Coaching Southern California ......................... Toll Free - 877 NXT WAVE www.nextwaveusa.com R&R THERAPY AND SURF INSTRUCTION Specializing in Children with Special Needs ..... 818-787-6889 Costa Azul Surf Lessons (Laguna Beach, CA) www.costaazul.net ................................................ 949-497-1423 Surf Lessons With Katie ....................................... 310.962.7873 www.surﬂessonswithkatie.com

FLORIDA - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Florida Surf Lesson............................................... 561.625.5375 www.ﬂoridasurﬂessons.com Central Florida Surf School ............................... 1.877.366.7873 www.surfschoolcamp.com EZride Surf School................................................ 954.803.7988 www.ezridesurfschool.com Surf Guy Surf School .....................1-866-SURFGUY(787-3489) www.surfguyssurf.com

TEXAS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Surf & Adventure Surf Lessons & Camp Virginia Beach ...................................................... 757-721-6210 Norfolk .................................................................. 757-321-9551 www.surfadventure.com

Paul Topp | PaulTopp.com (Hawaii - Intl)

NORTH CAROLINA - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

SURF REPORTS

Wrightsville Beach Surf Camp & Lessons ......... 910-256-7873 www.wbsurfcamp.com

SOUTH CAROLINA - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Folly Surﬁng Lessons (Folly Beach) .................. 842-588-9145 www.follybeach.com

Soul Surfers Surf Camp (Mt. Pleasant) ............... 843-881-6700 www.soulsurfers.net Surf The Earth (Pawleys Island, SC) ................ 1-800-864-6752 www.surf-the-earth.com

MASSACHUSETTS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Surfari Sup & Surf ............................................ 1-978-704-9051 www.supsurfari.com Little Overhead Surf Lessons (Eastham) .......... 508-240-1455 www.littleoverhead.com

EL SALVADOR - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Explore El Salvador explorelsalvador.com

SunZal Surf Tours ............................................... 407.745.1524 www.sunzal.com

CANADA - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Surf Sister Surf School ..................................... 1.877.724.7873 www.surfsister.com

AUSTRALIA - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Surf Easy Surf Lessons ....................................... 07 5525 6818 www.surfeasy.com.au

SURFBOARD REPAIR OAHU, HAWAII:

The Ding Kings Hawaii ............. 808-391-7483 | 808-923-0067 Edge Board Works ............................................... 808-847-3154 RV’s Ocean Sports ............................................... 808-732-7137 Surf Garage ........................................................... 808-951-1173

MAUI, HAWAII:

Ron’s Board Repair ..................... 808-283-6462 / 808-575-7447 Maui Ding Repair................................................... 808-572-6636

KAUAI, HAWAII:

Dr Ding’s Westside Surf Shop ............................. 808-335-3805 Akamai Surf-Lihue................................................. 808-632-0797

CALIFORNIA:

Hourglass Manufacturing Inc............................... 714-894-0050 Ding King Surfboard Repair ................................. 760.753.0316

FLORIDA:

Blue Room.............................................................. 850-235-0401 Surf Station............................................................ 904-471-9463

SURF/PHOTOGRAPHER

Island Native Surf House Surf Lessons ............. 956-772-7100 www.islandnativesurf.com

Aaron Nakamura | HawaiiRedDragonPhotography.com

South Padre Island Kiteboarding Surf Lessons 956-772-1098 www.southpadreislandkiteboarding.com

Dave Gregerson | 20Foot.com (California, Intl)

Galveston Beach Bums Surf Lessons .............. 409-515-0587 www.galvestonsurﬂessons.com

Elliott Wong | WahineSurfer.net (Hawaii)

NEW JERSEY - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 7th Street Surf Shop Surf Lessons ..................... 609-391-1700 www.7thstreetsurfshop.com

VIRGINIA - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Titus Surf School ................................................ 870-370-SURF www.titus-international.com Hotline Surf Camp - Virginia Beach .................... 757-428-6703 www.hotlinesurfboardz.com 172 | womenssurfstyle.com | wSSm

C.M. Olivieri | WavesGoneWild.com (California) Dale Basye HologramVision.com (California) Gabriel Fernandez | SecretSurf007.com (Florida, Intl) Gary Miyata | GaryMsCreations.com (Hawaii, Intl) Jim Whitney | SessionsSurfPhotography.com Joem Costez | SurferPix.com (Hawaii, Intl) Joanne Barrett | IslandStyleImages.com (Hawaii) Kaz Sano | KazSano.com (Hawaii - Intl) Mary Radcliffe | Rip-Pics.com (Florida) Nicole Sanchez | BehindTheLensMaui.com (Hawaii)

Spike | SpikeRaymond.com (Hawaii - Intl)

CALIFORNIA: Santa Cruz: 831-475-2275 Huntington Beach: 714-536-9303 DELAWARE: Fenwick: 302-539-5800 FLORIDA: North East Coast www.911surfreport.com (2 x daily PHOTO surf report) Jacksonville Beach (904) 828-4848 Jacksonville Beach (904) 241-1019 Jacksonville (904) 241-0933 Jacksonville (904) 249-4452 St. Augustine (904) 824-9855 St. Augustine (904) 471-1122 Central East Coast FL East Coast 976-7873 976-SURF Titusville (321) 383-0165 Cocoa Beach (321) 728-8118 ext. 2030, (321) 799-8888 ext. 3 Cocoa Beach (321) 868-8967 Cocoa Beach (321) 783-6440 Cocoa Beach (321) 784-2400 Satellite Beach (321) 773-0428 Indialantic (321) ALL-SURF (255-7873) Melbourne Beach (321) 768-7601 South East Coast Stewart (561) 287-7806 West Palm Beach (561) 744-8805 Palm Beach (561) 832-9299 Northern Gulf Coast Pensacola Beach (904) 432-3566 Ft Walton Beach (904) 244-2223 Central Gulf Coast Clearwater (813) 442-3227 Madeira Beach (813) 383-SURF (383-7873) Indian Rocks Beach (727) 596-WAXX (596-9299) Treasure Island (813) 363-SURF (363-7873) St. George Island (850) 553-6236 St. Teresa Beach (850) 697-8330 Southern Gulf Coast Gulf Coast FL (941) 778-WAVE (778-9283) Sarasota 1(800) 953-SURF (953-7873), (941) 346-SURF Ft. Walton Beach (941) 778-1001 Holmes Beach (941) 779-0000 Lido Key (941) 472-0004 HAWAII O’AHU: 808-596-SURF OAHU : 808-637-RUSH MAUI: 808-572-7873 KAUAI: 808-241-7873 BIG ISLAND: 808- 324-7874 NEW JERSEY Sea Bright: 732-842-4024 Belmar: 732-681-6405 Ocean City: 732-531-1028 Ocean City: 609-398-7070 Ocean City: 609-298-6390 Ocean City: 609-823-3331 Ocean City: 609-399-8399 NORTH CAROLINA Clearwater/Wrightsville Beach: (910) 256-8184 SOUTH CAROLINA Folly beach: (843) 588-2261 VIRGINIA Virginia beach: (757) 428-1877

WSSM | SURF CAMP DIRECTORY SURF CAMPS & RESORTS AUSTRALIA - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Nancy Emerson School of Surﬁng Phone: (61) 413-380-933 | www.SurfClinics.com

MEXICO - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Pescadero Surf Camp - Baja Phone: (52) 612-130-3032 | www.pescaderosurf.com

BARBADOS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Barbados Surf Trips Phone: 1.246.262.1099 | www.barbadssurftrips.com

MOROCCO - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Taghazout Surf Camp Phone: (34) 971 306 992 | www.nomadsurfers.com

BRAZIL - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Easy Drop Surf Camp Phone: (55) 73 - 3251 3065 | www.easydrop.com Calima Surf School & Camp Phone: (34) 626 91 33 69 | www.calimasurf.com CANARY ISLANDS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Lanzarote Surf Camp Phone: (34) 971 306 992 | www.nomadsurfers.com CANADA - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Inner Rhythm Surf Camp Toll Free: 1-877-393-SURF | www.innerrhythm.net Surf Sister Surf School Toll Free: 1-877-724-SURF | www.surfsister.com COSTA RICA - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Blue Surf Sactuary PH: 011 805-443-5495 | www.bluesurfsactuary.com Costa Rica Surﬁng Chicas PH: 011 (506) 2643-3197 | www.costaricasurﬁngchicas.com Endless Summer Surf Camp Phone: (949) 498-7862 | www.endlesssummersurfcamp.com Green Iguana Surf Camp Phone: (506) 825-1381 | www.greeniguanasurfcamp.com Pura Vida Adventures Phone: (415) 465-2162 | www.puravidaadventures.com Rainforest Outward Bound Surf School Phone: 1-800-676-2018 | www.crrobs.org Third World Productions Phone: (506) 643-1497 | www.thirdworldproductions.org Voec Retreats www.voecretreavvts.com Witches Rock Surf Camp Phone: 888-318-SURF | (011) 506-2653-1262 www.witchsrock.com ECUADOR - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Marejada Surf School Phone: 593 5 2622971 | www.marejadasurfschool.com EL SALVADOR - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Azul Surf Club www.azulsurfclub.com

Villa Argane Surf Camp Phone: (34) 971 306 992 | www.nomadsurfers.com NICARAGUA - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Suave Dulce Women’s Surf & Yoga Retreat www.surfwithhollybeck.com

Richard Schmidt Surf Camp (Santa Cruz, CA) Phone: (831) 423-0928 www.richardschmidt.com

PANAMA - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Panama Surf Camp | www.morronegrito.travel PERU - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Chicama Surf Resort | www.chicamasurf.com Kimbas Bungalows | www.kimbasbungalows.com Las Olas Mancora | www.lasolasmancora.com Samana Chakra | www.samanachakra.com PORTUGAL - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Lagos Surf Camp, Algarve Phone: (34) 639 39 39 94 | www.nomadsurfers.com SAMOA - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Salani Surf Resort Toll Free: 888 669 SURF (7873) | www.surfsamoa.com/ SPAIN - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Golﬁno Surf School Phone: 679 932 586 | www.golﬁnosurfschool.com Sopelana Surf Camp, Bilbao www.nomadsurfers.com | Phone: (34) 639 39 39 94 SUMATRA - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Baneng Island Resort Phone: (61) 2 6286 9033 | www.simeulue.com/ USA - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Bolinas Surf Lessons & Camp (CA) Phone: 415-868-0264 | www.surfbolinas.com

Cannon Beach Surf (Cannon Beach, OR) Phone: 503-436-0475 | www.cannonbeachsurf.com

SunZal Surf Tours www.sunzal.com

CLUB ED Surf Camps (Santa Cruz, CA) Phone: (831) 464-0177 | www.club-ed.com

INDONESIA - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - G-LAND Jungle Surf Camp - Bali Phone: (62) 361-777649 | www.g-land.com Bobby`s G-Land Surf Camp Phone: (62) 361.755588,762364 | www.grajagan.com Padang Padang Surf Camp Phone: 62 81 337 737210 | www.balisurﬁngcamp.com

Surﬁng Rabbi (Venice Beach, CA) Phone: (310) 877-1482 www.Surﬁngrabbi.com

Popoyo Surf Lodge | www.surfnicaragua.com

Punta Roca Surf Lodge www.puntaroca.com

www.ﬁjisurf.com

Surf Diva Surf School (La Jolla, CA) Phone: (858) 454-8273 www.surfdiva.com

WB Surf Camps (Cape Hatteras, NC) Phone: 1.866.844.7873 www.wbsurfcamp.com

C-SickSurﬁn Surf Lessons (Galveston Island, TX) PH: 409-770-9455 www.c-sicksurﬁn.com

Nagigia Surf Resort Phone: (679) 333 7774 |

South Padre Surf Company (Texas) Phone: 956-772-7272 www.southpadresurfcompany.com

ChicaBrava US: 713.893.5260 | Nica: +505.8.894.2842 www.chicabrava.com

Paradizo Azul Surf Resort www.paradizoazul.com

FIJI - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Matanivusi Surf Fiji www.surﬁngﬁji.com

South Coast Kiteboarding & Surf Lessons (Corpus Christi, TX) Phone: 361-949-3278 www.southcoastkiteboarding.com

Eli Howard Surf School Encinitas & San Elijo State Beach, CA Phone: 760-809-3069 | www.elihoward.com Endless Summer Surf Camp Phone: 949-498-7862 www.endlesssummersurfcamp.com

Nantucket Surfari Phone: (508) 228-1235 www.nantucketsurfari.com Walking on Water Surf Camp (San Diego CA) Phone: (858) 509-7977 www.walkingonwater.org HAWAII | USA - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - North Shore Surf Camps - Oahu (808) 638-5914 www.northshoresurfcamps.com Nancy Emerson School of Surfing - Oahu (808) 294-5544 www.SurfClinics.com Nancy Emerson School of Surfing - Maui (808) 244-7873 www.MauiSurfClinics.com LocoBoyz Surf Camp (808) 739-5588 www.locoboyzsurf.com Lightning Bolt Surf Expeditions (808) 877-3484 www.lightningboltmaui.com Girls Gone Surfing PH: 808-280-0103 www.girlsgonesurfing.net Maui Surfer Girls PH: 808 280-8165 www.mauisurfergirls.com

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Islands Surf Camp Phone: 310-866-1941 | www.isurfcamp.com Oregon Surf Adventures (Cannon Beach) Phone: 503.436.1481 www.oregonsurfadventures.com Ossies Surf Camp & Lessons (Newport, OR) Phone: 541-574-4634 www.ossiessurfshop.com wSSm | womenssurfstyle.com | 173

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See You Next Issue... Las Flores, El Salvador Photo: Gabriel Fernandez | fernandezphotoart.com

Log on to womenssurfstyle.com to learn more about the 1st Annual, WSSM Women’s Surf Retreat 2013- and come surf this amazing break with WSSM

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