U.S. surfer Caity Simmers: Balancing creativity and competitive spirit to create my own path
Caitlin "Caity" Simmers had no intention of editing a surfing movie when she first walked through the doors of Stab Magazine.
Two months later, the current world No.1 was putting the finishing touches on a 23-minute film called Toasted, which chronicled her surfing adventures in Mexico, France, Indonesia, and Portugal, and which she had edited by herself.
It all began when Simmers showed the magazine staff the edits she put together for the Mexico section of the video.
“Since I like editing, I ended up just editing a little part of it, just for fun, just to show them what I wanted," Simmers said. "Then they were like, 'Oh, you should just edit the whole thing', so then I ended up editing the whole thing. I was on my computer for nine hours a day for a couple months, but it was worth it for sure. I learned a lot and I'm glad I did it.”
This spontaneous editing project is exemplary of Simmers’ broader approach to surfing – and life. She knows exactly how she likes things to be done and does them with her own creative flair.
Olympics.com caught up with USA’s breakout star to talk about her personality on a surfboard, turning down a WSL Championship Tour invitation at age 15, and her favourite songs to belt out while out on the waves.
‘Not yet’ to Championship Tour, 'Yes' to more personality
Show Caity Simmers a surfer and she will tell you what their personality is like out of the water. Unless she is looking at a surfer during competition, because then her psychological test can falter.
"It's tough because surfing is this creative thing but then you have to surf to a criteria and get a score," she said. "They just score you from one to 10 on how good you do, but it's weird because something that's a low score could be something that I love to watch and I would rather watch it than a good score."
While Simmers has tried to keep her own surfing as authentic as possible, she admits that her highly competitive nature makes it hard to keep scores off her mind. It was one of the reasons why the California native was not in a rush to make the switch to competitive surfing herself.
When she got an invite to the Championship Tour in 2021 at age 15, Simmers surprised the surfing world by turning the prestigious offer down. Instead, she spent the year going on surf trips and filming footage for Toasted.
"It's even my dream to be on it, but it was a weird thing because I was like, 'Oh, I feel like I'm too young and not really that ready. I still like hanging out with my friends and spending time with my family'," Simmers said. "Taking a year to focus on that before going into the intensity of the Tour, that was the goal of mine."
There was a risk to declining the CT invitation as well since there was no guarantee that Simmers would be able to qualify again the following year.
But three years on, Simmers has no regrets about the choice she made. On the contrary, she is grateful that she could show other surfers that while a Championship Tour call-up is a dream for the majority of them, doing things your own way brings an even greater sense of satisfaction.
"Everyone does things differently, and I feel like it's easy to look at what other people are doing and what works, like people who are succeeding, 'Oh, what works for them?' And then you're like, 'Oh, I should probably be doing that'," Simmers said. "It's easy to tell yourself that, but what's been working for me is, 'Yeah, you can try that, but if it doesn't work for you, then you just have to trust yourself'."
"What I've been learning is that you don't really have to do what everyone else does. Just because it works for them, it doesn't mean it's going to work for you," Caitlin Simmers to Olympics.com
Caity Simmers' rookie breakthrough
A year's delay worked its magic as Simmers did qualify to the Championship Tour the following year and enjoyed a breakthrough 2023 rookie season.
The USA surfer made the Final Five, finished the season fourth overall, and secured a provisional quota for Paris 2024, beating her all-time surfing idol Stephanie Gilmore along the way, as well as two other multi-world champions, Carissa Moore and Tyler Wright.
What Simmers is most proud of in her rookie season, however, are not specific accolades but rather how calm she managed to stay throughout, especially with the mid-season cut that slashes the field of CT surfers halfway through the competition schedule.
"I'm proud of how I learned last year because it was my first year so you kind of have to learn on the spot because they put you on the Tour and it's this new big thing and then they're like, 'Oh, well, half of you guys are going to get cut'," Simmers said.
"It's like you got hired for this new job and they're like, 'OK, well, we're going to fire you if you don't do good in the next four or five months', which is pretty brutal. So (proud of) just how I carried myself through that and reminded myself that it's just surfing and remembered why I love it."
Caitlin Simmers finished second at the Tahiti Pro stop of the WSL Championship Tour in 2023.
Surfer and singer: Caity Simmers cruising on waves and life
Simmers has carried that easy-going attitude into the 2024 season as well. She opened the season with a win at Pipeline, celebrated a victory at Bells Beach Pro two months later, and is leading the women's rankings ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games.
"I'm just excited to get some good waves and blue water," Simmers said of her upcoming Olympic debut. "It's a really beautiful place, so I'm excited to be there. Hopefully we get good waves."
Making an Olympic debut under this spotlight does not stress the 18-year-old in the slightest. In fact, do not be surprised if you see Simmers breaking out into song while out on the Teahupo'o waters. Lauryn Hill’s “Killing Me Softly” and “Foolish” by Ashanti are among her staples.
"I'm not a singer," Simmers said. "I'm probably the worst singer.
"But if I'm with my friends and out in the water, then, definitely we're all singing."