The future is female and riding a surfboard: Women's surfing makes a dazzling leap forward in 2024
Olympic champion Carissa Moore remembers a time when she was the only female in a line-up. Now, when she surfs, there are sometimes more girls than boys on the waves.
This change is not just about numbers.
Women are using their surfboards to jump higher than ever before, hurtle through the biggest barrels and take on menacing reef breaks that intimidate even the most fearless of male surfers.
And once they emerge from the white foam, they are done staying politely modest about their accomplishments.
“Female surfing is just elevating with such a quick rate. In a few years I reckon it's going to overtake the men's category,” Portuguese surfer Yolanda Hopkins told Olympics.com. “It's not going to take that long.”
One of the sport's biggest rising stars, Molly Picklum of Australia, surfing the same wave in Tahiti as three-time world champion Gabriel Medina.
Caity Simmers: “Pipeline is for the girls”
World No.1 Caitlin Simmers did not mince any words when she gave her first interview – sitting on a surfboard in the water - after winning Pipeline Pro, the season's opener of the 2024 WSL Championship Tour in February.
“Pipeline’s for the f*** girls, that’s all I have to say,” the USA surfer said with barely a prompt, taking her male interviewer aback.
It was a fitting summary of finals day that saw the Hawaiian behemoth rise to eight feet high and female surfers tame it with rides that scored 9.0 and above.
Just hours before, Simmers’ close friend and long-term rival Molly Picklum became the first woman to score a perfect 10 at Pipeline in her semi-final against Hawaii local Bettylou Sakura Johnson.
The 21-year-old Australian got three of the Top 5 waves at the Championship Tour season opener: 10.00 in the semi-final, 9.27 in the final, and 8.50 in the opening round. The other top spots were taken up by two 18-year-olds. Johnson scored 9.70 and Simmers 9.17 in their respective quarter-finals.
The crowds on the beach sat mesmerised as the women tore through one tube after the next – many of these spectators hailing from a time when pro female surfers were not given the opportunity to compete at Pipeline.
Male surfers have competed on the iconic Hawaiian wave since 1971, but no pro competitions were held on that wave for women for 49 years. The women went to Honolua Bay in Maui instead.
It was not until a fatal shark attack on an amateur surfer during the Maui Pro in 2020 that female surfers were redirected to Pipeline on the neighbouring island of Oahu. This marked the first time that women were competing at Pipeline on the Championship Tour, and they have not left since.
“We all showed it by surfing that Pipeline is for the girls, the girls can surf it too, and I feel like it became pretty clear that day,” Simmers said about her fiery outburst after the Pipeline Pro final.
“That was a pretty cool day in women's surfing. If I was watching from the outside, I would be so happy, but it was really cool to be a part of it,” Caitlin Simmers to Olympics.com
Riding in only her second Championship Tour season, Simmers blasted to victory in Hawaii to claim the first of her three victories of the 2024 season, so far.
Once the seconds ticked down, she reached out to Picklum in the water and the pair clasped hands and congratulated each other.
While Simmers and Picklum have grown up fighting for the same trophies, they also share a close friendship. Sharing a line-up at the Pipeline Pro final made the historic day even more special.
“It's pretty amazing seeing where we were,” Simmers said. “We were both competing in really bad waves years earlier. And then I feel like we've both been our biggest competitors to each other, so it's pretty wild.”
Now both in the Top 5 of the world ranking, Simmers and Picklum often get mentioned together in conversations about the progression of women’s surfing.
Canada’s Sanoa Dempfle-Olin, who surfed with them as a junior, is among the appreciative fans.
“I think they're two of the best surfers in the world right now,” the 19-year-old Canadian told Olympics.com. “They're definitely deserving, of it and they're pushing the limits in every aspect.
“Female surfing is in a really exciting time right now,” Dempfle-Olin continued. “Between Caity and Molly and Sakura and all the other girls who are pushing the level, it's kind of limitless right now and it's super exciting and there's a lot of support, and I think everyone's really fired up on it.”
Higher, bolder, more creative: The women taking surfing into new territory
Dempfle-Olin looks to Picklum and Simmers for inspiration to push the boundaries of her own surfing. Aerials is one skill she is particularly keen to pick up.
Once the domain of the best male surfers, now females are mastering aerial moves as well. Among them, Canada’s 17-year-old Erin Brooks who receives regular compliments for her aerial tricks from Tokyo 2020 champion Italo Ferreira and three-time world champion Gabriel Medina.
“I would love to see the women surf like the men. That's what we're pushing for with airs and bigger barrels, and I'm definitely seeing that with the new generation and the people who came before us,” Brooks told Olympics.com. “Now we're seeing Caity Simmers and Molly Picklum, Bettylou Sakura Johnson - they're really showing what they can do and it's so inspiring to watch that next generation of the CT surfers really stepping up.”
Whether it is aerial moves or new competition venues, the space between the male and female surfing worlds is getting smaller. The Olympic Games setting is more proof of that.
Teahupo’o, which will serve as the venue of the Paris 2024 surfing competition, used to be reserved for men’s events. Women competed on the Tahitian wave until 2006. It was then taken off the WSL Championship Tour schedule for 16 years due to safety concerns before making a return in 2022.
Less than two years later, in May 2024, wildcard entry and Tahitian native Vahine Fierro scored two waves over 9.00 points before going on to win the event.
Facing her in the semi-final, Tatiana Weston-Webb scored a perfect 10, becoming the first woman to do so on the iconic wave.
The Brazilian athlete flew out of the barrel, arms raised, screaming with joy.
“Vahine was pushing me so much,” Weston-Webb said after. “She was surfing so good and I saw her take some freaking gnarly beatings. I just knew that, man, this is women’s surfing. We’re doing it!”
The best female surfer from Brazil, Weston-Webb has paved the way for more women from her country to reach major international competitions. It was her final effort at the 2024 ISA World Surfing Games, in fact, that earned Brazilian women a team title and secured an Olympic quota for a third female Brazilian surfer, 20-year-old Luana Silva.
Similarly to surf veteran Weston-Webb, who qualified for the Championship Tour in 2015, Carissa Moore has seen great progress in women’s surfing in more than 13 years on the top circuit.
And she does not take it for granted.
“The progression of women's surfing has been on this huge, fast trajectory. It's been so cool to see and be a part of,” Moore told Olympics.com. “When I first started surfing, sometimes I was the only female out in the line-up and now there's sometimes more girls than boys, and I love that.
“It's super inspiring seeing how much the girls are pushing the limits of big wave surfing and barrelling surfing and above-the-lip surfing. Watching them and being like, ‘Oh, OK’, it keeps me motivated too, so I just can't wait to see how it'll continue to progress in the years to come.”
Full surf ahead: The next, next generation
Moore regularly holds mentorship activities for young girls as part of her non-profit Moore Aloha Charity Foundation. Focusing on mental health and overall wellness, the foundation’s goal is to “grow a community of strong, confident and compassionate women” through events that centre around surfing.
The Olympic champion credits this passion project for helping her overcome a mental low in the lead up to Tokyo 2020 and find new purpose as an athlete.
Like Moore, Brisa Hennessy was searching for a greater reason to surf – and found it in the faces and voices of girls sending her good wishes during the 2020 Olympics.
“I was getting videos sent of little girls that were cheering me on down in Costa Rica and saying they started surfing because of me. It was so overwhelming to see the amount of support I was getting,” Hennessy recalled.
“It gave me the motivation and my ‘why’ of ‘why am I doing this?’ It sparked something new in me,” Brisa Hennessy to Olympics.com
When she returned to her tropical homeland, Hennessy hosted a meet-and-greet event with some of the girls who she inspired to start surfing.
“Gosh, it was super emotional," the Costa Rican athlete said. "It was seeing this new wave of energy and generation that was changing the sport and setting the tone for future generations that girls, we can do anything we want to do.
“That was super cool that they got that feeling that they could be there one day, and they can be out in the line-up with the boys, and they can do anything they dream of.”