Caitlin Simmers: Five things you might not know about the US teen surfing phenom
Making the Championship Tour Final Five as a 17-year-old rookie speaks volumes of Simmers' skills on a surfboard. But that is not where the teen's talents end. Skateparks, dance floors, karaoke and editing suites - Olympics.com followed Simmers through her multi-talented universe.
Surfing
Caitlin "Caity" Simmers is impossible to predict.
She shocked the surfing world in 2021, qualifying to the Championship Tour at the age of 15. Shortly after, she delivered another shock, turning down the opportunity.
The following year, the USA teen decided to make a surfing edit. She walked into a production office intending to hand the hard drives over to the editors, but ended up learning editing skills from scratch and completing the project herself.
A top-class surfer, Simmers also skateboards, dances hip hop and can belt a tune.
This season has, arguably, delivered the most suprises of all. Simmers reached the Final Five in her rookie year on the Championship Tour to put herself in contention for the trophy alongside such heavy hitters as five-time world champion Carissa Moore and two-time world champion Tyler Wright – the tour rookie beat both of them earlier in the season, a few hours apart.
Olympics.com took a closer look at the teenage surfing phenom to discover the motto that helps her dominate the waves, her hidden talents on shore and the songs that never fail to get her singing along.
1 – Simmers lives by a fierce motto
It is not every season that a 17-year-old rookie comes along and wins two Championship Tour stages while taking down the biggest names in the sport – Olympic champion Moore and eight-time world champion Stephanie Gilmore, to name just a few.
The secret behind Simmers’ confidence on the waves can perhaps be found in the motto she goes by: “Live fast, die young, bad girls do it well.”
It is a motto that also fits perfectly into her plan of domination for the next five years, which Simmers listed off in her signature casual tone.
“In five years I guess I see myself on tour, with maybe one, two world titles, hopefully, and a couple banger surf edits. Wherever I am, hopefully I’m getting pretty barrelled,” she told Sun Bum before her rookie season.
2 - She said "no" to the Championship Tour
While Simmers’ rookie season on the Championship Tour has been a massive success, the surfer was in no rush to join the circuit. When the World Surf League first sent her an invite to join the Championship Tour, she turned it down.
Simmers earned the invite by winning the 2021 US Open of Surfing. At 15 years old, she was the second-youngest winner in the event's history and was also one of the youngest ever to qualify for the Tour.
But the call-up that is a lifelong dream for many surfers, only got a “not yet” response from the teen.
“Although it was my goal to eventually be on the CT, I have rejected my place for 2022,” Simmers told the WSL. “I would like to work on my surfing, spend time with my family and friends, and focus on school to be more mentally and physically prepared to face that challenge."
Fortunately for surfing fans, Simmers qualified again in 2022 and kicked off her rookie Championship Tour season at Pipeline in January 2023.
3 – She is not only talented on a surfboard
Simmers is mesmerising to watch as she carves on a surfboard. But surfing is not the only board sport she excels in.
When the waves are poor at her home surf in Oceanside, California, Simmers can be found at Prince Park - a local skatepark where she goes with her friends and younger brother.
And when her bags are packed for the latest surfing adventure, a skateboard also often makes it inside the luggage.
"I always bring my skateboard if I’m going somewhere that’s skate-able," Simmers told Sun Bum. “I definitely don’t skate with the intention of it helping my surfing, but it for sure does. It helps with air awareness and some of the body movements are pretty similar."
4 – She is a pop culture entertainer
If a skateboard doesn’t make it into one of her many suitcases, no problem. Simmers has plenty of other talents that she can show off without any props at all.
The Championship Tour surfer dances hip hop and also loves to sing pop tunes.
Her repetoire includes songs by Beyonce, Justin Bieber and Rihanna, and her favourite place to sing them is out in the water while surfing with friends.
While Simmers certainly has enough time on the waves to practise her singing, she humbly admits she's not the best in the group. That honour belongs to Australia's Molly Picklum - another young Championship Tour surfer who is enjoying a breakthrough season in 2023.
5 – She directed, edited and starred in her own film
Picklum is not only a close friend, but also one of the surfers featured in Simmers’ film Toasted.
The who's who of surfing's future - Simmers, Picklum, Sierra Kerr and Bella Kenworthy - started filming footage for Toasted in 2021, travelling to point breaks in Mexico, Indonesia, Portugal and France.
After collecting the footage, Simmers intended to hand the hard drives over to a video editor. However, once again, her unpredictable nature had the surfer going down a different path.
Simmers started sorting the footage and, inspired by a good song, ended up self-editing the Mexico section.
The experience proved so exciting that Simmers decided to edit the whole project. The fact that her longest edit to date was only five minutes did not deter her. Simmers took a desk seat in the offices of surfing media outlet Stab and two months later premiered her 23-minute film.
"I wanted to have control of everything — the editing, the music — because that’s what makes a surf film for me. I wouldn’t want to watch a video that I don’t like," Simmers told Stab of the edit, which draws inspiration from old surfing movies as well as skateboard and snowboard videos.
"I love editing. It’s fun to be able to control your videos. It’s weird because I hate watching myself, but then I edited a whole movie of myself. Also it’s the best way to critique your surfing. I probably watched my clips 400 times each."
Her next goal: “Make a generation-defining surf film that inspires people to go surf."
Given Simmers' wide range of talents, it is a goal that seems well within her reach.