Surfer Girl

For a long time, surfing was a male dominated sport and it was very rare to see a woman surfing; even to this day, it’s undeniable that there are more male surfers than girl surfers. Despite this, though, the number of surfer girls is on the rise and they bring with them a great amount of skill and talent. There are already quite a few women surfers who have gained the respect of the surfing community.

Lisa Andersen is a surfer girl from the United States that won the women’s world surfing championship four times in a row, between the years 1994 and 1997. Her very first surfing championship, an amateur title, was won in 1987. She turned pro in 1988. Injury forced her out of competition after her last world title in 1997, but she appeared back on the surfing scene in 2000.

One of the most important surfing girls is Layne Beachley (who was actually born Tania Maris Gardner). She is considered by many as the most significant surf girl in the history of women’s surfing; indeed, she’s won the world championship a good seven times, from 1998-2003 and again in 2006. She turned professional at 16 years of age and was considered the sixth best surfer in the world by the time she reached 20 years old. She was even allowed to compete with the men.

Lynne Boyer is a girl surfer from the United States that has won the world surfing championship twice, in 1978 and 1979; girls’ surfing was revolutionized by her presence because it was the first time that a woman won this championship twice, let alone twice in a row. Another of the important surf girls is Ashley Cheadle, an Australian model and actress; she is one of the female surfers for the Billabong team.

One of the icons of female surfing is Bethany Meilani Hamilton, an American surfer who became famous after she survived a shark attack when she was 13 during which she lost an arm; she became even more famous when she overcame this serious injury and got right back into the water to surf. She learned to surf by the age of four and was well on her way to professional surfing by the time she was 10 years old; she was sponsored before she was 13.

Nowadays, thankfully, it’s much more common to see a girl surfing at pretty much any surf spot in the world. You’ll find Brazilian surf girls, American surf girls and girls from a variety of countries riding the waves. Surfing gear manufacturers have also realized that girls are ever more present and have started catering to their female consumers, coming out with a wide variety of ladies’ surf shorts and other items of clothing designed specifically for women. Female surfers are also getting publicity in surf magazines and online; you can even check out pictures of female surfers in a surf girls’ gallery of images.