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The Surfing Gender Gap has Narrowed

First off the bat here, let us state this reporters short comings for this article; the problem is that I am a male surfer writting about surfing women. In my defence, I am a sensitive guy with several surfer girl friends that share their point of view with me.

Back in the day Gidget surfed, but she could not keep up with the Great Kahuna or Moondogy even. Then came along some brave women like Margo Oberg, Rel Sun and the like that opened the door by surfing better than the average guy. A few young women must have noticed and kept pushing the limits. Lisa Anderson used to be impressive back in the mid 80,s and she has continued to improve as her contest results have indicated. More recently, Rochelle Ballard has helped girls see that they could be getting more inside-out views (inside the barrel). I was lucky enough to surf with Melanie Bartels and catch some video of her at the 1997 US Amateur Surfing Champs at Oceanside California (see some video stills below). This young girl rips like and in some ways better than your better than average male surfer. She had wave savvy of a veteran and the paddle enthusiasm just like young and hungry wave hogging young males (take notice girls).
I think that the future of women surfing is looking good. I have been surfing in Santa Cruz for 20 years. There were only a few women around here that surfed back then. Some like Ann Bailey and Brenda Scott followed by Amy Zavala and Laura Anderson were pretty good. There was too few of them and they were much too nice to the more wave hungry local males. The local scene has gone through many changes that have made the current situation the best it has every been for the local surfer girl. The typical surfer in town these days is an intermediate longboarder. They can make the line-up pretty crowded, but not to much of a problem for the local woman if she too rides a longboard. Those longboard hordes can be more of a problem for the female that rides a shortboard. The solution for some is too come in numbers. There is a pack of young teenage girls that take over 1st peak at Pleasure Point every afternoon. Some girls like one I meet at the reefs up north , just drive to find less crowded surf with or without her friends. There are talented athletes expanding the performance level, surf clubs, Surfer Girl web sites, and just a growing population of surfing women; all these factors will continue to narrow the gender gap.

Surfer Girl Gallery

Melanie Bartels at the 97 USASC held at Oceanside, Ca.

Nichole from Santa Cruz at the 97 USASC held at Oceanside, Ca.

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