When Duke Kahanamoku introduced modern surfing to Australia in 1915, the first Australian to go out on the impressive piece of sugar pine obtained from a local lumber yard was a Freshwater beachgoer, a young Ms. Isobel Letham. She surfed a wave from the outside peak all the way to the sand, riding in tandem with the Duke. Eighty five years later and women surfers are still going strong. The professional standard is high and getting higher all the time, and the number of free surfing women is on the increase.
Sounds like a rosy scenario doesn’t it? Unfortunately, there are still a number of setbacks and constraints for women surfers, and most of these are initiated and promoted by a minority of men. Surfing is one of Australia’s most heavily male dominated sports, and attitudes toward women in the water are often less than admirable.
Many years ago I was going through some of the basics of surf survival with my girlfriend at the time. Standing knee deep in the shore break at the Cowrie Hole, a male surfer walked up to my friend and asked what she was doing in the water and that she should fuck off out of his way.
This incident served to reinforce my belief that the Ocean would be a better place if there were more women surfers, that women should be encouraged to at least attempt surfing, and that some of my fellow male surfers had much to learn. As a result, I have been coaching surfing both as an amateur and semi professional for a number of years.
Since the late sixties and early seventies, the perception of women who hung out at the beach, let alone go surfing, has not been all that great. Ever seen Puberty Blues? An excellent movie which I initially failed to believe was a true and accurate record of the scene at the time.
The image of the ‘chick’ hanging with the gear on the beach in all weathers, with the sole purpose of supplying the male surfer with a hot Chico roll and sex after a long surf session was not a pleasant one to accept. The women in Puberty Blues decided that they had had enough of the ‘beach bunny’ model and decided to learn how to surf, much to the disgust of the boys. They stuck to their guns, persevered with the sly comments, ostracision and ultimately earned respect by being able to prove themselves out where it counts, in the water.
Despite this ground breaking film, for many male surfers the ‘beach bunny’ attitude is still in existence.
Surfing is a wondrous undertaking. The co existence with a powerful natural force, the learning to control a floating bit of petrochemical, the increase in fitness and the understanding of how it all clicks together. What could be more wondrous than this?
Back in the early 90’s, Kylie, the then Sports Development Officer at the University of Newcastle Sports and Recreation Unit, asked me if I would be interested in teaching University students how to surf. I’d never really taught groups of people surfing before, but I thought that I’d give it a try. Surfing is a very difficult sport to ‘teach’ as it involves a thousand good and bad things all happening at once. I still can’t adequately compare surfing to any other sport on Earth, but I do admit I am fairly biased.
So, to cut a long story short, my first class of nine wetsuited women gathered one sunny Tuesday at Newcastle’s Nobbys Beach at 6:30 am, keen to give this surfing thing a try. As we sat down on the sand, I asked the class why they had decided to learn surf awareness. By far the majority answered that they had had enough of sitting on the beach and watching, and wanted to find out what it was like.
Some of the class wanted to share the experience of surfing with their partner, others just wanted to see what all the fuss was about, all legitimate answers. Not once did I hear, “I wanted to get on to a surfy,” like so many of my male fellow surfers had egotistically believed to be the main reason why women wanted to learn to ride a surfboard.
There are a number of differences in the male and female styles, approach and attitude to surfing. Male surfers display a higher degree of aggression and strength, whereas female surfers tend to co exist with the wave and in a way, enjoy the experience much more. It’s all the same though, the expression of ultimate stoke when the learner is being powered along by the energy of the wave and is in control of the surfboard on the water. The next step is learning to stand and balance on the water, and it’s been quite a while since a well known prophet did this in public so it can sometime be a weird and difficult to concept to grasp.
What I normally do is after the surfer has learned a few of the basics, I get them out on El Horriblo, a 10′ monster malibu that can either make or break a surfing experience. Standing on El Horriblo is a natural thing to do, probably the safest thing to do too! Watching one of the class standing clear of the water, with the look of surprise and excitement (if not sheer terror in some cases) is what Coaching is all about.
However, this story isn’t about how coaching is undertaken, it’s why historically women surfers are nigh on a rarity. I guess the main reasons are perceptions of access and acceptability. Access in the sense that in many ways the Ocean is one of the last bastions of male dominance, and many guys like it that way. Men who go to the sea in ships kind’ve stuff.
Going surfing with the boys is a ritualistic art form, and there are always articles in surfing magazines which ask questions like, “What would you rather do, slot into an overhead barrel, or slot into your babe?” Guess which answer wins. Once again in the media, many references to women surfers in magazines and videos refer to how good they can look in a g – string. The attitude pervades that anywhere further out than you can swim is the domain of the male surfer, and it is theirs to toy with. Any unwelcomed intrusion is usually met with either sexist behaviour, distaste and quite often blatant aggression. Does the HMAS Swan ring a bell here or what? Remember a few years ago when a number of Australian servicemen were charged with assault and harassment against fellow female sailors on a navy destroyer? Same deal, some men believe the Ocean is their domain.
The issue of acceptability is one that is thankfully not as prominent as it was in the past. For many years a women out in the impact zone was out there for three reasons; she was on her way to drowning, she was out there trying to get laid, or she was butch and was trying to act like a man.
The Nineties and now Naughties sees an increasing number of women surfers, some even making a good living out of it. There are quite a few regulars out there most mornings and the numbers who are keen to learn are on the rise as well. Newcastle seems to have the lowest number of women surfers per head of population. Thankfully though this is changing thanks to the attitude of local female surfers and Surf Coaches who encourage and foster young female surfers to not only give surfing a try, but remain keen through the trials and bumps on the head.
I admire anyone who is brave (yes, it can get a tad scary) enough to give it a shot, and I totally admire the ones who can survive the hammerings, the cold mornings and the strange looks, and stick at it. Unlike some sports, surfing is a process of constant learning and it takes a solid year of continuous practice to get anywhere near confident. For many, this is hard to accept and the attrition rate is high.
Avenues available for women to get out in the water are broadening all the time, with gender specific classes being run by groups like the Hunter Surfing Academy, Angela Schleibel, the East Coast Surf School, Department of Sports Recreation and Racing, the University Surfriderz, and the many Coaches practicing around the Coast. So if you’d like to give surfing a try, give one of these groups a call, Summer is here and a degree of proficiency would be a handy thing.
So next time you see a women surfer, respect the fact that she has had to put up with much more than her male counterparts and has rightfully earned her place in the line up.
Go surfing!
Chris Tola
Yahoi! Surf Awareness School
