Even with recent changes in WSL policies, surfing is a largely male dominated sport. Usually there are few women in line-ups across the world.
To think that girls or women are just not that into surfing might be too quick of an assumption. It can be intimidating for girls or women to join courses in a mainly male environment.
There can be other reasons too. Especially in countries where girls are under a lot of social pressure it might not fit the norm that they join an adventurous sport.
This is quite unfortunate because surfing has a lot of potential for empowerment and can be extremely supportive for the development of girls to become powerful and leading women who make a change in the community. Surfing could be one of the most powerful and effective forms of female empowerment!
Luckily there are women who took action and were able to make a change in their community. There are lots of surf clubs, classes and communities just for females. In this article we focus on non-profit organizations that encourage girls to go in the water, have fun and build community.
ASIA
Solwota Sista | @solwotasista
Solwota Sista is a platform focused on the encouragement and development of female surfing in the Pacific island state Vanatu.
Sam Suenderman, professional surfer and founder of Solwota Sista, is on the mission to help women and girls of Vanuatu experience and access surfing, surf and non-surf related skill development opportunities and to inspire strength and confidence to all women and girls who participate in surfing.
Solwota Sista gives out free surfboards and encourages girls to try out new things in a safe and inclusive environment – thereby tackling gender disparities and particularly the cultural view of a girl or women’s role in society.
Image Credit: @sea_sisters_lk
SeaSisters Sri Lanka | @sea_sisters_lk
It’s not very common for Sri Lankan girls and women to be found in the ocean. The cultural expectations and social norms push many women to be inside their homes, taking care of the household and family, while men are free to participate in public life.
Amanda Prifti and Martina Burtscher however believe that the ocean is for everybody and that surfing and swimming can serve as tool for empowerment and social change. This is why they founded the non-profit organization SeaSisters.
SeaSisters offers weekly swim and surf lessons that are free for local girls and women. There are also workshops on ocean safety, environmental awareness and women’s health.
The idea behind the project is to help women build confidence, broaden their possibilities and equip them with skills to work in surf tourism.
Amanda and Martina, together with Tiffany Carothers from Surfing The Nations and local women, also founded the Arugam Bay Girls Surf Club, which officially registered as Sri Lanka’s first female surf club in 2018. Today, the club is run by local women for local women.
A Perfect Foundation
The surf and water awareness project of the non-profit organization A Perfect Foundation encourages girls and women of Mentawi islands to become a part of the surf community.
To become part of a previously male dominated sports gives the girls and women confidence and immense joy.
The students also learn about rips, currents, tides and possible dangers in the sea, thereby fostering a sense of respect and love for the ocean environment.
Image Credit: www.bangladeshsurfing.com
Bangladesh Surf Girls (and Boys) | @bangladeshsurfgirlsandboys
In Bangladesh, many children have to work from young age in order to contribute to the family income. For a group of eight Bangladeshi girls between ages 11 and 14 that means raising early each morning and making their way to the beach where they work selling jewelry and snacks until late at night.
Rashed Alam was born in Bangladesh and shares a similar background but became a local surf expert and lifeguard later in life. He runs a local surf club, in which until then only boys participated.
Knowing that children wage earners have little joy in daily life, Rashed started to give the group of girls surfing and skateboarding lessons. Now they are known as the “Bangladeshi surf girls”.
Photographer Allison Joyce, who documented the surfing journey of the girls, says: “It’s rare to see spirited, vivacious girls in Bangladesh. But you see it when they get up on the surfboard and when they are skating—their day-to-day life breaks the traditional roles of what women are supposed to do in Bangladesh.”
The program also offers the girls resources to learn English and other useful skills. With the help of donations, they now don’t have to work full time anymore.
EUROPE
Wave Wahines | @wave_wahines
Yvette Curtis is the founder of Wave Wahines, a girls only surf club based in Croyde, UK.
When her then 12-year-old daughter wanted to learn surfing, Yvette realized that local surf clubs and schools were largely boy dominated. Yvette knows the research that proves the positive impacts of learning in a female focused environment. Therefore, she started a girls only club.
The girls cheer for and support each other in the surfing lessons. The self confidence they gain seeps into other areas of their life. It also gives the girls power and a feeling of equality to be enjoying a sport that has previously been dominated by boys and men.
To keep the community engaged even through the cold season, Wave Wahines offers a weekly winter program that consists of activities such as swim training, trampoline sessions, movie nights and skateboarding.
The club initially aimed to support younger girls, but now it’s a surf club also for mature women. There are weekly surf meetings for 30+ women. With this group, it opens up the most fantastic opportunity for conversations and a sense of sisterhood, Yvette says.
Image Credit: @letzshare
Letzshare | @letzshare
Letzshare was born from a passion for both people and outdoor sports.
The founder Giorgia Rescigno is a former snowboard cross international athlete. She’s always taken part in a variety of sports, but often found herself to be one of very few women.
Giorgia made it her mission to create a safe and non-judgmental environment to get more women to try a variety of fun and amazing sports including surfing, skating, snowboarding, SUP and climbing. This gives girls and women the chance to meet like-minded people, create new friendships, find new passions, and – most of all – have a lot of fun.
Letzshare offers a variety of sports events, beginner and improver courses as well as social events. The events are designed by women for women. The #SheTalks networking evenings are all about getting more women together, listening to some amazing and inspirational stories and create a community.
AFRICA
Image Credit: www.surfersnotstreets.org
Girls Surf Too Durban
Girls Surf Too is an offshoot of the NGO Surfers Not Street Children. The organization empowers street children and children at risk in South Africa and the UK through surfing and mentorship.
Surfers Not Street Children was founded by street children’s activist and surfer Tom Hewitt. He started working with children on the street in 1992 and founded the organization Durban Street team in 1998. In 2012, this organization turned into Surfers Not Street Children.
Girls Surf Too is located in Durban, South Africa. The program is aimed specifically at girls who live on the streets or girls who live in very low budget hostels in the Point district of Durban. These hostels are very dangerous places.
The NGO team visits the girls, identifies those in need and encourages them to join the program. The girls then engage in surfing and other beach activities while social workers seek to build a relationship of trust with them. The skilled staff can provide a wide range of protection, empowerment and encouragement. The ultimate aim is to rescue the girls from their situation.
NORTH AMERICA
Black Girls Surf | @blackgirlssurf
Black Girls Surf is a non-profit organization based in San Jose, California, that supports girls and women of color whose career goals are competing in professional surfing. Through fundraising the athletes are able to train and compete with world-class surfing professionals. This way they are better prepared for competitions.
Black Girls Surf was founded by Rhonda Harper. She noticed the underrepresentation of black girls and women within professional surfing. She herself is a longtime surfer and wanted to become a professional. Therefore, she understands the need for coaches, mentors and trainers of color.
BGS also organizes surf camps and monthly meet-ups where girls and women can get to know each other and surf together.
Bitches ‘n Barrels | @bitchesandbarrels
Based on Vancouver Island, Canada, Bitches ‘n Barrels is a non-profit organization dedicated to getting more women out surfing.
Through community-building events in Victoria and affordable surf trips to Tofino, they create an inclusive and safe environment for women to learn and progress in the water.
Madison Myatt and Melissa Morrison founded Bitches ‘n Barrels in 2017. Madison has a background in holistic nutrition and herbal medicine with focus on women’s health. Melissa decided against pursuing a career in her field of study which is political science, and for her passion of surfing.
Madison and Melissa often found themselves to be one of few women in the line-up. To change that, they organized surf trips with friends. But soon they realized that there were more women looking for adventure and community.
They now run affordable surf trips for all levels of experience, host community events and fundraisers, and aim to connect like-minded women across Vancouver Island.
Kelea Foundation | @keleafoundation
Kelea Foundation is a Maui based non-profit organization dedicated to making sports and the ocean more accessible to all people.
Among other projects, Kelea Foundation runs the Girls In The Line Up program for girls from ages 8 to 18. It provides girls the opportunity to learn water sports such as swim, SUP and surf. Besides getting fit and healthy this is also an avenue for personal growth and community education.
Kelea Foundation’s vision is to cultivate an authentic, diverse, self-determined sisterhood dedicated to community wellbeing.
Dragenfly Movement | @dragonflymovement
Dragonfly Movement is Los Angeles’ first surf club for girls only. It combines the three pillars surfing, connection and empowerment.
Besides surfing, the club also provides a safe space for girls and women to open up about their struggles, strengths, relationships and limiting beliefs. Through these talks, the girls get in touch with their own feelings and feel more connected with others. They leave feeling empowered, strong and equipped with the tools and skills to cope when life gets hard.
Julie Feuerheerdt founded Dragonfly Movement. Empowering women is her passion. Originally, she designed the program for adult women but then realized that there is a need to start conversations about self-awareness and self-love earlier in life. Now there are programs for teens, women and college students.
Image Credit: @browngirlsurf
Brown Girl Surf | @browngirlsurf
Brown Girl Surf is based in Oakland, California, and works to build a more diverse, environmentally conscious, and joyful women’s surf culture by increasing access to surfing, cultivating community, amplifying the voices of women of color surfers, and taking care of the earth.
The values Brown Girl Surf stands for are play, community, empowerment, environment, expression through arts and practice of gratitude.
Brown Girl Surf started with a website that Farhana Fuq created in 2012. There she shared information about a diverse range of women surfers. Farhana and her co-worker Mira Manickman then invited women from varying backgrounds to Oakland beach and taught them how to surf.
Brown Girl Surf creates access to surfing and to the ocean for people that have never been to the beach or don’t have a network of outdoor-loving people around.
Farhana and Mira also aim to change the mainstream surf culture. Both are women of color and they don’t see themselves represented in the dominant narrative of surf culture. Black Girls Surf is a platform for girls and women of every color and cultural background, telling them that the ocean is their place and that they are welcome there.
LATIN AMERICA
Chicas con proposito
Chicas con proposito is a project founded by three Costa Rican local surfer girls who want to give young girls the opportunity to learn despite their social or economic background.
We all know how much joy surfing brings in life: It’s a good way to keep the body healthy, the spirit happy and the mind free from worries. Since 2015 Chicas con proposito enables selected local girls from Dominical and Dominicalito in Costa Rica to take advantage of these benefits too.
Image Credit: @sirenitas_de_popoyo
Sirenitas de Popoyo | @sirenitas_de_popoyo
Bella is a Belgian native who moved to Playa Popoyo in Nicaragua and opened a guest house
and surf school.
In 2017 she founded the associated non-profit Sirenitas de Popoyo. The program is designed to empower local girls through surfing, swimming and education.
Weekly surf and swim lessons are offered for roughly 15 to 20 participants at a time. The girls are also offered opportunities to learn English, Teakwondo and how to use a computer.
Sirenitas del Popoyo’s mission is to create a safe space for these girls to challenge their fears, learn something new, to have fun and share with them the gift of connecting with the ocean.
OCEANIA
Surf Girls Australia | @surfgirlsaus
Surf Girls Australia is an informal group of girls and women who share a love for the ocean.
There are regular surf meet-ups on the Northern Beaches and other social events like skate sessions and nights out. The aim is to bring like-minded women together, get active and have fun.
MORE GIRLS
AND WOMEN ONLY SURF CLASSES, COACHING & SURF CLUBS
Women + Waves | @womenandwaves
Based in Newquay, Cornwall, Women + Waves is a unique female surf collective who offer women only surf coaching and surf trips in a friendly and encouraging environment.
Polzeath Surf Club for Ladies | @polzeathladiessurfclub
Polzeath Ladies Surf Club is a community project that provides a friendly, accessible environment for women to learn and improve their surfing and have fun sharing waves.
Regular Riders Goofy Gals | @regularridersgoofygals
This Facebook group is a platform where ocean loving ladies can meet like-minded women, arrange surf sessions and trips, social events and make seaside friends within the Newquay and surrounding area.
Surf Senioritas UK
Another female surfers only Facebook group. Founded in 2011 by the UK surfers Carys Boulton, Dani Robertson and Sarah Twells, the group rapidly grew in popularity and now connects members from across the world. Kernow Surf Girls is an Surf Senioritas offshoot for local girls and regular visitors of Cornwall
Surf Sister Surf School Canada
Surf Sister is based at Tofino, Canada. The experienced and passionate all female Surf Instructors create a safe atmosphere for girls and women of all surf levels to improve their skills. Surf Sister is the biggest all female instructor surf schools in the world.
Women Soulful Surf | @women_soulful_surf
Helena Richardson, founder of Women Soulful Surf, is originally from Poland. When she moved to Australia and started to surf, she felt intimidated being around experienced male surfers. That’s why she decided to offer private and group classes, surf and yoga retreats and programs for girls and women only.
Ela Surf Brazil | @ela.surf
Ela Surf brings girls and women together in Florianopolis, one of Brazil’s surf hubs. They organize surf retreats as a safe space for women to boost their confidence and power.
The Surf Witches | @thesurfwitches
The Surf Witches is a free female community for surfers of all levels and ages at Australia’s Gold Coast. They come together to connect, support each other, and share their love of surfing and the ocean.
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Written by Lena Riemann
Lena is a yogi, nature and sports lover and political scientist. Currently surfing and working as yoga teacher and freelance writer in Portugal. Collaborating with Surfpreneurs Club for fun and inspiration!
