Maui Surfer Girls

"Women in Surf - No Girls Allowed" By: Tetsuhiko Endo

If you're in the women's surf industry or passionate about surfing, this article in The Inertia is a must read.  It'll touch a deep chord with feminists, supportive male sport enthuisasts, and definitely female pro athletes across the board.  

My father is a big supporter of female athletes and gets so worked up when he sees the disappointing money discrepencies between men and women pro athletes in their sport.  (Check out the career earnings of the top women pro surfers compared to the top men pro surfers).  

From a young age he has taught me to charge just as hard as the guys.  When I was just big enough to swim, I'd wrap my little arms around his neck and dangle from his shoulders like superman's cape.  We'd drop into the pounding shorebreak at Kaanapali Beach together for hours.  He was like a hero to me, leading me in and out of perilous ocean adventures unscathed, while I sported a huge grin on my face.  I learned at a young age to trust myself and be confident in the ocean despite my petite female build.  When I surfed "Jaws" and told him afterwards, he said 'Well what did you go and do that for?" I was like, "Dad, you taught me how to surf and I guess it eventually led me there..."  

I would not have been so brave to charge the male dominated line up of "Jaws", or the male dominated surf school business scene of Maui, if my dad had taught me that girls are suppose to play with Barbies, look cute, and let the boys have all the fun in the waves.  No way!  He wanted his daughter to play with the big boys in big waves!

I know first hand how the big sponsors like Billabong and Quicksilver can drop any girl or business with a stroke of a pen.  After four years of working with Billabong as a sponsor of our girls surf camp, with no explaination we were suddenly dropped and replaced by our competitor on island.  Could it be that the owner of that school had a "Barbie-like" surfer girl image that caught Billabongs eye?  That same year we were dropped, I was among the first crew of girls that surfed "Jaws".  Billabong never recognized me or the other women pioneers at "Jaws".  Did we not fit the "pretty girl" mold that sales their bikini's?  

Now looking back, I realize that I didn't need a Billabong sponsor to prove that we are a successful surf school in the first place.  Each year our bookings increase, and we've touched hundreds of girls lives through our surf camps, as well as recognized in media outlets like Seventeen, Teen People, and Time magazines.  We've survived the drop off of business after 9-11, the 2009 recession, and sold out our surf camp in 2011.  Our camps are truly making a difference in the girls lives who attend and that's truly all that matters.  

Maybe because of the empowering difference our camp has made in the next generation of surfer girls, these girls will create a new era of gender equality in surfing and hopefully womens sports across the globe.  I sure hope so.  Because when I read articles like "Women in Surf - No Girls Allowed", I get all worked up like my dad.  Have we regressed?  

After 10 years of enjoying the women's Billabong Pro event at Honolua Bay, Billabong suddenly dropped that as they did our surf camp.  During the same week that the women's Billabong Pro is normally held, Billabong's Pipemasters event heralds a whooping $425,000 prize purse (the biggest prize purse at the Vans Triple Crown event).  And they somehow can't afford a pro contest for women on Maui now?  Go figure?!

Surfing has taught me many life lessons, but there's one that helps me come to peace with gender inequality and that is that the ocean does not discriminate, but teaches us about humility. The corporations certainly need this lesson, and us consumers are the only ones to teach it to them.

 

 My Dad and I sailing together in Kaanapali

 

My first experiences surfing the shores of Maui on the plywood skimboard dad made for me circa 1979 at Kaanapali Beach.

 

 
Skipping down the face of a mountain of ocean at "Jaws", March 2007

Maui Surfer Girls Alumni Surf into their 20s

 

After eleven years of Maui Surfer Girls, our alums have grown up to do some incredible things with their lives.  We have college students presently attending Harvard, Vassar, Colombia, and graduates of Stanford, Reed, Prescott College to name a few.  We have a runway model currently in Paris, and a visual art presenter at a LA Ted conference.  As teenagers they all had that spark to succeed, but I’d like to think that their empowerment was amplified by learning how to surf with their peers and mentors at Maui Surfer Girls.

 

As our surf camp founder, or “Mama D” as the girls call me, I could not be more proud of the young women that they’ve become. I’ve reconnected with our MSG alumni via facebook of course, and would love to share with our greater MSG community all the amazing things that our alumni campers are now doing in their 20s. And they had some good words of advice for the future generation of MSGs.

 Here’s what they had to say.

 

Hannah May, MSG camper 2003

Hannah cruising at the Kahoma Cabin in the West Maui Mountains.

  
 “MSG was one of the most influential, inspiring two weeks of my life. Not only did I fall in love with surfing, I grew in so many ways as a young woman. 

The late night girl power campfire talks, unlimited bowls of fresh watermelon, dawn patrol surf sessions, standing up on my first wave, breaking my first board (oops!) and bonding with girls from all over the world, was ultimately the perfect sanctuary to learn, love and just BE….  

After MSG, my inspiration to live a positive, surf- filled, productive life only prospered.  I graduated my high school at the top class earning honors awards and academic scholarships to attend UH Manoa on the island of Oahu, studying global environmental science. 

I lived in Oahu for one year, making the principles list at the end of my freshman year of college while still making the time to get into the ocean every spare moment. In Oahu I began exploring the world of modeling, and shortly after I was given the opportunity to work as a model in London, Paris and Milan (Italy). 

I decided to start trekking the world, and although I knew living in the city and not having the ocean to disappear into would be a challenge, I also knew any challenge was a good one and something I can learn from.   Although I was given the opportunity to travel and model I wasn’t at a place where I was comfortable to stop my university studies- so I decided to do both!

Whether I am making snow angels and drinking hot coco in Scotland and Sweden, watching the street performers in London, spending hours standing in front of the Norte dam and studying art in the Louvre, or eating whole Italian pizzas in Milan, my positive go-to MSG attitude is still driving me forward.  One thing I learned at MSG  is that if you’re going to paddle for the wave you better paddle hard!

After a summer back at home filled with sun, ocean, fresh coconuts, and aloha, I’m back on my trekking adventure.  I am currently working in Paris but I’m soon off to Thailand to work and then off to Cape town, South Africa (whoo hoo finally some surf!)   

As a junior in college and a full time traveler I couldn’t be happier, and am so grateful for everyone who has inspired me and helped me grow! I give thanks for Dustin and the whole MSG team.  You girls are awesome.   I am content that MSG has had such a lasting impact on my life and only wish the same for all future MSGS! Your life is yours, so paddle hard and smile!"

 

 

 

Lila Roo, MSG camper 2001-2 CIT 2003-4, Staff 2005.

 

Lila Roo (on right) posing with her pink cabin during our Surf Olympics 

 

"I have spent my entire life traveling and making art, and continue to do so, except now I am in love with surfing, so this impacts the places I can travel to, because without surf, life is hard to imagine. The past few months I have been living in LA next to Steven Speilburg in a mansion of dreams, painting jungle cats, putting together art performances, surfing Malibu on borrowed boards, getting inspiration from the homeless and asking existential questions. But last week I heard the winter swells have arrived and so I bought a one way ticket to Hawaii! 

MSG has had an unimaginable impact on my life, and I will never be the same! My life revolves around surfing, soulful surfing, and it has led to me to a path of health and happiness.

 My advice: there is only one of you, so be YOUR best, individuality takes strength and commitment but if you can find what feeds you, only positive things will come from your life. STAY IN THE OCEAN!"

Lila's amazing longboarding skills, gracing the point breaks of Costa Rica

 

Jenny Noreen, MSG camper 2003-4

 

 Jenny "on fire" at MSG 2003 Surf Olympics

"Right now I am a senior art major at the University of Puget Sound in Washington. I love the Pacific Northwest and have become more and more involved with the Outdoor program here and outdoor leadership. I am working on improving our outdoor program and have been throwing my life into it, which is both challenging and incredibly rewarding. I am also so excited to travel! I spent a semester abroad in Costa Rica last year and only got to surf twice, which was obviously a tragedy, but traveling opened my eyes even more to how much I want to learn and discover still around the whole world, and also to the fact that I have to have both ocean, mountains, rivers and friends in my life. I also raft-guided for a while last summer and I LOVED IT! Now I just have to figure out how to play for the rest of my life!

MSG had a grand impact on me! I think it was the best thing I could have done at an influential time in my life when I was still figuring out who the heck I was. Going surfing with a group of empowering women motivated me to be more self confident. I think this was one of the first times that I saw such beautiful lifestyles and attitudes that I wanted to aspire to.

My advice is to embrace life! It is beautiful and not worth stressing over."

 

Jenny lovin' her life outdoors

 

Michaela Steinbeck:  MSG Camper 2005 & 7

Michaela at MSG '05 chargin' down the line at Launiupoko Beach Park  

 

"Thanks so much for including me in the MSG newsletter. Right now I am loving life as a junior at Columbia University! I'd tossed around the idea of medical school at the beginning of my college career but ultimately chose a major in English because reading great literature and writing about it is really where my passion lies.  I'm putting my acrobatic skills to use as a member of Columbia's cheerleading squad and escaping to the outdoors during winters as a racer on our ski team. I am really happy with my life right now. I keep noticing this joy in my voice whenever I get on the phone with my mom. Life is good.

MSG has had such a profound impact on my life that it's hard to articulate but here it goes: I had my first MSG experience as a sophomore in high school. At the time I was extremely wrapped up in my appearance and how others perceived me (do you remember I showed up dragging that huge suitcase through the mud?) and felt very cynical towards female relationships. MSG took me out of my normal life and into an environment where my self worth had nothing to do with external qualities and where I could genuinely connect with female mentors and peers. Now, I strive to be the "real" Michaela and to surround myself with people who inspire me. The shift in perspective that I experienced at MSG has made me a happier person. 

My advice is to laugh every day. If you're not laughing every day, its time to make some changes."  

Michaela's oceanic bliss

I can ditto that advice, Michaela.  Laughter is the best medicine and we sure get a heavy dose of that at camp each year.  I think it's important for girls to be girls, to stall the "coming of age" process a bit before the "real world" hits them up side the head after graduating from high school.  Having that time at Maui Surfer Girls, to be away from pressures of school and parents, is like an incubator that can instill important life lessons and character building opportunities to take back home with them.  If I've seen one quality that MSG has hatched in our girls throughout the years, it is authenticity to oneself and others.  When our camp community creates an atmosphere of non-judgement, girls can relax and be themselves and when that happens, magic happens.  And with each girl, we hope that some of that magic is kept inside of them:  a love of oneself, each other, and Nature.  Our girls then can go into the “real world” with a renewed sense of self and passion to make a difference in their community back home.  From the joy and enthusiasm in between the lines of their interview, my mama d. instincts tell me that we’re accomplishing our mission:  empowering girls through the sport of surfing.

To keep in the Maui Surfer Girls loop:  BE A MSG FAN!

 

 

Keala Kennelly Interview in Surfer Magazine

This is an excellent interview in Surfer Magazine about Keala Kennelly -- her thoughts on women's professional surfing, her relationship with Andy Irons, and experiences tow surfing Teahupoo and that horrendous faceplant to the reef!

Interview of Keala Kennelly in Surfer.com

Here's Keala towing into the meanest, thickest wave on the planet:  Teahupo'o Tahiti.

By the way, the image of Keala's reef gash to her face in this article is very disturbing and the worse that I've ever seen in 30 years of surfing.  So beware if you are sensitive to flesh wounds.

 

Keala Kennelly is one of the most hard-core women pro surfers out there.  She's pushing the envelope of women's surfing and we at Maui Surfer Girls commend her courage and passion for the sport of surfing. You go girl! 

Carissa Moore ASP World Champion

Congrats Carissa Moore for winning the 2011 ASP world tour!  Nike's 6.0 website quotes, "Not to mention, she’s also the first American woman to win the title since 1997 and the first Hawaiian woman to bring the title back to the islands since 1981. Yes, it’s safe to say history was made today in France."  

Quite simply, Carissa is the future of women's professional surfing.  To watch her surf mastery...check out the video in this article about her clinching the 2011 world title.  Incredible surfing!  Thanks for being a great role model to our surfer girls -- we'd love you to be a guest pro surfer at our surf camps next summer.  And right on for representing Hawaii!

 

 

I have a feeling this is the first of many world titles that Carissa Moore will be stock piling during her professional surfing career...look out Kelly Slater, this is your female match!

 

Zipline tour with Skyline Adventures

Each summer we organize "mystery adventures" for our surfer girls.  We do our best to offer the most exciting activities that Maui has to offer.  And the most fun of it all is keeping our afternoon adventures a secret to the girls who sign up for it.  

This summer we took the girls up to the Eucylptus forest in Kula Maui, where Skyline Eco-Tours offers an amazing zipline course.  We zipped through 6 lengthy ziplines from one ravine to another through the Eucylptus trees.  

Here's the last and longest zipline of the day...Our CIT "Sofa" commentates just before taking a huge leap of faith.

 

Flash Mob in Lahaina

MSG staff organized a flash mob with our campers at the Banyan Tree in downtown Lahaina.  CITs, Chloe George and "Sofa" Liebman, and staff member Nicole Nakamura, spent hours organizing a flash mob with our surfer girls, many of which had no dance experience.

It was quite a scene downtown Lahaina and the entire camp and staff of 30 met at exactly 4pm under the huge city block banyan tree to perform this flash mob.  Check it out!

 

MSG Daily Surf Stoke Part III

And more clips of MSG 2011 Surf camp...

 

The MSG Daily Stoke Part II

Here's more clips of our surf camp 2011.

 

 

Girls Surf Camp Maui

Big shout out to all the family and friends of our Maui Surfer Girls 2011 campers!  During this summer's camps, we are planning to share all the fun we are having at camp with all of you...so you can witness all of our incredible experiences at camp.

On opening day this weekend we were greeted by an incredible south swell - making our new campers step up to the challenge of surfing.  And did they ever step up to the challenge.  In this video you'll see what amazing surfers our girls have already become in just the first day.  I'm amazed with the courage and athleticism of our campers this year...and appetites!  I think we blew through 8 lbs of bacon today at our traditional "Breakfast for Dinner" night.  

Check out our highlight video of the first two days of camp.  Thanks to Gen and Lucy for all your hard work putting together this video for the parents and friends of MSG to enjoy!

 

  

Lucy Woodward Bikes Across Europe with sister Emma and friends

   

    Did you know that Lucy Woodward, our surf instructor, has been touring across Europe for the past 6 months with her sister Emma, and best friends Gen and Georgia?  They've pedaled across hundreds, actually well over 1000 miles across rugged terrains like the Pyrenees Mountains in Spain and France, to the sweeping coastlines of Greece.  

     This isn't the first bike tour, Lucy and her sister Emma have accomplished under their young belts.  In 2006 when Lucy graduated highschool, they biked across the US, from New York to California.  What a power team, those Woodward girls (and recently her mom and dad even joined them in Germany to ride along!!)  MSG is proud to have them both at camp this summer.  Lucy's back as a lead surf instructor, Emma will be a van driver, and Gen will be helping us with videography.

     I've caught up with Lucy here and there on Skype, throughout the past 6 months.  Here's an interview I'd love to share with the Maui Surfer Girls...to provide a lil inspiration and show that surfer girls can also be brave and bold bike touring girls too!

 

1.  How long have you been touring across Europe?

 I have been touring since Christmas '10 when my friend Georgia and I met my sister and Gen in Rome. Emma and Gen have been traveling since late September. 

 

2.  What memories have stood out?

 

There are so many great memories and moments that picking one is hard.  But one that stands out at this moment is when we crossed over the French-Spanish border. The border of France and Spain is designated by the Pyrenees Mountains, a infamously rugged, wild and steep range of mountians.   The climb wasnt hard since we crossed over at the Eastern end if the range, but it had been raining all day and it was still chilly (early March).   Once up and over we crossed the Spanish border and the rain really started pouring, we could of sworn it was freezing rain pelting our faces as we started our decent, with the light dwindling and tractor trailers whizzing by. We made it to camp and set up in the pouring rain.   We all barely slept being kept awake by the lightening storm, which we all individually were in fear of getting struck.  We had asked the campground owner about bungalows since but he said we had to earn our ride.  Even though these moments might seem scary and in no way would anyone want to do such things it is these types of moments that make you feel accomplished, proud, and stronger as a cyclist and person. 

 

3.  What's your favorite country to bike through?

 

Every country is unique.  When we first get to a country we are really excited.  But soon we start to want to see another country with another culture.  Each country has something different to offer.  Some are good and easy for bicycling (France, Holland) and others are good becuase of the people (Spain and Germany).  Overall however not one country has stood out.  Every country has had moments of extreme natural and historic beauty and each has had gross industrial ports and coastal development.  When traveling by bicycle you get to experience the good, the bad, and the ugly.  Not just the pretty and scenic. 

 

4.  What's your worse day on the trip?

 

There was a particularly cold day in Italy in Februaury when it was raining and my hands were so cold and we were riding through urban areas.  It was Sunday and everything was closed so I couldn't find a place to pee.  But that day we met a couple traveling around the world on their bikes and we chatted in the miserable cold rain for an hour and every ounce of agony of that day was lifted with the combined spirit bicycle touring. 

 

5.  Do you have quads and abs of steel now? Has it been physically demanding?  

 

I wish! No not really, maybe quads.  The thing with bicycle touring is that after you get in shape riding 40 to 50 miles a day -- it's what you do everyday so the physical challenge is taken away and it's just like walking up four flights of stairs to get into your apartment.  Eventually it becomes routine.  Every so often I get motivated and do some core or arm work outs and even though biking all day is a routine we still are a little tired at the end of the day after cooking dinner and setting up our tents we just want to lay down.    

 

 

6.  Any suggestions to the MSGs who want to go on a long bike tour?

 

Get comfortable riding a bicycle if you aren't all ready.  Next get some panniers (bicycle bags) and put some weight in them to get comfortable riding with gear.  Start out short in a place you are comfortable.  Take a week or weekend to ride to local park or a close by friend or relatives house.  Plan out the route carefully to make sure here are safe and legal roads to ride your bicycle on.   Local bicycle shops often teach courses on bicycle maintenance, you don't need to be a pro but understanding how your bike works and how to change a flat tire is helpful.   Within the USA there is and organization called Adventure Cycling Association, which has many routes all over the United States that are easy to follow with the correct maps. They are also a good organization to look into if you are interested in bicycle touring.  They often lead group tours and youth tours all over the country.  

 

7.  Did you feel safe as a female biking through all those countries?  

 

I haven't once felt uncomfortable for my safety, however I am a very trusting person.  Since we are group of strong, powerful females I felt safety in numbers has worked for us.  If I was traveling by myself I might not have felt as safe.  I also believe that if you put out an energy that is scared and fearful, then scary things will happen. Walking, surfing, or biking through life with confidence in yourself helps create an energy of power and strength for the world to see.  (I can't agree more with ya on that, Lucy!)

Check out these amazing pics from their European cycling tour.  And follow their blog link!

All of the girls bikes in Italy

A coastal rock in Greece

 Emma, the navigator, checks the maps in Greece

 

Lucy and Gen hit 1000 miles in France!

 

THE MSG'S HONOR TEAM WOODWARD FOR AN AMAZING EUROPEAN TOUR!!