If you’ve followed along with this website for any duration of the 3 and a half years it’s been around, you might have noticed something a little troubling. I know I am at fault, and I’m here to own up to it today. So here it goes – I’d like to apologize to any, and everyone who has been upset, bummed, let down, angry and confused at me for not covering Women’s surfing. That changes today.
I won’t even get into why I hadn’t written about it in the past. It is what it is – or better, it was what it wasn’t. I will tell you that I’m writing about it today to put you on notice. As if you didn’t already know, the buzz around Women’s surfing is the hot topic right now, and we just had one of the bigger events of the year go down this past weekend.
The Super Girl Surf Pro takes place down in Oceanside, 18 years running now. This year saw history go down, as Eden Walla became the youngest girl to ever win the event at 15 years old. It was the youngest combined Final in Super Girl history, as 14 year old Kiara Goold had a tremendous showing to finish runner-up in her first ever QS event.
If you remember, Goold was invited to the recent Stab High Japan, and she is on a lot of peoples radar already. She’s on Channel Islands surfboards right now, and I’m counting down the days until she starts collecting stickers on her boards. She is from Tahiti, and she is not afraid to have a dig. At 14 years old, she’s spent more time in the bowl than I have. I know we are all looking over the shoulder at Sierra Kerr, Erin Brooks, Bella Kenworthy and Vahine Fierro, but there is yet another wave on the way. Now you can tell all your friends that you knew Kiara Goold would be there when she hits the Tour in a few years.
Eden Walla might be a name that you are not familiar with. I am, however. So let me tell you what I know. I know that her dad was the boat driver that took the crew out to Cortes Bank for the movie ‘Step Into Liquid’, and that he tried to paddle one that day, only to get completely annihilated. Watch for him here at the 1:20 mark. He’s (Eden’s dad) not the biggest guy on the beach either; dude had some cojones, so I expect the same from both of his kids – Eden and Zion. Eden is 15, so Zion must be around 10. We’ll get more into him later, but remember that name. While Eden isn’t as progressive and air savvy as some of the other girls we see shining right now, her surfing is very polished. She is ultra consistent and has some push in her surfing. Her turns are really strong. She was a part of the ISA World Junior Championship team this year, and you can count on seeing a lot of her in the future. Congrats to Eden on her first of many QS wins.
Walla and Goold overcame an extremely talented field full of former CT’ers, Olympians, and highly touted local girls. I have to give shoutouts to local HB shredder Sara Freyre for making Round of 16, Bailey Turner and Maddie Storrer for making the Quarters, and then ultra grommet Ruby Stringfellow getting all the way to Semi’s. There’s a pretty gnarly talent pool coming up in “Surf City”, be prepared.
As far as contests go, we’ll now turn our heads to the big show, the Challenger Series. The Ericeira Pro window opens in 5 days, on the 29th. The only person officially qualified for the Championship Tour next year is Ian Gouveia, and he is rumored to be skipping the trip to Portugal. So we have 9 slots remaining on the Men’s side, and 5 on the Womens, with 2 events left. Saquarema starts only 6 days after Ericeira, so it’s about to be a quick ending to the year.
A preview/prediction piece for Portugal is on the way in the coming days. Until then, try and get some waves. First few days of Fall have been close to flat. Keep me posted if you know of a fun sandbar.
Cheers,
hwilsin
Drew Stanfield