If you consider yourself a surfer dude, like I sometimes do, then you know that somewhere in your cold, selfish heart is a place for the surfer girl. In your mind she is toned, athletic and beautiful. She loves the water and the sand and she is artistically inclined. She glides on the waves and bounds in the sand with glee. She says things like, “Let’s go to the beach today” and “I bet it’s fun out there.” She is your dream girl.
But for the past few years you have not seen her around. The tan and attractive face with surfboard underarm watching sunsets while sprinkling joy in your eyes has gone missing. She’s been buried in obscure places in an unflattering ASP rash vest, battling sexism on the front lines. Lost in obscurity. Searching for identity and respect. She’s been fighting to progress the surfing level, but forgetting to remind us where she went. Not since pop-punk band Homegrown’s ode to the “Surfer Girl” in the early ’90s have we felt these feelings towards our girl. And we miss her.
“We’re taking a new route with the tour,” explains ASP Women’s Tour Manager Brooke Farris. “We’re celebrating the girls, their personalities and doing our best to bring them to light in a positive way.” And positive it is. The new slogan for the Women’s tour, “Welcome to the Life,” is a bold step for the ASP and one we’re applauding with a standing ovation. The mod-styling of the new ASP Women’s tour booklet demonstrates the willingness to highlight the feminine beauty they all possess, without sacrificing the integrity and progressive qualities that so many women like Lisa Andersen, Rochelle Ballard and Layne Beachley have worked so hard to obtain.
The press kit itself is quite fantastic. Ted Grambeau photographed each of the 17 girls on tour in jeans and a white tee, drenched in soft hues. Comfortable and alluring. Confident and strong. It’s not overly wrought with sex appeal — but the appeal…oh, it’s there. Couple that with a recent spread in Vanity Fair, which featured this new crop of girls who aren’t waiting for the dudes to help anymore. The push is on to get our “surfer girl” back. But she wants us to let her rip this time.
Which brings us to Tuesday night. Parked outside Hapa J’s Restaurant in San Clemente was the Roxy Bus. It’s pink, pastel exterior beckoning your attention to the surfers who have gathered to see the World Premiere of Tiffany Campbell’s new film, Dear and Yonder. Inside, the likes of Lisa Andersen, Steph Gilmore, Kassia Meador, Karina Petroni and a plethora of others paraded around demonstrating that the ever-so-elusive surfer girl is back in town.
Done in classic T. Moe fashion, Tiffany’s film is an ode to the lifestyle that these girls have taken into their own hands. They’re no longer a segment in the men’s movies. They’re looking past the chauvinism. In fact, they aren’t relying on the men at all anymore. They’re doing this on their own and it’s looking really terrific. It’s humorous. Artistic. And beautiful.
“It’s rad to see how many different aspects Tiffany brought into this,” said Roxy Entertainment and Sports Marketing Director Danielle Beck. “It’s art. It’s high shredding. It’s fishes. It’s quads. It’s longboarding. It’s a lifestyle movie, and it’s all girls.”
From the brave sea captain Liz Clark to water woman and geophysicist Judith Sheridan, the movie is, more than anything else, about this “life” and how dynamic and pretty it can be when done by girls. It’s further evidence that they’re no longer relying on “us” guys to be surfers. They’ve got this one on their own and there’s no way are going to snake her this time.