Y'gotta have a little animal if you wanna win six titles…
As you all know by now, unless you’re living under a rock or are getting totally shacked on a deserted island – which, if you are, what are you even doing here – Steph Gilmore won the Oi Rio Pro yesterday.
She beat out Lakey Peterson in the finals.
Don’t ask me what happened, I was busy talking to some guy in the parking lot. Knowing what happened isn’t my job around here.
A week or so ago, I had the chance to do a brief interview with Gilmore. I’d driven down to Malibu, because Quiksilver was throwing a party to celebrate their new store. It was like any surf party you’ve ever been to. We stood in the parking lot, drinking beers and telling stories. Unlike most surf parties, we didn’t have to pass the hat for another beer run.
When I first catch sight of Gilmore, I have a weird moment of confusion. Is that her or a poster of her? She is after all standing in the Roxy section of the store. She’s wearing a colorful one-piece swimsuit as a top paired with skinny jeans. She laughs at something Caroline Marks says. No, that’s not a poster.
We step outside to get some distance from the DJ. Here are a few excerpts from our brief conversation.
On changes in the sport since she began competing:
“I started on Tour in 2007 at nineteen years old. I was able to have a few years where I competed with Layne Beachley and we had Rochelle Ballard, Chelsea Hedges, and Sofia Mulanovich. I was stoked to get a few years on Tour before those women retired.
“The first two years, I had events at Sunset. When I was on Tour, you know, the women are riding really big boards and sort of charging really big waves. It was sort of a proving point in that respect.
“These women were a lot more raw. There was something about that older generation, because they had to prove themselves from day one. They were pushing so hard for what they deserved. They had to do it with an aggression that almost created friction with the men.
“I think as time went on, you can see a transition where the men started to see that we weren’t competing against them, we weren’t taking anything away from them, we are here for the same reasons. We love the sport. We love what we do and we want to evolve and get better. It wasn’t taking anything away from them.
“I know a lot of of the older women in those generations are like, hey man, we worked so hard for what you’re reaping the rewards of today. But the beautiful thing is, we have so much gratitude for that and we really respect everything they’ve done for us.”
On style:
“Mel Bartels, she really used to blow my mind with the tricks. She was like the one girl, who was like, women’s surfing can go in this direction.”
“My surfing is pretty basic, you know, I just sort of do, like what I know how to do. And I kind of, that’s always been, it’s just solid, normal surfing.”
“Mel Bartels, she really used to blow my mind with the tricks. She was like the one girl, who was like, women’s surfing can go in this direction.”
I can’t help myself, and start laughing: Right! You don’t do anything fancy!
“No, I don’t! I don’t!” She’s laughing now, too.
Every guy I know wants to surf like you, I say.
“But that’s not because I do fancy stuff, I think that’s maybe because it’s fluid to watch and people love that.”
On being a woman athlete:
“That’s the cool thing about being a woman athlete, we’re able to have this balance. We can be fierce and have that assertiveness and competitive drive with each other and then we can kind of switch out of it.
“We care for each other and we want to help each other out on Tour and you know, it’s a really special camaraderie between all the girls.”
On the Competition level on Tour:
“It’s a lot tighter. Every single heat, you could lose. Anyone can lose. It’s crazy to think Carissa and Tyler aren’t winning every single event still. It’s a true testament to, all the girls, the level all the girls are at.”
I get a sudden glimpse of Gilmore, the athlete. She’s a photographer’s dream and seeing her perfect images and video clips, it’s sometimes easy to forget what Gilmore has accomplished. Here’s the woman who’s won six world titles, and still, it seems, wants more. There’s a determined glint in her eye.
“I love it. I still want to smash everyone and do my best. That’s why we’re all here.”
They’ll go out of fashion as fast as you can say Jack Robinson
Quality reporting Jen See! Stoked to have such a thoughtful and positive female voice on the Grit!
Thank you!
That little gimp with the bad haircut that is being chaired up the beach behind Steph weirds me out.
Could he be the little animal that was inside her? Perhaps her secret offspring? Creepy.
I think he’s actually that tall.
Which is even creepier.
Steph is truly a goddess in every way, she keeps pro surfing interesting.
To me it feels like the female surfer whom we all look at and go “ah yes, she’s the GOAT” has not yet arrived.
Huh. Yeah, that’s interesting, right? I’d say if Carissa’s heat surfing turns around, maybe.
Tyler stands a good chance of getting there too.
I don’t mean to be crude but it’s rainy here and I’m bored so I will ask what every guy wants to ask but is too classy. When a female surfer has a good session with lots of wave energy does some salt water enter the reproductive areas then slowly trickle out? This sometimes happens with my sinuses so that makes me wonder.
last time I check either, my nose was a gaping hole made of cartilage, while vag appears to be made of muscle. My butthole is made of muscle, and zero point zero water goes up it when I surf ….
sounds like you are doing it wrong.
Yeah gotta work on the poo stance 🙂
Where’s Laird when we need him…
Forget Laird, where is Wiggolly’s Paddling Style when you need him?
Carissa’s my favorite too. She also seems flawlessly decent and down to earth – doesn’t hurt her cause …
Right! You said thank you, now crawl under your rock!!!
i have never seen better female surfing than Carissa at Honolua
Stephanie’s got a big lead,
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
while Filipe’s hot on Julian’s arse. Where’s Johnnie Florence?
Interesting to hear recently that Stephanie Gilmore moved to California.
Specifically, to Malibu. Wonder why? Certainly not to be closer to that new Quiksilver Board~Riders shop at Topanga, no? Wonder, too, why did Filipe Toledo move to California? Hmmmm. Julian, when are you too movin’ over here???
Stephanie – The Haiku!
I too only do
What I know how to do do
How about you you?
Where was The Party?
In Malibu, or down at Topanga,
where the old Stewart surfshop opened years ago?
Btw, Steph ain’t kidding, Melanie Bartels ripped, saw her a long time ago back in ’05
killin’ it on a glassy Fall mornin’ at Rocky Rights, reminds this dude of a Hawaiian version of Silvana Lima, insane surfin’…
Has anything in your life happened recently?
Hmmmm?
Whatcha talkin’ about?
There’s 3 point breaks in L.A. ya know?
Sunset, where I look for breaching juvenile Great White Sharks, a very friendly surf spot where many beginners like to ride, then there’s Topanga, a better, faster point break, with a bit more of a hard~core crowd, better high~performance surfing often goes down there, + then there’s Malibu. Quiksilver just opened a new shop at Topanga, where Stewarts’ old surfshop was, years ago, where there is a mural he painted, still on the wall. Jen, well she mentioned something about a new shop in Malibu, made me wonder if I didn’t know of this, so I queried ya B/G’ers, was it Malibu or Topanga. Seems it’s at Topanga, right near the creek. But what do I know?
I’ll post it before he does again… 2005 hack https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
hi it was topanga sorry for the confusion!
i had a graph about that — the shop is in the old american apparel building — but i cut it for space because i didn’t want to babble on too long or whatever.
Hiya Jen See, or is that Jen C?
Hahhaha! Btw, thanks for the clarification.
Hey, if I’m kinda an L.A. dude, born+raised, well I kinda need to know my sheee~it if it’s happenin’ just a coupla miles from where them L.A. sharkies sometimes jump, ya know? Other~wise anonny internet folks will think that what ol’ RW does is fake. And I ain’t no fake. By the way, I like to babble when I get online on my laptop, where~as I betcha most of ya’all type them 1 or 2 liners from your cell~phone, right? Catch me at The Beach, in person, and if I like ya, well I babble even more, hahaha! Have yourself a great Sunday, surf’s comin’, so they say…RW
So the women and the men were a lot more raw. What the fuck happened to surfing.
It got old and rich.
Nail on the head. Add complacent and fat
Keep doing this good article thing you keep doing. Authentic. You. Don’t ever change. Promise?
ha ha, okay! as long as i have a space like this where the editors don’t get all eggy and make me write to house style and shit like that i’ll do the thing.
The absence of editorial egg is a journalistic delight. News//Blogs don’t need to be Hemingway, and Derek is known for letting his writers shoot from the hip. Pretty sweet!
It’s very nice, yes. I don’t mind writing to house style — usually it’s not too oppressive on the whole. But I’ve definitely had editors who were inclined to write over the top of me and that’s a bit shit, really. Having a long leash is fun, for sure.
Check this out. I wrote an article about the history of surfing on the West Coast for Explore Silicon Valley, and after my edits, unbeknownst to me, a proofreader they contracted out of London actually went in and changed large sections of the piece, basically highjacking my voice! The check did clear, however 🙂
Wouldn’t a real surf journalismer shoot from the lip?
Define “real surf journalismer”. I’d say they shoot from the finger or pencil-tip
Steph Gilmore. Sophie Goldschmidt. SG. Coincidence??
Yep! Just like Nick Carroll/Nik Karol. What a crazy world!
Things will get weird when this becomes SeachGrit.
10 SECRETS THE WSL DOESN’T WANT YOU TO KNOW.
Sally fitz’G’ibons???
weirdly, i interviewed both in the space of a week. they are definitely different people. definitely.
All this conversation but not one word about men in her life .
I recently watch a video of Steph G playing a Gibson SG during a Margarets lay day.
SG 12