Unexpected.
But you can imagine my sheer delight, this Mother’s Day morning, after I rubbed the sleep out of eyes, gathered iPhone, began my ritual of scrolling through the surf news and stumbled upon a feel-good story about Keala Kennelly, described in the piece as “The Best Female Surfer on Earth,” and her current journey. Oh I am not suggesting that Kennelly is a mother, or that mothers are female, only that I was pleased to see the big wave world tour champion back in the water after a recent hip surgery.
The incident requiring medical intervention occurred on a giant day at Jaws wherein a gust of wind bothered her surfboard causing it to “hit me in my shin, then it flipped up and hit me in my ribs, then flipped up again and hit me in my chin, then I cartwheeled down a 50-foot wave.”
Adding injury to insult, the tug of her leash on leg pulled her leg out of socket and tore the labrum in her hip.
Ouch.
Kennelly, though, tough continued to surf until it became too much to bear and eventually went under the knife then spent eight months rehabilitating out of the water.
But now she is back, so back that she headed to Australia to toss her cap into the Challenger Series ring. “I’ve done all this work for equality, and never really gotten to benefit from [it],” she told the website Well+Good. “So it’ll be cool to kind of like, take the temperature of where the tour is at and see those positive changes. I’m going to do an audit.”
Well, I raced over to the World Surf League’s eponymous website just as quick as I could only to discover Kennelly was delivered a shock loss in heat 1 of the round of 64, falling to fellow Hawaiians Gabriela Bryan and Zoe McDougall and Brazilian Summer Macedo. Sally Fitzgibbons, who surfed in the next heat, advanced by holding second place.
Silver linings, I suppose.
Is there sudden elimination on the Challenger Series?
Here’s hoping not.
Commented on Disqus? Log out, tap the Disqus button, and your old name and comments come back. The box is ours.
Your comments are still here. Every one of them.
Twelve years of BeachGrit comments came across from Disqus. Connect and we will show you how many are yours. We get your username, nothing else.
Connect Disqus to reveal.
Not sure what the story had to do with her being an LGBTQ-whatever icon, or why you had to say “not all mother’s are female”.
Just trying to prove how “woke” you are?
How about just sticking to the surfing news?
I love everyone, even you.
Mother’s are female, otherwsie you just proving physcodelics are bad for you
Just because you have a hard on for her doesn’t mean lazzos arent usually miserable. Especially the ones with short hair and who dress like men. I wonder if they wish they had a dick because after all they are men born in women’s bodies.
You really can’t read, can you.
I never said i hate her or lesbians per se. Learn to read.
I have no idea of half the competitors but most shredding.
It’s been a great event so far for sure… but I guess any event is or can be if the Surf is pumping. Snapper certainly offers everything from barrels, turns, air sections.
I’ll give myself the two star troll badge for not spotting you trolling and me biting then.
“or that mothers are female”…ummm, yes they are. It’s kind of in the definition.
I watched hoping that poor performance was because of her hip surgery.
There’s guys that didn’t make the varsity team that surf better than that.
Your the judges/WSL are holding her back is absolutely ridiculous take on a pretty poor heat surfed in pumping conditions.
I have absolutely zero stake in how Wong or any of the Girls perform. I watched the heat live (and objectively} and it was really clear cut to me.
Keala Kennelly as the “Best Female Surfer on Earth” – ?
This British journalist must have been drunk, that’s not even in the ballpark.
Old, has been, Caucasian, lesbian, marginally skilled, big-wave wipe-out specialist and pain in the butt political activist, would be more accurate.
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
I thought the very best female surfer in the world was the one having the most fun? And that would be……
Ellie Jean Coffey!
LOL
I dont mind lezos, just dont know why they are so miserable all the time.
I really don’t know how they come up with this shit. KK, “best female surfer on earth” NOT!
Please a change in commentators.
Wong just did slashes, cutties and a token soft floater v the other two cracking the lip and throwing buckets in the critical sections. Coco Ho absolutely smashed all 3 of them.
Lots of opportunity for Wong to take off deep past the jump off rock to showcase her Barrel riding skills?
Clear 4th, arguable 3rd to me, but clearly not worthy of progressing to the next round. Was one of the easier heat draws of the day also.
Coco smashed. Wong lost because she is not as good as the other girls in that heat.
Very simple.
@disqus_4bG6X3oSzd:disqus seems to be blinded by his Hawaiian victimhood blinkers?