Women’s surfing removes its pretty girl mask as culture shifts to warriors like Caity Simmers

"That pretty girl mask never went beyond skin deep. All those women performing feminine graces for the media were stone-cold killers."

Around the time that Caity Simmers won her first world title on Friday, I was floating in the ocean a long way from Trestles. There I stayed for much of the weekend to avoid melting under the overly exuberant, hot as fuck sun. Stupid sun.

Now at last, I have emerged from the sea with words for you. Hello, there. 

Yesterday, I watched the replay of the final heats between Caity and Caroline Marks. The match-up was a lot closer than the internet had led me to believe. Even knowing the results, I wasn’t at all sure how Caity could beat Caroline after the opening heat. I was disappointed the waves subsequently backed off, because damn, that first heat was a banger. 

Caroline’s backhand looked unstoppable. She carries so much speed out of her turns, and in fact, seems to accelerate off each one. Yes, her surfing lacks variety, but Caroline never makes mistakes and that’s been enough to win a world title and Olympic Gold. After the first heat of the final, it looked like Caroline was going to make it two-straight. 

Later, Caity said she spent the time between the first two heats crying in the competitors’ area. It’s not exactly the zen approach, but it seems to have worked for her. She came out slamming in the second heat with some of her best heat surfing yet. She earned two big scores — rightly — for stylish, inventive surfing. 

And in that second heat, Caity turned the whole game. With two big rides, she had Caroline combo’d. In more consistent conditions, Caro might have wiggled her way out of that chokehold. But, there simply weren’t enough waves to make it happen. In fact, if there was a disappointment in this match-up, it was the lack of waves in the second and third heats. 

As the time ticked down, Caroline looked trapped by her own winning formula. In truth, there hasn’t been any great incentive for Caroline to rethink her approach. That is, until now. Growing up with a horde of brothers, Caroline fought for waves and always wanted to best her siblings. She’s a fierce competitor, but like Steph before her, she’s covered it in a thick coat of Roxy girl gloss. 

If she’s going to beat Caity in the future, though, Caroline will need to add some tools to her kit. And the reality is, she can. Though her clips are few and far between, Caroline’s frontside surfing is dynamic and varied, and crucially, she can go to the air. Imagine if she added airs to her already formidable backhand. Almost immediately, she’d elevate her game — and women’s surfing with it. 

But Friday was Caity’s day to shine, and shine she did. The magic in Caity’s surfing is the way she takes turns everyone does and adds a radical twist. And along the way, she transforms what might otherwise be ordinary surfing into something all her own. 

Take an example from the opening heat of Friday’s finals. Around the midway point, she starts a cutback, and it looks normal, like any other cutback. But as she hits the rebound, Caity throws the tail high into the lip. The resulting turn is cool, distinctive, stylish. That’s the sprinkling of pixie dust that separates surfers like Dane Reynolds, John Florence, and Caity from everyone else in the water.

It’s clear by now that Caity doesn’t really like to do interviews.

After winning her first world title, she dodged and weaved and tried not to say anything. But then, amidst the stuttering, she blurted out something real. “She fucking wins everything,” she said of her rival Caroline. It’s easy to hear the burning competitive fire in the statement. 

Like, fuck that girl. I’m going to beat her. It was not the expected, scripted, we’re all just having fun out there statement. Caity is not the usual thing. 

Ever quick to chase headlines, the WSL proclaimed Caity to be surfing’s youngest-ever world champion. So thirsty. Lately, it seems like every other headline is about how some accomplishment or another is super duper historic. I’m still not sure how Caroline’s gold medal at this year’s Olympics was historic, but apparently it was. We’re all just out here making history every day. 

I’ll confess that I laughed when I saw the screen graphic that showed Caity as two days younger than Carissa when the Hawaiian won her first world title. That’s slicing the history ham awfully thin. The play worked, though. Everywhere I looked on the internet, there was Caity, making history. 

It makes a good story, but it’s also the wrong story. In 1968 Margo Oberg (then Godfrey) won the world title at age 15 in Puerto Rico. Margo learned to surf in La Jolla during the longboard era and for a time, ran with a crowd that included Don Hansen. When I talked to her at an event several years ago, she told me that the guys of the time welcomed her. As the shortboard revolution shoved longboards aside, Margo readily adapted. 

Though a Californian, she made her real mark charging Hawai’i. I have a photo here taken by Dan Merkel from the water at Sunset. There’s Margo, leaning hard into one of the long, beautiful arcing bottom turns that the single fins of the time invited. She’s crouched low and tight. Spray flies off the tail. Margo shares Caity’s diminutive size, and the wave is easily four-times overhead for her. She’s flying.

Margo deserves her flowers. She’s also the first women’s world champion of the professional era. We don’t need to diminish one of surfing’s legends to celebrate Caity’s very real accomplishments. We all have eyes. We can all see the brilliance Caity brings to surfing without the fake hype. Caity is more than enough. 

By far my favorite moment of this finals day came during the opening heat between Caity and Caroline. By now, you’ve all seen the screenshot. The moment comes right at the end of the heat, as Caity sits on the ski. She’s waiting for her final wave score, as Caroline belts it on a solid set wave. Riding it out, Caroline does a cute claim for her fans on the beach. 

The camera jumps to Caity and she’s got her middle finger in the air. You can see her, in real time, thinking, wait, no. I’m in a heat. On camera. I really shouldn’t do this. But there she is, letting it all out there. Living out loud, authentic as they come. You can’t, in fact, script this. 

In recent years, women’s sports have removed their pretty girl masks and entered their keeping it real era. Of course, that pretty girl mask never went beyond skin deep. All those women performing feminine graces for the media were stone-cold killers.

But now, the culture has shifted to make space for strong, fierce women. The current generation no longer feels any need to pretend.

It’s about time. 

In her candid moments and in the emotions she can’t ever entirely hide, Caity shows us who she is. She’s fearless and she’s authentic. Caity has come here to win. And she’s not afraid to show it.

Don’t change a thing, girl.