Today, in our continued tribute to women surfers and women’s history month I will be reading chapter 23 of Jim Kempton’s book Women on Waves: A Cultural History of Surfing: From Ancient Goddesses and Hawaiian Queens to Malibu Movie Stars and Millennial Champions. It’s titled The Resurgence of Glide.

Last episode, we explored the pioneering women surfers of the 1950s and 60s, those who helped establish a place in the lineup during a transformative time in surfing. Now, we fast forward into the 1980s and 90s, where women continued carving out their path in a competitive, male-dominated sport. Through the shortboard revolution and the early days of the professional tour, they weren’t just participating—they were progressing the sport right alongside the men.

But this chapter offers a different perspective on progress.

It reminds us that surfing isn’t only about pushing harder, faster, or more aggressively. Sometimes, progress looks like returning to something deeper—style, flow, and connection to the wave. This is a story about beauty in motion, about grace and rhythm, and about how women surfers helped bring longboarding, and the art of glide, back into the spotlight.

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Also, if you would like to sponsor the podcast or have any story ideas or feedback for the podcast, please contact us on Instagram or at thesurferslibrary@gmail.com.

Let’s paddle out.

Chapter 6 of Women on Waves: A Cultural History of Surfing from Ancient Goddesses and Hawaiian Queens to Malibu Movie Stars and Millennial Champions by Jim Kempton moves us into the early twentieth century, when surfing began spreading beyond Hawai‘i and into popular culture. During this time, women played an important role in the evolution of surfing, a role that has not always been discussed. Women like Darrylin Zanuck, Kathy Kohner, Robin Grigg, Aggie Bane, Vickie Flaxman, Claire Cassidy, the Calhouns, and Eve Fletcher who kept showing up and carving out space in the lineup and changing the direction of surfing in the process.

If you’d like to help support the podcast, you can visit buymeacoffee.com/thesurferslibrary. Your support helps cover the platform fees that keep the show going each month.

Also, if you would like to sponsor the podcast or have any story ideas or feedback for the podcast, please contact us on Instagram or at thesurferslibrary@gmail.com.

Let's paddle out.

In honor of Women’s History Month, I’m diving into Jim Kempton’s incredible book, Women on Waves: A Cultural History of Surfing: From Ancient Goddesses and Hawaiian Queens to Malibu Movie Stars and Millennial Champions.

This book is dedicated to restoring women to their rightful place in the history of surfing. Because from the very beginning, women have been in the lineup.

Long before professional tours, sponsorship deals, or glossy magazine covers, women were riding waves in ancient Polynesia. They were part of the fabric of early beach communities in California. They pushed limits, challenged expectations, and carved out space in a culture that didn’t always make room for them.

Kempton lays out why this history matters, how these stories were sidelined, minimized, or erased, and why bringing them forward changes the way we understand surfing itself. We’ll go back to the roots, tracing women’s surfing to its origins and exploring how history slowly, and sometimes deliberately, shifted the spotlight away from them.

So in the spirit of Women’s History Month, paddle out with me as we begin rediscovering the women who were there all along and give their stories the space they’ve always deserved.