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.

Today’s episode is a heavy one, in the best way. We’re diving into Chris Ahren's latest book Windansea: Life, Death, Resurrection. I’ve been chomping at the bit to crack this book open since the day it landed in my hands.

This book isn’t just about surfing, it’s about place, identity, loss, and what it means to come back from the edge. Windansea isn’t just a wave; it’s a proving ground. Ahrens takes us inside one of the most intense surf communities ever, and right from the jump, you can feel the weight of what that place represents: loyalty, danger, beauty, and consequences.

In these opening pages, we get the foundation of the whole story, where Windansea comes from, why it matters so much, and how it shaped the people who grew up in its shadow. People like Woody Brown, Carl Ekstrom, Mike Hynson, Pat Curren and the list goes on. This is where the myth meets real life.

So settle in, maybe picture the cliffs and the lineup at sunset, and let’s paddle out into Windansea: Life, Death, Resurrection.

Today I’ll be reading from a book I recently picked up titled The Way of the Surfer: Living It, 1935 to Tomorrow by our friend Drew Kampion.

The Way of the Surfer profiles thirteen incredible names from surf history: Woody Brown, John Severson, Dick Brewer, Nat Young, Billy Hamilton, Rolf Aurness, Gerry Lopez, Tom Curren, Lisa Anderson, Kelly Slater, and Titus Kinimaka.

Today’s story is titled “John Severson: Inventing Surf Culture,” all about the guy who created the bible of our sport Surfer Magazine. It tells the story of how one surfer with a camera helped shape the look, feel, and mythology of modern surfing. Let’s paddle out and see how surf culture was born and why Severson’s influence is still everywhere you look in surfing today.

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