Women's surfing
Coco Ho surfing at the 2015 U.S. Open | |
| Highest governing body | International Surfing Association |
|---|---|
| Characteristics | |
| Mixed-sex | Yes, separate competitions |
| Presence | |
| Country or region | Worldwide |
| Olympic | Yes, as of the 2020 Olympics |
Women's surfing is thought to date back to the 17th century. One of the earliest records of women surfing is of princess Keleanohoana’api’api, also known as Kalea or the Maui Surf Riding Princess. It is rumored that Kalea was the trailblazer of surfing and could surf better than both men and women. A few centuries later in the mid-late 1800s, Thrum’s Hawaiian Annual reported that women in ancient Hawaii surfed in equal numbers and frequently better than men. Over the last 50 years, women's surfing has grown in popularity.