Surfing Sisterhood Hawaii

by Mindy Pennybacker

In Hawai‘i, its birthplace, surfing is being renewed by a surge of female power and creativity as girls and women reclaim the sport wherein they traditionally held equal rights with men. In Surfing Sisterhood Hawai‘i, Honolulu native Mindy Pennybacker, a columnist for the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, brings waveriding in the islands to life blending Hawaiian legends, historical accounts, and interviews with more than thirty contemporary female surfers of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities.

What all these girls and women express in common is the freedom and affirmation they get from surfing, despite discouragement and interference from some—not all—of the males who vastly outnumber them in the water. Surfing Sisterhood recounts how female surfers got pushed aside and deprecated by a male-dominated industry in the mid-twentieth century and how they’ve come roaring back. In 2021, Hawaiian five-time world champ Carissa Moore won gold in the debut Olympic surfing event. In 2022, Hawaiian Moana Jones Wong won the first women’s World Surf League championship tour event at Banzai Pipeline, in big, barreling waves that were, until then, considered too dangerous for female contests.

Above all, this book shows how surfing in Hawai‘i is a daily celebration and lifestyle for its women, who celebrate and sustain community, nature, culture and ‘ohana in its waves on top of having a lot of fun.