In the predominantly male surfing world, the Bowdoin Women's Association's Third Wave Women's Surf Clinic changed the landscape of the sport?at least for an afternoon. On last Saturday, 23 women of varying skill levels took to the waves for an afternoon of surfing at Higgins Beach in Scarborough.
The surf clinic was born three years ago when co-organizers Sara Schlotterbeck '08 and Jess McGreehan '08 decided to turn their passion for surfing into an opportunity to empower fellow women students. Both McGreehan and Schlotterbeck said that they were struck by the lack of women surfers.
"Sara and I noticed that there are a lot of guy surfers. Surfing in Maine and everywhere else tends to be male-dominated," McGreehan said.
The afternoon clinic, which was held at McGreehan's "home break" Higgins Beach, gave women of all levels the opportunity to develop some basic surfing skills under the instruction of McGreehan, Schlotterbeck, and a few other experienced women.
Raya Gabry '10 said that the afternoon gave her the opportunity to try out surfing in relaxing environment.
"It was my first time surfing. I've been trying to learn for a long time now," Gabry said. "It felt great to be on the water. Cold, but great. We all learned to how catch waves pretty quickly?it was getting up that was the hard part?but it felt awesome to feel the wave propelling you."
For participants with a few waves under their belt, the surf clinic was still a chance to meet other women interested in surfing on campus. Although Elissa Rodman '10 is an experienced surfer, going out on the water with a large group of women was something entirely different.
"I have been surfing for a while, but I had never had a way to connect with other surfers [at Bowdoin]," she said. "It was cool to be on the water with all these women."
"We definitely got some looks," she added.
As for getting the women on the water more often, Schlotterbeck said that there are a lot of logistical challenges to organizing an afternoon of surfing. Since the BWA does not have any boards or wet suits, McGreehan and Schlotterbeck had to rent boards and collect gear from on-campus surfers.
"We're trying to make it sustainable, but the tricky thing about surfing is you need equipment," Schlotterbeck said.
Schlotterbeck and McGreehan are already looking forward to the possibility of initiating another group of women to the waves this spring.