Surf ’s up for women in 2020 Olympics
Paige Alms is the rarest of ocean-goers; a Canadian-born, Mauiraised, female professional big wave surfer.
She’s the current and back-to-back Big Wave Tour champion, a self-taught pioneer with two decades worth of riding on her resume, and a role model for the women she hopes will have a much easier time busting into the male-dominated realm that has grudgingly accepted her rather awesome presence.
“I would say there is only a very small handful of women who are doing what we’re doing in big wave surfing. I think for sure we are leading the way for future generations. That’s something I pride myself on.
“I just turned 30. I have been working my ass off, and I can just say now that I am officially a full-time professional surfer. That took a long time. I definitely want to lay out more groundwork and make sure times are changing for the girls in surfing.”
The Olympics — yes, surfing will be a medal sport at Tokyo 2020 — should advance that cause, as there are equal quota spots for male and female surfers.
“Equality is a huge issue at the moment in surfing. It’s important to show the world that women are capable of doing the best in every sport. The whole world watches the Olympics: it will be a really unique time to showcase surfing.”
Though Alms is a local legend in Haiku, Maui, she could end up competing at the Olympics for Canada. The selection process in the U.S. will favour athletes who surf on the women’s championship Tour, while Alms’ career path has led her to big wave riding, where she routinely stares down 40-footers. Totally different game.
But the lure of the Olympics was so great that she decided to make the mental and physical shift to qualify for Canada in smaller breaks.
“I competed a lot when I was younger. I know what to do when I put a jersey on. It’s about putting points on the board.”
She’ll start that journey this weekend during the Surf Canada nationals at Wickaninnish Beach on Vancouver Island. She’ll compete against kids half her age, in cold water she hasn’t felt for 20 years, since leaving her Victoria birthplace.
“I’m sure some people who don’t know me well will be surprised to find out,” said Alms.
She lived on the island until her mother sold the house and took Paige to Australia on an epic year-long trek. It was the first of several life-changing experiences that have delivered a very good life indeed.
“I was eight. It was a pretty cool time to learn and be out of school for a year at that age. Everybody who knew my mom was kind of judging her decision-making at the time. I felt that taught me the most I have ever learned, how to be with people. I’d love to do that with my kids, when I have kids.”
They hugged Australia’s vast coastline most days and Paige essentially lived in the water. She took her first surfing lesson there and the die was cast. When the trip was over, she and her mother made a full-time move to Maui, and the ocean was again at their doorstep. On a board borrowed from her aunt and uncle, Paige started out on a journey that has taken her to the top of her sport.
It hasn’t been a smooth, easy ride, on or off the water. She took whatever odd jobs paid her well enough — construction, painting, flooring, auto repair, ditch digging, electrical, waiting tables — to enable her surfing habit, which morphed into a vocation.
And five years ago she was derailed by a monster wave that dislocated her left shoulder.
“It was the most traumatic injury that I have ever experienced. Up until that point, I almost felt invincible because I had never been kept out of the water for such a long time. Definitely life changing, and I’m still dealing with the injury five years later.”
She learned from it, to put more emphasis into physical training, to be more particular when it comes to wave selection.
“Big waves, it’s risk versus reward, you decide to go only on the good ones. Your life and your body are on the line if you’re making bad decisions.”
She accepts the risk, chases the rewards and loves the lifestyle. She has always had a connection to the water, and it was never closer than on the day she got barrelled at Jaws, an epic surf spot off Maui’s north shore.
“The wave breaks over you and you’re inside riding the tunnel of this moving mountain of water. Everyone who has ever been barrelled will tell you it’s the best feeling you can possibly feel. Time kind of stands still. It’s the only place in my life that I have ever felt like I could pause and be like 120 per cent in the moment. With no other focus than to just enjoy it and ride it and use all of your technique in waves you have ridden before to make it out of it.
“That specific barrel was the first for a lot of things; for myself and women’s surfing and big wave surfing and for big wave surfing at Jaws. It was a pretty monumental wave. Still to this day the best wave of my life.”
EQUALITY IS A HUGE ISSUE AT THE MOMENT IN SURFING.