Like so many people, French illustrator and writer Paola Hirou got hooked on surfing after experiencing the special connection with the sea that this sport implies. When she wanted to expand her knowledge about the best surfers in history, she found on the Internet that the first six search results linked to content that classified athletes according to their physical appearance. “The sexiest surfers” was one of them. She then decided that her final year project would serve as a tribute to the women who have been paving the way in a sport in which the male presence has traditionally been the majority. The result is Surfers (Nordic Comic), an illustrated book that collects the stories of nine surfers and also offers a pleasant and elegant tour of the evolution and details of this practice that emerged in Hawaii.
Life changed for the Australian Isabel Letham in January 1915. It was then when the Hawaiian Duke Kahanamoku, at that time the world record holder in the 100 meter freestyle swim, visited her country. She wanted to do a surfing demonstration and, to make it more spectacular, she decided to do it in tandem, a modality in which two people share a board. He chose Letham as her mate. The image was so shocking for the time that she began to be known as “the Mermaid of Freshwater.” Before returning to Hawaii, Kahanamoku gave him her board. In 1993 she was inducted into the Australian National Surfing Museum Hall of Fame.
They say about Linda Benson that she “surfed the waves,” that she was able to read them. She cut her teeth on the Californian beach of Moonlight Beach. There she would pick up the lost boards of the boys who were in the water on the shore. Until one day one of those guys suggested trying his. She stood up the first time… and she didn’t get down again.
Surfers Mary Ann Hawkins, Joyce Hoffman, Rell Sunn, Lisa Andersen, Rhonda Harper, Maryam El Gardoun and Justin Dupont complete a book made to enjoy, learn and continue advancing on the wave of progress.
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