Five women advance to the 2025 Championship Tour.
Five is not enough women, but life has a way of dealing out
numerous disappointments…
Last Wednesday, the women’s Challenger Series came to an
end in Brazil. Were you watching? I was not.
At the time, I was in Moreno Valley, California, which seems
like a perfectly fine place except for its location very far from
where I live.
I wrote the freeway numbers on my arm and actually made it. This
felt good! And, I made it back to the coast with just enough time
to run out and jump in the ocean at sunset. This also felt very
good.
Five women advance to the 2025 Championship Tour, which begins
at Pipeline in January. Five is not enough women, but life has a
way of dealing out numerous disappointments and we must soldier on
despite them. Three women are almost entirely new. The other two,
we have seen on Tour previously. On the subject of women we have
seen previously, Lakey Peterson has a wildcard for the first seven
events.
Let’s get to know the five new girls. It’ll be fun — or at
least, more fun than driving all the freeways I could find and a
few I couldn’t. Just about anything must surely be better than
that.
5. Vahine Fierro
There was a pretty damn fierce battle for this final qualifying
slot among Yolanda Hopkins, Luana Silva, Nadia Erostarbe, and
Vahine. A second-place finish in Brazil sealed it for Vahine. Now
24, Vahine’s the queen of Tahiti and
won last year’s Shiseido Tahiti Pro, where her semifinal against
Tati West was one of the best women’s heats of the year. She’s been
trying for a few years now to get on Tour, and the rights on the
beach-break heavy Challenger Series hasn’t suited her super
well.
She’s made it at last, and I’m looking forward to seeing Vahine
mixing it up at Pipeline. The rest of the pre-cut schedule, though,
is not super goofyfoot friendly. She’ll get to go left in Abu
Dhabi, but otherwise, it’s one open face right after another until
the cut. Though she’s improved her backhand significantly in recent
years, I think Vahine will have a hard time staying above the line.
Hopefully, there’s a wildcard ready for Tahiti with her name on it,
because she sure does surf Teahupo’o beautifully.
4. Erin Brooks
Oh hey, I guess we all know who Erin Brooks is, don’t we. In
2024, Erin, 17, won the Corona Fiji Pro at Cloudbreak, her first
victory at a Championship Tour event. I doubt very much it will be
the last.
All the same, the Challenger Series turned into a bit of a
nail-biter for her. Erin picked up a second in Sydney, then
struggled through a series of early round exits. Qualifying fourth,
her CT spot wasn’t secure until Brazil, where she left the door
open with a ninth. But she did make it, just not with the emphatic
performance that Snapper suggested she might bring to the
project.
At Pipeline, Erin’s a potential winner, but she won’t have it
easy. The veterans will bring the confidence that comes from
competing there for the past three years. The importance of last
year’s finals day for women’s surfing at Pipe can’t be overstated.
Erin is very good, but so, finally, are many of her competitors. If
she takes to the air at the wave pool, it will certainly liven
things up. I’d love to see it. Otherwise, though, Erin faces a
similar challenge to Vahine. The Tour has a hell of a lot of open
face rights, where Erin’s style could use some fine-tuning, and not
a ton of juice, where she seems to thrive.
3. Isabella Nichols
Not really a new girl, Isabella, 27, has bounced between the
Tour and the Challengers for the past two years. She’s had some
notable results, but too often goes out in the early rounds to stay
on Tour. She’s at her best on long rights and at the beach breaks,
so she’ll enjoy this year’s Tour schedule. In 2022 Isabella won
Margaret River and she’s been third at Bells. She just has to get
through Pipe, where she’s never finished higher than ninth.
Isabella’s a stylish surfer, but she doesn’t seem to have that
one magic thing that would make her stand out. I think she belongs
on Tour, and I’d love to see her notch up some results at Bells or
Snapper. She has a knack for beach break surfing that served her
well during the 2020 Covid-shortened Tour year and on the
Challenger series. This year’s schedule offers her a better chance
to make the cut, but the women’s field is now crowded with talent.
If this whole surfing thing doesn’t work out for Isabella, she’s
also got an engineering degree.
2. Bella Kenworthy
After qualifying in Portugal, Bella, 17, skipped the final
Challengers event in Brazil. Instead, she went to to Indo, where
she’s been busy chasing barrels with Sierra Kerr and Sawyer
Lindblad. All of which is to say, Bella is making some excellent
life choices. A San Clemente girl, Bella originally caught the eye
of Vans as a park skateboarder, so she isn’t exactly what you’d
call a shrinking violet. Sure, she grew up surfing T Street and
Trestles, but she also charges. I am a fan of this sort of
thing.
On the way to qualifying, Bella won the Balito Pro and she
finished a painful second at the US Open to Sally Fitzgibbons.
She’s made it on Tour, though, and she’s got a good shot at staying
there. Like the rest of the younger crew, Bella’s a well-rounded
surfer. She can get barreled in heavy lefts, she can surf beach
breaks, and she’s got an air game. She’s also pretty obviously been
working to refine her style on the open faces Trestles offers.
Relative to some of the other women coming on Tour, Bella’s
superpower is her strength. Girl works out hard, and it should
serve her well.
Sally Fitzgibbons
Growing up, Sally always wanted to be a professional athlete.
She didn’t really know what sport she would pursue, but she knew
what she wanted. So, it should come as no surprise that she’s still
competing at 33. Sal has boundless energy, and made it back on Tour
after winning the US Open and the Ericiera Pro. She’s been
outspoken in her criticism of the limited spots for women on Tour
and has called for its expansion. I doubt it’ll happen in time to
help her, but she’s right, especially with the horde of talented
girls coming up.
In recent years, Sal’s evolved her surfing to be more dynamic
and progressive, but I think her days on Tour are numbered. There’s
just no way she’s keeping up with the likes of Caity, Erin, and
Molly as they grow in skill and confidence. Pipeline still
confounds Sal and she’s never placed higher than ninth at the
Tour’s opening event. The right-heavy schedule will suit her, and
she might squeak through the cut. But there’s only so many more
times she can play this game. To her credit, she seems to be making
the most of it and there’s nothing to hate in that.
See you in January, new girls!
