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The Vanuatu Surfing Association is proud to call itself the home of women and girls surfing in Vanuatu.
Building upon the success of their ‘Dei Blong ol Gels’ (Day for Girls) girl specific surfing events in 2015, the VSA is now sending a crack squad of Vanuatu’s best high school aged girl surfers to compete at the 2016 Surfest High Schools Challenge in Australia.
“This is a big chance for us to show just how far Women’s surfing has come in Vanuatu,” says competitor Serah John. “We have a strong squad and we are all really excited to compete against the best high school surfers in Australia.
I’m sure we’ll all make some new friends, I’m excited to see (Australian women’s surfing champion) Sally Fitzgibbons again, and hopefully we’ll get some good waves. It’s a historic event and we are really proud to be invited”.
Serah has a proud history of her own. Her grandmother, the late Katleen John from Pango village was the legendary ‘Grandmother of surfing’ in Vanuatu, hosting many travelling surfers and encouraging the nascent sport amongst the local children.
Many, including her granddaughter Serah are now fast rising champions of surfing in Vanuatu, making the most of her grandmother’s encouragement.
The Vanuatu Surfing Association’s aims of helping women and girls realize personal and professional development opportunities through surfing is now paying dividends – they have had significant success in increasing the participation of women and girls in the waves, especially in their communities of focus, Pango, Pele and Eratap.
“Surfing is really a springboard for wider success for many of our girls and we really are aiming to get more girls involved in the future,” says VSA Secretary Stephanie Mahuk.
