against her. This momentum carried through to 2017,
where, despite winning just one of her two contest finals,
her consistency kept her in the race, and when yellow
jersey leader Sally Fitzgibbons succumbed to the pressure
at Honolua Bay, she lifted the trophy once again.
Caroline Marks has started her rookie season with
the confidence and ease of a seasoned veteran. The
goofy-footer from Florida surfs with a style and poise that
is reminiscent of her fellow right-footed predecessors –
Chelsea Hedges, Pam Burridge and Freida Zamba. A
maiden contest win on the Gold Coast to start the season,
followed by joint-third at Bells Beach (a graveyard for
goofys on the women’s tour), has seen the 18 year old’s
name already in the 2019 World Title conversation. She is
no doubt the future of women’s surfing.
This generation no longer has to worry about how they
will afford to compete at the next event, or how they will
juggle the demands of earning a living against doing what
they love. They can now focus 100% on improving their
craft and fine-tuning their bodies to the demands of their
sport, not worrying how they will replace their only board
when it breaks. The trailblazers and pioneers of women’s
professional surfing paved the way for this new era, as the
new generation enjoys the benefits of finally competing on
a level playing field – not just through the introduction of
equal prize money for the first time, but the exposure and
coverage that being the best affords. The glass ceiling has
been broken, and now women’s surfing can truly focus on
building for the future through the class of 2019.WSL / POULLENOTWSL / CESTARI
17-year-old Caroline Marks winning Bells earlier this year, what
a bright future she has.Tyler Wright blasted onto the Women’s World Tour and
everyone took note.