Surf Girl – July 2019

76 SurfGirl Magazine

Layne v Lisa: The Rivalry

Layne’s professional rivalry with Lisa was the story in

women’s surfing in the late nineties and early 2000s,

fuelling the development in skill, speed and power across

the entire circuit. They surfed against each other 19 times

in 2-person heats between 1992 and 2004, with Layne

edging ahead 10 wins to Lisa’s nine. However, in the

finals, Lisa had the edge, winning four of their six contest

deciders. Layne’s only two victories came at home breaks,

at Bells Beach in 1994 and Burleigh Heads in 2000; she

was never able to defeat Lisa in a final outside of Australia.

Keala Kennelly was never able to get both hands on

a world title trophy during her CT pro-career, finishing

second in 2003, but wrote her name into the history

books of women’s surfing by charging the biggest waves

of the tour. She won three of the eight Billabong Pro

contests in Teahupo’o, the most of any surfer, before the

ASP deemed the wave too dangerous for the women’s

tour. One of the fiercest surfers in the world, Kennelly

has continued to make history on the Big Wave Tour,

winning last year’s Jaws Challenge and Barrel of the Year

at Teahupo’o in 2016. This year Keala was crowned Big

Wave World Champion and her acceptance speak at

the 2019 Annual WSL Awards was ground breaking and

tear jerking as she summed up her fight over the years: “I

needed to dream bigger because when I was 25, hiding

in the closet, soaked in shame, I hated myself because I

did not think you could be World Champion and gay at the

same time,” she explained.

JOLI

Layne Beachley (AUS) surfing at Teahupoo Tahiti. circa 2000

JOLI

Layne Beachley congratulates a young Stephanie Gilmore.