Folly Beach Wahine Surfing Contest celebrates 20 years
by Jenny Peterson | Staff Writer
More than 125 surfers of all skill levels are expected to descend on Folly Beach in late July for an annual weekend surfing contest.
Surfers will come from across the country—as far as Hawaii—and range in ages from under five years old to over 70 years old. They’ll ride long longboards and shortboards, even at times, in tandem.
What do they have in common? They’re all fierce women, taking over the waves.
The annual Folly Beach Wahine Surfing contest—“wahine” means surfer girl in Hawaiian—has been held on Folly Beach for an incredible 20 years, a testament to the surfing community’s support of women surfers. This year’s event will be held on Saturday, July 30 and Sunday, July 31. Everyone is invited to come watch and cheer them on.
“It’s our 20th anniversary, so it’s going to be bigger and better than ever and we’ve had more sponsors reach out to us,” said Nicole Elko, director of the Folly Beach Wahine Classic and a local surfer.
The surfing competition takes place at the Washout—the far East end of Folly Beach—where the waves are larger and the swath of beach is longer, to accommodate two heats of female surfers at a time. Colorful sponsor tents and spectators set up along the shore, including representatives from local restaurants.
“None of our competitors ever get hungry or thirsty,” Elko said. Sponsors this year include Woody’s Pizza, Bohemian Bull and a national water brand sponsor, Mananalu, a water company founded by actor Jason Momoa, which will provide resealable and recyclable aluminum cans of water to surfers.
While it’s a competition—with plenty of enviable prizes from local surf shops—the camaraderie of the female surfers is infectious, with women cheering on their competitors, enjoying time spent together in the ocean. Divisions span beginners (novice) to advanced pro surfers.
“It’s the best contest for someone who hasn’t competed before and is interested in just trying it out,” Elko said. “The novice division is the most fun division. It’s a great opportunity to be a part of a competitive heat and hear a timer that you never think about when you’re just surfing (for fun),” Elko said.
Throughout the weekend contest, shortboard surfers are scored on how long they catch a wave to the shore, their number of “cut backs,” and longboard surfers get points for cross-stepping and nose-riding, Elko said.
The weekend kicks off Friday night with a check-in and mingle at the non-profit’s headquarters, where everyone gets a T-shirt and parking passes for the Washout.
“We start first thing Saturday morning; the first heat whistle blows at 8 a.m. and we’re ‘double beaching,’ which means we have two sets of judges and two heats in the water at all times because we have so many competitors,” Elko said. The weekend caps off with an awards ceremony Sunday late afternoon.
Adding to the festivities is a limited-edition beachy beer from Fam’s Brewing with a custom label designed by local surfer Kate Barattini that supports the Folly Wahine Classic,
“We actually have a beer!” Elko said. “They’re selling it at the Tides Hotel’s BLU Beach Bar right now.”
While the competition is about surfing and sisterhood, it’s also about giving back to water-based non-profits.
“Our mission expanded from what it was 20 years ago, which was empowering women alone. Now we’re supporting other ocean-based nonprofits. We are aiming to eliminate plastic. We have a 100 percent trash-free event,” Elko said. “We work with Surfers Healing and the Charleston Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation.”
This year has also been a push to involve girls and women from underserved communities in the competition.
Interested “wahines” can sign up for the competition until a week before at the website www.follywahine.org.
