Carissa Moore takes to the air. Photo: Kurt Steinmetz
In Oceanside, CA over the past two days, the Nissan SuperGirl Surf Pro, a WSL specialty event, was held in stellar conditions. Pumping 4-6 foot swell and very little wind made for a high scoring competition as Team California took down Team US, and Team Lakey raked in the individual honors.
Focused on showcasing women in action sports, the SuperGirl event runs over the course of two days and includes both world-famous Championship Tour surfers such as Carissa Moore, Caroline Marks, and Sage Erickson, as well as Qualifying Series/Junior Comp surfers that included Tia Blanco, Alyssa Spencer, and 13-year-old Vaihiti Inso. Day one saw a WSL-style competition with CT surfers and QS/Juniors surfers going head-to-head in separate brackets where they scored points for themselves and their respective CA and US teams. Day two saw teams of two female surfers — one CT superstar paired with an up-and-coming surfer from the QS or Juniors — compete in team heats to score points for themselves and the larger teams they represented of California and the US. Adaptive surf events were also held both days.
Caity Simmers attacks the lip. Photo: Kurt Steinmetz
On Day Two, Lakey Peterson, who is ranked number three in the world, teamed up with Oceanside wondergrom Caity Simmers, who is the number one ranked North American Junior surfer. Together they netted high scores for their team CA and earned the iconic Super Girl cape. It’s Lakey’s second cape, the first of which she won in 2011. With her victory, Caity became the youngest Super Girl in the event’s history.
Team Lakey’s capes were well deserved as the two earned three big wins to lift Team California to a first-place finish despite stellar performances on the Team US side, including a 9.63 score by 2019 world champ Carissa Moore. Caity didn’t lose a heat all weekend and both she and Lakey dropped big scores when they needed them the most. Lakey scored a 9.00 in the first round and a 7.50 in round three, and Caity brought an 8.00 in round two.
“Today was really fun with the waves getting way bigger and better with that hurricane swell so Caity just gave me some of that local knowledge and told me where to go,” said Peterson. “The future is very bright for Caity if this is what she wants to do. I think she’s just a phenomenal surfer and everyone’s seen it around the world now.”
Simmers was ecstatic about the results. “I was pretty nervous being teamed up with Lakey because she’s really good and she’s a really cool person,” she said. “I’m stoked to be on the winning team and get my first Super Girl cape at home.”
Individual Team Winners Lakey Peterson and Caity Simmers. Photo: Kurt Steinmetz
As well as top CT and QS surfers, the event also hosted some of the best adaptive surfers from around the US. Faith Lennox and Alana Nichols took the win in each of their adaptive disciplines (standing and prone). Faith suffered a crushing injury at birth that cost her her left hand. If anything, the injury has pushed her to greater heights as she’s formed a fast friend/mentorship with “Soul Surfer” Bethany Hamilton who has inspired her to engage in competitive surfing.
Faith Lennox tops the podium for the Adaptive Standing Division. Photo: Kurt Steinmetz
Alana Nichols has been a big name in adaptive sports since 2008. Although she was paralyzed from the waist down after a snowboarding accident at age 17, Alana has let nothing stand in her way. She helped carry the US Women’s Paralympic Basketball Team to the gold in 2008 and two years later tasted gold again as a sit-skier in the 2010 Winter Paralympic Games. She is the first American woman to have won gold in both summer and winter Olympic games and was named the 2010 Paralympic Sportswoman of the Year. Recently she’s added adaptive surfing to her resume, proving her status as a tri-sport athlete with her win this past weekend. “Surfing is my creative outlet,” said Nichols. “Every other sport I’ve done is so linear, it’s so competitive and just ‘start to finish.’ Surfing is so creative and it just makes me feel so free. I get to leave the wheelchair on the shore and it’s just truly freedom for me.”
Nissan Super Girl Surf Pro will be broadcast on FOX Sports throughout the country from November 20 through January 31. Event replays and more information can also be accessed at www.supergirlsurfpro.com and www.worldsurfleague.com.
