Phil Jarratt's feature on women's surfing ran in the June 1977 issue of Tracks. As surf historian Geoff Cater noted on his website 

 "While the use of 'Broads' in the article title was even then disparaging, in the same issue the editor [Jarratt] inaugurated a new page for kneeboarders, under the header 'Cripples Corner'." This version has been slightly edited and shortened.

"Women's competitive surfing," said Jericho Poppler, casting a dis­approving glance along an all-male judging panel, "would be a lot better if women were running it."

Jericho, 25, from Long Beach, California, is perhaps the most vocal member of what she calls "the Billie Jean King movement" in women's surfing. She alternates between satin two-piece warmup suits for the beach, and stoles and low-cut evening gowns for social wear. Jericho is not your average militant feminist, but then in the world of surfing women have only recently been classed as people and they don't look like getting the vote for quite a while. So, in context, she's quite a radical.

Jericho was one of a large contingent of American women surfers here for the first real women's surfing contests ever held in Australia—the Velcro International and the Surfabout Women's $2000. And their presence seems certain to lead to a major breakthrough for Australian female surfers.

In conditions that ranged from eight-foot Bells to two-feet Narrabeen, the visitors showed that women really can surf and that Australia—the country that prides itself in leading the world in male surfing—is being left behind.
The visiting ladies were quick to explain why.

"The women here are intimidated," said Nancy Emerson, 25, a Maui resident who has surfed in Hawaii since 1961. Nancy quit competition in 1969 but the advent of pro surfing for women has lured her back. She started competing again last year and took out a first in women's trials at Haleiwa.

"Australian guys don't seem to en­courage their girls to surf," said Margo Oberg, former world champion and considered by many to be the finest woman surfer ever. Margo took out her world title in Victoria in 1970. "There seemed to be more girls surfing in Australia back then," she said.

"I haven't seen any outstanding female surfers here," said Lynne Boyer, born in Pennsylvania, now living in Hawaii and Margo's closest rival.

"The guys in Hawaii take us surfing with them," said Elaine Davis, 26. "Here they stare at us like we're freaks."

"Less beer and more manners is what they need," said Linda Davoli, the top female surfer on the US East Coast.

Can all this be true? I wondered as I skulked off, my ears burning and my national male pride shattered. Us Aussie blokes can't be that bad, can we? I recalled a session I had at Ala Moana a couple of years ago. The only way I could get a wave was to drop in on girls. One of them kicked out and speared me in the leg.

I wandered over to the officials shed at Bells Beach, where IPS organizer Randy Rarick had hold of the public address system and was imploring the women competitors to paddle for the horizon to save themselves from death at the hands of an approaching monster set. Rarick was smirking like a true sexist pig and the Australian male officials were beside themselves with amusement.

I buried my head in my coat, had a hearty chuckle, and went away to com­pose myself before getting to work on a serious look at the broads who ride boards.

Australia has never been very kindly disposed towards women in sport. Dawn Fraser and Evonne Goolagong have been the butt of a million off-color pub jokes, and the rigors of the surfing life have made it doubly hard for female surfers to be accepted. Very few have been good enough to exercise their rights to waves in crowded conditions, and there's no such thing as gallantry out in the water.

Phyllis O'Donnell, the best we had to offer for many years, would never have gotten out of a heat in a men's event and the champions who have followed her seem to have been content with their lot as second class surfers. That said, it was better than sitting in the panel van for hours on end.

But the women who came to Australia for the IPS contests this year were singing a different tune. Jericho and friends drove their own car and yelled at male drop-ins. They were serious about this new surfing-for-dollars deal.

Women's surfing went pro with the Hang Ten in 1975, and since then the number of contests has grown rapidly and the band of women trying to make a living from them has multiplied. Surfers like Margo Oberg and Nancy Emerson have returned to competition, and rising stars like Linda Davoli and Lynn Boyer are constantly pushing the standard higher. The women are serious about their surfing and they're serious about being women.

Jericho Poppler: "Money has changed our whole approach. We try to surf well, stay in shape and look good."

Margo Oberg: "A feminine approach has more to do with the way the girls act on the beach, the clothes they wear, their language and the way they carry themselves. In the past, some girls have tried to play the tough guy but these days they date the boys, they get married, they're just normal girls."

As with their male counterparts, the female pros are image-conscious. They're particularly eager to crush the male myth that female athletes are dykes, and looking at them, the myth doesn't stand a chance. Lynn Boyer is an attractive brunette with big eyes; Hawaii's Rell Sunn is dark and shapely; Elaine Davis is honey blonde with an engaging smile.

Yeah, I think we can safely put away the hormone tester.

Margo Oberg took out both the contests and $2,000 in prize money. She was happy with her performance and happy with the general advancement of women's surfing. "Women are developing more of an aggressive attitude to their surfing now," she said. "We're getting more into maneuvers. It used to be the thing to arch and look feminine, like it was no effort at all. Now we're realizing that radical surfing is worth more points."

Margo lives a quiet life on Kaui with her husband, Steve. She teaches surfing at a resort hotel and surfs junk rather than deal with crowds. Competition, she says, is not really her cup of tea, but it's financially rewarding and she is right behind moves for indepen­dent women's contests. "Contests are exciting in a way, but to tell you the truth I'm happier when I'm surfing with my husband. We have a really good go-behind system. We ride the same waves a lot."

Margo rates Lynn Boyer as her main threat in contests. Lynn burst into prominence with wins in the '76 Hang Ten at Malibu and this year's Lancers World Cup. She surfs in a low crouch like Larry Bertlemann and pulls the most radical bottom turn ever seen from a woman. Lynn is stoked with the development of women's pro events but she says there are "still only a couple of girls who can really surf." She's surfed Sunset at twelve-foot plus, but prefers Chun's or Laniaekia at around six feet. With $7,000 pocketed over the past 18 months, Lynn is second only to Margo in prize money stakes.

Jericho Poppler, as I mentioned earlier, has very definite ideas about the future of women's pro surfing, and is committed to it. But, she says, there is another side to the story. "I'm right up there at the top but I can barely cover expenses. I guess I'm pretty extravagant, but there's not enough money in it yet for too many people to make surfing a full-time occupation. And the circuit can be pretty grueling. You're on the road like a performer, and if you're not married it can be a hassle. You're away all the time, your boyfriend's bummed out, you're bummed out. It's tough. It gets lonely."

Jericho rates Mickey Dora and Nat Young as her all-time favorite male surfers, and Joyce Hoffman as the outstanding female of days gone by. Currently, she favors Shaun Tomson and "just about all the Aussies".

Women? "Lynn Boyer is the lady of the moment."

Jericho believes women's pro surfing won't be in full swing for another five years when "some of us give up com­petition and start organizing".

Becky Benson, from Oahu's North Shore, comes from a family devoted to surfing. Her father, Colonel Albert Benson, is a surfing cameraman, her mother never misses a contest, and her elder sister, Blanche, was the 1972 world tandem champ. Becky, who finished third in the Surfabout, doesn't particularly fancy the idea of being twirled around the shoulders of a musclebound male surfer and goes it alone in the surf. Originally from Texas, she has surfed in Hawaii for ten years.

This was Becky's first trip to Australia, and she was stoked to compete in good quality waves. "Usu­ally in contests," she says, "they stick us out in the worst possible conditions."

Becky thinks women are a little restricted by the size of North Shore waves but they are overcoming it. "Right now I think my limit would be around ten feet. I prefer around six feet. I lost my board on a huge set at Bells and it freaked me out a little, but if we're gonna call ourselves pro surfers we're gonna have to learn to handle all kinds of waves. And that's what I want to do—travel around the world as a pro surfer."

Linda Davoli, 20, learned to surf in the icy waves of New Jersey. She spent the past two winters on the North Shore and is starting to come to the fore in competition. Linda was unlucky to have an interference ruled against her in the Surfabout, which cost her a place in the final. "I'd like to make my living out of surfing professionally," she tells me, adding with a grin, "if I could win one once in a while."

On her first trip to Australia, Linda was partic­ularly impressed with Queensland's barrels and particularly unimpressed with Australian male attitudes to women surfers. "It just seems to be a part of life here," she said. "Women are meant to be the chickens."

Originally from Florida, Elaine Davis, 26, has made a successful transition to the North Shore juice. "I built up to the North Shore by surfing in town a lot first," she said. "Then I started surfing Rocky Point and Velzyland, and gradually worked my way into bigger waves."

Elaine is a goofy foot but she limits her appear­ances at Pipeline to relatively un-crowded days. "I've probably only surfed it a dozen times. So many people get hurt there, you've really gotta be confident about taking off."

Elaine does most of her surfing with her boyfriend, Hawaiian surfer Wayne Inouye, but she believes that the best female surfers are more pleasing to watch than the males. "Chicks like Margo and Lynn have a nicer than most men."

When she returns to Hawaii, Elaine plans to seek sponsorship in order to pay for a trip to Brazil for the next women's contest. "It should be easier for women to get sponsors," she said. "A lot of products look good on a girl."

Sponsorship, a professionals asso­ciation for women, independent wo­men's contests, "the top women look better than the men." Clearly, in the States anyway, women's surfing is on the move.

Here in Oz, it is just coming out of a long stagnation.

Jill Sanotti, current Australian women's champ, says it's partly the girls who are to blame: "A lot of girls come up to me and say, 'Gee, I wish I could surf'." I ask them why they don't and they say they're scared the guys will laugh at them. They should just do it anyway."

Jill, along with Victorian veteran Gail Couper, Queenslander Kim McKenzie, NSW's Vicki Burke and a few others are paving the way. But there's a long way to go before they reach the standard of their sisters over the sea.

[Photos: Tom Servais, Shirley Rogers, Lou Perez, Rob Hutchinson]

"BROADS WHO RIDE BOARDS," BY PHIL JARRATT (1977)

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