Carlsbad surfer Reid Van Wagoner remembers the moment she met her idol Bethany Hamilton on the sand in Oceanside, at the time a 5-year-old grom with big dreams of being a pro surfer.
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Hamilton, who lost her arm in a shark attack and continued her own dreams of becoming one of the world’s top surfers, jotted an autograph for the young girl on a hat, a piece of inspirational memorabilia that still sits in Van Wagoner’s room today.
Now, more than a decade later, Van Wagoner and nearly 150 other girls will be the ones showcasing their skills to inspire the next generation at the Super Girl Surf Festival, an event now in its 20th year.
“I love how amazing this event is, because you get to look up to these older women who encourage you to surf better and push yourself,” Van Wagoner said. “It’s super cool to give back to these younger girls and know I was in that spot, too.”
This year’s event, which kicks off Friday, Aug. 21, at the Oceanside Pier, started as a Pro-Am contest with just 16 surfers and 200 attendees. It later turned into a World Surf League Pro Junior event, and in 2012 evolved into a Qualifying Series competition now considered the largest all-women’s pro surfing contest, with 120 shortboard competitors and 24 longboarders, and an attendance of more than 75,000.
The event is more than just surfing, but a festival that spotlights female empowerment, with everything from music concerts — with Iration, B.O.B. and Hippie Sabotage are among the performers — meet-and-greets with athletes, female lifeguard competitions, skateboarding, volleyball and clinics, and even all-girls flag football tournaments on the sand.
Friday kicks off with a Super Girl Rising Tide event, where the pro surfers surf alongside younger surfers and hold a motivational talk on the sand.
The surf event draws competitors from around the globe and plenty who travel just down the 5 freeway from throughout Southern California.
The event is a chance for the competitors to earn valuable points to land on next year’s Challenger Series, the pathway to eventually make it to the elite World Tour. Five-time world champion and surfing’s first Olympic gold medalist Carissa Moore; 2024 World Champion and Oceanside native Caitlin Simmers; and 2023 World Champion and Olympic gold medalist Caroline Marks all flew the iconic Super Girl cape after their wins in past years.
Former World Tour veteran Sage Erickson, who has two US Open of Surfing and two Super Girl titles on her resume, is back after a break from competing to focus on motherhood.
“It really is a full-circle moment. I was a teenager when I first competed here. My brother always came down and now has his kids there. My grandmother, who passed away seven years ago, would always come. Now I have my 8-month-old son there and my husband, so it’s really special,” said Erickson in an interview with the WSL. “It inspires young girls to go and chase their dreams.”
San Clemente’s Edan Walla, the youngest-ever winner at age 15, will be back to reclaim her title.
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Now 17, she’s ranked fifth on the Challenger Series, in a prime spot to land on the elite World Tour if she can sustain solid results in the back half of the year.
“Super Girl was my first QS, so it has a special place in my heart. It was also my first QS win, and to be going back to Oceanside is super fun,” said Walla. “It’s so cool to say I’m the youngest Super Girl, but the next generation is so gnarly, and I can’t wait to see where they go with it. It’s just such a special contest for me, and it really inspires a lot of girls, I think.”
Van Wagoner said she has gone to the event every year since she was 3 years old — the last four as a competitor. This year, she will compete in both shortboarding and longboarding divisions.
“Surfing was always in my life and when you see the girls doing it at an elite level, you always want to be there,” she said. “It’s so cool to be able to see how far I’ve come, and how much hard work I’ve put in my surfing career.”
Van Wagoner is one of several rising-star San Diego surfers making waves in recent years, with Encinitas surfers Sierra Kerr, who splits time in Australia and is coming off a US Open of Surfing win, and Alyssa Spencer, who currently competes in the elite World Tour, putting the spotlight on area surfers as a force to recognize.
Leading the charge is Simmers, of Oceanside, who at age 20 has already clinched a World Title and is arguably one of the most followed surfers — male or female — of this generation.
“It’s absolutely incredible. Caity (Simmers) was one of the ones to start it and to get to see her at my local breaks and push that bar for female surfing is incredible,” Van Wagoner said. “Even when I was younger, there would just be all boys. Now you get to see more and more girls getting out in the water — younger and older girls are learning to surf. Caity has pushed the board for all of us, we’re hoping to be the next generation to follow in her footsteps.”
After spending the year traveling the world to compete, Van Wagoner said she is hoping to make her mark at this year’s event, right in her backyard.
“It is so incredible to have a contest close to home, there’s just such a great feeling of waking up in your own bed, having the support of your family and having friends and family come watch what you do,” she said.
The Oceanside Super Girl Surf Festival is the first of three stops, with the next one happening in Virginia Beach, Va., Sept. 5-7, and the last event of the year at Jacksonville Beach, Florida, Nov. 7-8.
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More info: worldsurfleague.com