What’s the first image that comes to mind when you think of surfing? For me, I immediately see dudes with long blonde beach waves and blue eyes in Malibu. The very first images to come to my mind never included black folks, that is until recently when I worked the Vans US Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach, California.
It’s true, you don’t see many black surfers in the mainstream, but black surfers do exist. I was working at the Vans US Open of Surfing, representing Sandbox Fitness when I realized that my co-worker, a black woman, is extremely passionate about surfing. It didn’t stop there because I met several black people from all over who love it as well. Still the minority, but representation matters.
I wasn’t surprised to black folks who enjoyed getting out on the water with their boards, because I had been researching surfing lessons for a while and through my research, I found an organization called the Black Surfers Collective. The Black Surfers Collective’s mission is to raise cultural awareness and promote diversity in surfing through community activities and outreach.
The collective sponsors events and activities near the ocean, including their Pan African Beach Days, which occur every second Sunday of the summer months. They provide free ocean safety and surf lessons for people of all ages and backgrounds. The Surf Bus Foundation provides the surfboards that are used during the Pan African Beach Days and as long as weather and water permit, those of us who are curious about the sport can learn in an environment in which we feel we belong.
Not only is the Black Surfers Collective handing out free lessons, but they’re also handing out knowledge. They review the history of surfing and pay homage to influential black surfers, including surfing pioneer Nick Gabaldon, who grew up in Los Angeles during Jim Crow and learned to surf in
Santa Monica’s Ink Well Beach (often referred to as Negro Beach at the time). Gabaldon is now commemorated with a day named in his honor, and on Nick Gabaldon Day (June 4th), Santa Monica hosts activities including screenings of films that honor him and surfers like him.
One film, in particular, has been instrumental in exploring the relationship between race and sports, and to dive a little deeper, the history of segregation at pools and beaches. This film, Whitewash, has inspired many black folks to get out on to the water and has also started a conversation about stepping outside of the boxes that were created for us and the boxes we’ve created for ourselves.
If you consider what is happening globally, you will see that black people do indeed surf. We are still very much the minority in this sport, but there are big names who are really making waves. Ayuvile Ndamase of South Africa first surfed when he was six years old and now, at the age of twenty-four has made a name for himself. Dealing with racism and stereotypes while also coping with his brother’s death after a shark attack, Ndamase uses surfing as a form of therapy.
He volunteers with the organization Surfers Not Street Children, which is based in Durban, South Africa; Tofo, Mozambique; and Devon, UK. This organization is a direct response to child homelessness and seeks to empower and redirect the homeless and at-risk youth. Many lives have been changed under this program.
It’s never been a matter of fear or skill, that has created such a gap in representation, but instead a matter of access. With programs in place to help open up the scope, it’s important to make strides to change our narrative, debunk the stereotypes and explore all that we’re capable of.
Jasmine Danielle is a Los Angeles based dancer and fitness trainer. She received her BFA in Dance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and has studied with FiTour, the National Federation of Personal Trainers, and the Equinox Group Fitness Training Institute.
Jasmine is currently a Group Fitness Instructor for Equinox, Everybody Los Angeles, and Sandbox Fitness. Her fitness modalities include, ballet, dance cardio, barre fitness, TRX, treadmill interval training, cardio kickboxing, jump rope, indoor cycling, and metabolic conditioning.
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