ROOTS
I was born in Northern Scotland and lived a very nomadic life including almost 9 years on Sal, Cape Verde before moving to Maui in 2015. I ended up here unintentionally, I booked a one way ticket for want of not knowing what else to do and I’m still here, living on the North Shore of Maui and working full time for Goya, Quatro and KT Surfing. I learnt to windsurf in Cabo Verde so it’s not really surprising that my focus is chasing big waves. I sailed mast high Ponta Preta before I learnt to tack or gybe!
PE’AHI
My fascination with Pe’ahi began about 12 years ago before I actually surfed, kitesurfed or windsurfed. I happened to be at a friend’s house watching in total awe the opening sequence to the Billabong Odyssey movie and thinking ‘Í’m going to do that one day’. The first time I met Lalo Goya, 7 years ago, I told him I wanted to sail Pe’ahi. I was just learning to windsurf and I went out to demonstrate my not at all awesome skills, getting totally denied by the shore break at Ponta Preta. Apparently he told my friend, ‘she’s got a long way to go’. Last year I turned up on Maui and reminded him that it was my goal, he knew me better by then so just looked me in the face and said ‘Please be careful’. I’d turned up with half a backpack full of clothes and 4 board bags full of equipment. I bought a truck and a jet ski, then set to work on making my dream come true.
HARD TIMES
It’s not been an easy road, I have given up a lot to chase the dream and have had some very lonely moments. Like when I drove a van up the West coast of the USA and Canada chasing waves alone and found myself sleeping in a Walmart car park full of homeless people. It was quite the revelation that I too was a homeless addict with no job.
PREPARATION
My life is pretty crazy, I’m lucky to have friends and family that accept me as I am, I actually have friends who say ‘see you in summer’ when the first winter swells hit! My working week is rise at 5am for an hour of yoga or to surf. I get in to work between 7.30 and 8am until 2pm, often coming back later in the evening. At 2pm I head to the beach to windsurf or surf until it gets dark or I head to Deep Relief Athletic Training centre for training or rehab classes under the watchful eye of ‘Big Boss’ Sam Campbell. Then it’s eat, sleep, repeat, oh and somehow fit in crucial jet ski maintenance, ocean safety, apnea training, beach running and those tedious things like paying bills. The weekend is just training on and off the water.
MINDFUL
Meditation has become a big part of my life over the last couple of years. I take between 10 and 15 mins a day first thing in the morning to try and refocus my mind. On a big wave day it allows me to come 100% into the challenge of the day without distraction. I think the hardest part of riding big waves is the mental challenge. When I’m out on the water I’m usually so focused I don’t have time for fear but on land it’s different. For me it has been more a questioning of ‘Who am I to be doing this’. I found it particularly tough here on Maui when I’m training at the gym with amazingly talented big wave chargers like Ian Walsh and Paige Alms (who just won the Pe’ahi WSL Paddle Challenge) or out on the water with talents like Levi Siver, Marcilio Browne and Kevin Pritchard. It’s very humbling just to share air in the nearby vicinity with these legends let alone to consider sharing waves with them.