Abby Banks (Monmouth, Wales)
Martina Burtscher (Vienna, Austria) Surfer, Educator
My name is Martina Burtscher, I am from Austria and I am a landlocked surfer. I have just finished my Master’s degree in International Development at the University of Vienna. My Master’s thesis is about the potential of surfing for women’s empowerment, according to the perspectives of female surfers from Sri Lanka. Last year, I did field research in Arugam Bay for three months, and I will return there end of July, to support the women surfers with the establishment of a women’s surf club.
Krista Comer (Houston, Texas, USA) Professor & Director of Institute for Women Surfers
Krista is the Institute’s Director, a Professor of Literature and Women’s Studies at Rice University in Houston, Texas, USA. Krista was raised mainly in California, educated in the US northeast, and has been living with her family in Houston, on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, for the last twenty years. Krista came in to the Institute project by working with all kinds of women surfers, some of whom read her book Surfer Girls in the New World Order. The process of doing these Institutes, and trying to explain what “Public Humanities” is, as a form of activist community-based research and action, has helped her to refocus what is important to her personally as a feminist researcher. Being with the Institute women has also given her a chance to be in the water more, not so much as a surfer, but as a kayaker, novice SUP who falls in a lot, and otherwise, a waterwoman who is finding her way back . . .
Last Fall, 2017, Krista was a Research Affiliate at Stanford University on a Visiting Scholar sabbatical at the Bill Lane Center for the American West. One of the Lane Center research interests is the history and politics of the California Coastal Commission (CCC), a very important environmental policy making government body. CCC decisions often lead the way in thinking about major international environment policies world wide. Stanford and the Lane Center generously co-sponsored the Institute Training. Our theme was “Issues of Access,” designed to expand in feminist directions how the California Coastal Commission understands environmental justice. Lyndsey Stoodley, PhD student from Cardiff University, was traveling for her research work on the Surf Reserves, she was in California at that exact moment, and she attended and presented her work as a Skill Share! Lyndsey introduced many of us in the US to Surf Senoiritas, and to Dani Robertson – and we began to cook up the idea of an Institute Europe, with Wales as its headquarters. We all agreed that “issues of access” are not universal, they have everything to do with WHERE one looks. Krista is grateful to all of you who are coming — it will be a wonderful chance for us to learn from one another and make new friends.
For more about Krista’s work, teaching, and writing, see kristacomer.rice.edu.
Ceri Cooper (Abercarn, Wales)
Yvette Curtis (Devon, England) Mother, Owner of Fitness Business
I’m Yvette Curtis, a mother to 3 girls and run my own fitness business. Sport has always formed a huge part of my life since childhood and I have been in the fitness industry for the past decade.
Having daughters has always driven my passion for keeping them active and break the trend of girls giving up sport at secondary level education. It was this passion that led to me creating the Wave Wahines, a Surf, Fitness and Social club aimed at girl aged 9-16 to do just that – keep them active in a nurturing environment. It’s a young venture, and at the moment only lives and breathes in Croyde, North Devon, but I have a vision of it being bigger; to be emulated UK-wide, and to provide a place for girls to come and explore a sport that is, wrongly but realistically, still quite difficult to break into.
Leri Davies (Rest Bay, Porthcawl, Wales) Languages, Writer, Mother
Leri is a surfer living in Porthcawl, Wales with a passion writing, languages, and of course, wave riding.
A former international track athlete, Leri studied French, Spanish and politics through to Masters level. With Welsh and English as her mother tongues, she is a self-proclaimed language nerd and is currently learning her 6th language, Cornish. Currently working for the EU in communications, she is also a writer and has her own blog, Cawl of the sea ( https://cawlofthesea.com/ ),as well as having published articles in surf magazines . A mother to a daughter since February 2018, you can usually find Leri with her nose in a book or searching for waves in the Atlantic sea.
Melissa Gordon (Thurso, Scotland) Artist, Surfer, Activist
My name is Melissa Gordon, I am a practicing artist choosing to live in Thurso, a small town in the northern highlands. After finishing an honours degree with a double major in painting and art theory and criticism at NSCAD university on the east coast of Canada I travelled extensively, teaching and surfing, before eventually landing in the UK where I participated in the launch of the successful Slumgothic Teenage Art Project in a severely depressed area of Midlands, moved up to Edinburgh and started an MFA at the Edinburgh College of Art, before arriving in Thurso. I have exhibited in group and solo shows across the UK and Canada.
My experiences recently have shifted my focus from ‘art making’ to ‘art doing,’ and I’m constantly questioning our political and environmental choices and responsibilities. My immediate perspective is Thurso, where we have some of the best waves in Europe, and are also one of the most remote and underprivileged communities in the UK. I moved to Thurso for surfing, and have stayed for surfing and the community that we have built here around it. There is a talk by Easkey Britton where she says, “when you catch a wave, you own your life again.” I can truly say, I own my life here. That’s not a common sentiment. Living in a region that struggles so badly economically we face a certain common distillation of prejudice as well as practical challenges, which I think makes that feeling especially significant, and the area especially full of potential. As a result I’m working with a small group of women to start a centre here; for art and activism, to create a safe space, and to encourage community enterprise. One of the most important enterprise questions being why we don’t have a resident shaper here, and how we can make a decent space for her when she arrives.
Roisin Greenup (Bristol, England)
Sophie Hellyer (London, England) Champion Surfer, Writer, Producer & Activist
Sophie Hellyer is a surfer, cold water swimmer, producer, writer, environmentalist, feminist and public speaker, currently living between the remote Atlantic coast of Ireland and the smoke of London. Previously an English and British Champion surfer (2002/2003/2013), Sophie feels more at home in the water than on land.
With an honours degree in Marketing and a deep connection to the ocean, Sophie’s passion to create positive social change has led her to take a proactive approach in both protecting our oceans and empowering women.
Sophie’s work as a writer and outspoken feminist challenges the status quo of how women are represented in sports and emboldens the protest of like-minded women. Her work can be found on her website http://www.sophiehellyer.com, as well as her blog. For widely-shared recent articles see: As a Female Athlete I’m Upset by how Media has portrayed me and I’m determined not to be Quiet Anymore (2018), about fighting hyper-sexualized media representations of herself and of women generally; Call Me Woman (2018), about the importance of language in sports and the coercive implications of referring to “ladies” in sports; I Speak Because I Can (2017), a reflection piece about male domination, feminism, and the communal worlds of women surfers; and Ticket to Ride (2018), a statement about the benefits of women-only spaces for women’s well-being and growth.
Sophie’s work is helping to lead much needed changes to the visual narrative of surfing — creating a more healthy, diverse and inclusive sporting culture.
Ienka Hill (London, England)
Cory Hughes (Llanelli, Wales) Digital Innovation Across Sectors, Surfer, Swimmer, Sea Kayaker
Cory is an award-winning strategy director, working globally for independent digital agencies, non-profits and multinational brands. She is a specialist in strategic planning, digital innovation and technology for large complex organisations in the government, education, publishing and not-for-profit sectors. She is passionate about using new digital technologies to create greater social impact.
Cory read English Literature at St Hilda’s College, Oxford, graduating in 2007. She began her career in publishing, establishing the first digital marketing team at Scholastic UK, the world’s largest publisher of children’s books. Her work since then has led her to Europe, Australia, China and South-East Asia. In 2013, she relocated to Hong Kong where she co-founded and directed the Greater China office of a leading UK creative agency. She returned to London’s ‘Silicon Roundabout’ in 2015 as Director of Client Services and Strategy and continues to build successful consultancy, communications and client service teams for agencies and brands.
Passionate about the watery parts of the world, Cory is an avid surfer, outdoor swimmer and sea-kayaker. She can be found surfing at her home break in Llangennith, Wales come hail, rain or shine.
Elen Jones (Cold Inn, Wales) Longboarder, Engineer, Mam.
I am a chartered Chemical Engineer working full time at the Valero Oil Refinery in Pembroke, West Wales, in the Process Safety Department.
I am North Walian and since graduating in 2004 I have been living in Pembrokeshire and consider it home.
When I am not working and chasing after my toddler I try and get out as much as possible on my longboard at my local breaks, Manorbier and Fresh West. During flat spells you will mostly find me sea swimming or rowing.
A year ago I joined my workplace’s Women in Industry Networking Group which was a catalyst in helping me get out of a life ‘flat spell’.
Jen Keyte (Carmarthen, Wales)
Bryony Kingsland (Wantage, England)
Emily Marsay (Exeter, England) Surfer, PhD Student University of Exeter
I’m Emily Marsay, a 23 year old PhD Student (and surfer) at the University of Exeter. My research seeks to evaluate the impact of different types of women’s empowerment initiatives in developing countries. Recently, there has been an explosion of interest in ‘women’s empowerment’ and ‘girl power’, with even multinational corporations such as Nike and Unilever setting up their own development projects focused around empowering women and girls. However, many of these projects are purely economic-focused. I am interested in challenging the ‘Development = Economic GDP Growth’ discourse that is present throughout many empowerment and development initiatives. Empowerment can come in many forms, but often the only measurement that we see for women’s empowerment, for instance in the Millennium Development Goals, is participation in the workforce. This ignores aspects of women’s lives that can be empowering such as the unpaid role of mother, or non-economic forms of empowerment such as participation in sport or other male-dominated realms of life. I would love to learn more about surfing as a tool for women’s empowerment, and perhaps set up a mentor scheme for girls in extreme sports.
Rebecca Olive (Queensland, Australia) University Lecturer, Writer, Feminist Blogger
Rebecca Olive is a Lecturer in the School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences at The University of Queensland, Australia. She uses feminist cultural studies approaches to research and write about women’s experiences of recreational surfing, and uses ethnographic methods to explore a number of surfing spaces including surfbreaks, beach-spaces, media, and social media. She has published in a range of journals books and handbooks, and is the co-editor of Women in action sport cultures: Identity, politics and experience, is currently undertaking a Research Fellowship with AustLit about surfing in Australian fiction, and continues to publish in surf media and on her blog, Making Friends With the Neighbours.
Silvia Olivia (Las Palmas, Spain)
Helen O’Rourke (Lancashire, UK) Women’s rights advocate and trainer, lover of the Great Outdoors
Helen is a women’s rights advocate specialised in the fields of domestic and sexual violence, homelessness, problematic drug and alcohol use and mental health. She has many years of experience working in women’s refuges, homelessness hostels and community advocacy services, providing 1-1 casework support and running workshops supporting women to improve their emotional wellbeing. In addition to working on the frontline, Helen is an accomplished trainer, helping professionals, volunteers and the public to understand the dynamics of men’s violence against women and girls, problematic substance use, homelessness, and how we can facilitate recovery from these experiences.
Always sporty but forever landlocked, Helen grew up in Lancashire in North West England, playing netball, football, lacrosse, tennis and any other sport that was happening nearby. She spent her childhood holidays camping and climbing mountains around Britain and Ireland with her dad, which fuelled her love of being out in the wild. Having grown up in Lancashire and later living in Cambridge and London, surfing was never going to be the most practical activity to get into, even though she was always sure she would love it. She finally started riding waves in her late twenties with the help of the fab groups Surf Sistas and the London Surfers, and it was all she ever hoped it would be and more. She now spends all her free time checking the surf forecasts and driving for hours across England and Wales to surf at beaches from Saltburn to Whitesands Bay to Newquay.
Having recently ditched the big smoke of London and living back in the North West at the foot of the West Pennine Moors and a short drive from the beautiful fells of the Lake District, Helen is enjoying being closer to nature and spending more time in the wild. She is keen to help more women and girls to get out into the mountains, the ocean and other wild spaces, as nature has such power to heal. By being part of the Institute for Women Surfers, Helen is excited to be contributing her passions for surfing, the outdoors, feminism and smashing the patriarchy.
Frederique Penot (Saugnac et Cambran, France)
Dani Robertson (Ynys Môn, Wales) Founder, Surf Senioritas, Co-Founder, Institute for Women Surfers Europe (Wales)
Dani Robertson is the founder of online surf community ‘Surf Senioritas’. With Lyndsey Stoodley and Krista Comer, she is co-founding the Institute for Women Surfers Europe, headquartered in Wales. The aim of Surf Senioritas and of the Institute Europe communities is to create and strengthen a supportive network of activist women around the world. We encourage women of all ages, backgrounds and abilities to join to empower each other to enjoy and care for our oceans, and advocate for ourselves.
Dani grew up on Ynys Môn, an island in North Wales and was schooled throughout in Welsh. She studied music at the University of Glamorgan. She has a strong background in social and community projects, working for ten years in the South Wales Valleys to support people in deprived areas. Dani was recently elected as a community councillor for Plaid Cymru and qualified as a SUP instructor after moving to Shropshire to live with her military partner. Dani is a Welsh speaker.
Holly Sayce (Wales)
Lyndsey Stoodley (Cardiff, Wales) PhD student, co-founder IWS Europe (Wales)
Lyndsey is a PhD candidate at Cardiff University (UK), where her research is focused on the evaluation of World Surfing Reserves, and the evolution of surfing as a social movement. She started surfing in Wales over 12 years ago and has travelled, worked and surfed all over the world since. Graduating in 2010 with a BScEcon in International Relations from Aberystwyth University, Lyndsey then went to work in Berlin, Australia and China before returning to academia in 2014 to study Sustainability, Planning and Environmental Policy at Cardiff; her masters thesis looked at surfers’ perceptions of artificial waves and marked the start of a surf centred academic career.
Lyndsey undertook an international collaboration scoping trip in 2017 which led her to surf towns in Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and the US. She was able to attend the 2017 Institute in California, which proved to be a wonderful experience, and something which she felt would work well here in Wales. She reached out to Dani at Surf Senioritas to co found the European Institute with Krista Comer, and is delighted that it has been possible to launch the first IWS chapter outside of the US.
Lyndsey used to enjoy surfing small waves on big boards, but now, inspired by the women of the California Institute, she has ditched the board and practices bodysurfing which she believes is the best thing ever.
You can read about her surf research and travels at blogs.cardiff.ac.uk/surfing-research.
Laura Truelove (Swansea, Wales)
Brender Willmott (Cornwall, England) Surf Science and Technology & Director, Surfing England
Brender Willmott is the course manager for the Foundation degree in Surf Science and Technology, Coastal Safety Management and the Marine Sports Science (Bachelor of Science Hons) based in Newquay (England) and validated by Plymouth University. She developed them whilst in post to make surf science study more industry relevant and authentic. She has co-authored research papers; one on Body Mass Index in female elite surfers with Matt Barlow from Leeds Beckett, and another with Peter McGregor Cornwall College on Employability. As a part-time fitness professional the first article fed on her passion for fitness, and the second article was fed by a desire to see graduates achieve amazing careers in the industry they love. One of her absolute pleasures in life (other than family) is seeing graduates’ successes and learning from them about some of the issues they have researched and that drive them, particularly some of the more debatable issues relating to women in sport. Currently Brender is seconded part-time to a project that involves promoting employability to young people using the marine environment – it’s a challenge but that’s not a bad thing! She’s been a director of English Surfing Federation and now Surfing England for three years and that is also a challenge and was recently really proud to be asked to become a trustee of the Wave Project.
Hazel Wakefield (Cosham, England) Designer, University Lecturer, creative and volunteer at Wave Project Wales
Hazel Wakefield recently returned from living in China where she worked as a University Lecturer at De Tao Masters Academy for Visual Arts for two years. She taught performance sportswear design, fashion, digital design for illustration and portfolio. She also worked as the lead technician for all digital workshop machines including laser cutter, digital printer, cutter and embroidery. With a strong belief that knowledge is power and working with the next generation of young Chinese designers she ensured that all projects provided an opportunity for the students to engage and discuss the effects of the clothing and textile industry on the environment, and actively encouraged them to seek alternative ways of creating garments using recycled materials, zero waste pattern cutting and researching sustainable fabric choices.
Hazel studied Performance Sportswear Design at Falmouth University (Cornwall, England). After graduating she worked as the lead designer for the active clothing company howies based in West Wales, a company with a strong ethos of creating products that last longer and are produced in a low impact way.
She has always been passionate about the outdoors and sport, having ridden bikes for over 20 years. Cycling has taken Hazel all around the world, representing Great Britain and England at International and National events. Surfing in many different countries, often solo, has given her a great appreciation for the ocean and the kindness of strangers. She hopes one day her surfing skills will match that of her cycling abilities! When time permits she loves to combine her two passions of cycling and surfing, and embark on touring trips around the coast with a trailer that carries both board and camping kit. Hazel’s life quote inspiration is “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” — Helen Keller