| Having
discovered surfing in 1980 or so, I had
my share of childhood surfing heroes ...Cheyne
Horan, Tom Curren, Martin Potter and Tom
Carroll to name a few. Each wall of my room
was decorated with photos of my favorite
surfers ...all of them cut out from Surfer,
Surfing and Breakout Magazines. Unlike most
of my peers though, I was also fond of women's
surfing. Across from my Cheyne Horan and
Tom Curren walls and right to the left of
my Cheryl Ladd poster was the Kim Mearig
section of my room, buoyed by an autographed
black and white 8x10 photo of Kim that I
received at the old Huntington Surf Theatre.
Fast forward
about three decades...
While perusing
Facebook one afternoon, I came across the
most incredible collection of early 80's
surf photos by Simone Reddingius. All the
stars were present...Cheyne, Pottz, both
TC's and a whole bunch incredible women
from one of the most unique and colorful
eras in modern surfing. 4X ASP World Champ
Frieda Zamba, 1983 ASP World Champ Kim Mearig,
Jorja and Jolene Smith, Alisa Schwarzstein,
Tricia Gill, Rell Sunn, Liz Benavidez, Jodie
Cooper, 1990 ASP World Champ Pam Burridge,
1982 ASP World Champ Debbie Beacham and
a host of 70's legends...all presented in
glorious Kodachrome color.
This photo gallery
represents a tiny portion of Simone's vast
photo archive and she generously granted
us permission to share these images with
you. Enjoy this slice of women's surf history
and when you have a few free moments, please
visit Simone's flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/by-simone/
--Chris Grant
A few
words from Simone's photo subjects...
Kim
Mearig
"I traveled to quite a few WISA events
with Simone in the early 80's. She's hilarious,
and I don't think she knows it, or tries
to be. She says these one liners with a
straight face. Kind of a dry sense of humor.
That's what I remember most about Simone,
fun to hang out with. And she's an awesome
photographer. Great timing shooting surfing
I always thought. I think because she was
an accomplished surfer herself, she knew
exactly what the surfers were setting up
to do."
Alisa
Schwarzstein Cairns
"I used to surf with Simone at the
WISA contests and also on some of my many
trips up to Santa Barbara. She would often
come down south with Kim Mearig who was
my travel partner so I saw her fair bit.
Simone was always super nice to surf and
hang out with and then she got into surf
photography and was basically the only woman
surfer to get into shooting surf photos.
I think Flame took her under his wing and
helped her out and it was really cool when
she starting getting published. Her Facebook
photos bring back a lot of fun memories
of surfing contests in the 80's.
About Simone
Reddingius
Simone Reddingius
was born in Curacao, West Indies and moved
to California in 1964. She grew up in Temple
City, CA. Her parents would take her camping
along the beach and it was there that she
dreamed of being a surfer. At her high school
library was one copy of a surf magazine
that she confiscated and kept close to her
side.
One day, Simone's
mother came home with an old Wardy longboard
that she bought at a yardsale for a dollar.
It didn't have a fin, but Simone was stoked.
While on a camping
trip in Carpinteria, Simone met lifeguard
Denny Aaberg who taught her how to surf.
After graduating
high school, Simone moved to Santa Barbara
where she was really able to live her dream
and become a full time surfer. Simone's
older brother gave her his old camera, a
Minolta SRT 101 with a telephoto lens. She
was often torn between surfing first or
taking pictures first. A job at a camera
store allowed her to buy some new
equipment and get a nice Nikon camera, a
motordrive and a Century 650mm lens. As
she honed her skills, Simone submitted her
work to Surfing and Surfer magazines and
was published several times over the years.
Simone moved to
Maui in 1993 and has been upgrading her
film equipment to digital. Among the things
she loves to photograph are the beautiful
winter waves and breathtaking sunsets. She
is also experimenting with an old Nikonos
underwater film camera.
Her work can be viewed
on her flickr website: http://www.flickr.com/photos/by-simone/
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