Caity Simmers In 'Toasted' and Malia Manuel in 'Malia'

Nike's 2011 film Leave a Message seemed like the seachange for women's surfing but history showed otherwise. Nike proved to be just another big player who dabbled in the surfing 'space' before bailing out on the idea and the reality of womens equality had to wait till later. In 2018, pay parity made women equal, at least on paper, though questions lingered in the broader culture.

But two recently released edits show we are very much there.

Championship Tour rookie Caitlin Simmers has released an edit called Toasted (cut and directed by Simmers herself) while ex-CT surfer Malia Manuel just dropped a fifteen-minute cut called Malia (shot and chopped by Morgan Maassen).

17-year old Caity's cut is bursting with teenage vitality: full of airs, a gritty grimy soundtrack, and a very Dane Reynolds-type vibe as far as surfing performance and style goes. Mexican points, French beachies, and local waves all get shredded by Caity and pals, which include fellow CT'er and Sunset winner Molly Picklum. While Simmers marked her CT card absent last year and Pickles didn't make the cut, the surfing standard shows both could be world champs, right now. Proper turns, full repertoires, both ways intuitive tuberiding, no weird over-coached stylistic tics - it's all there.

At last year's Final's Day, Steph cleaned the table of an old guard Top 5 at head-high Trestles (aided by Carissa having a shocker), yet after watching Toasted it's almost unimaginable that she could do the same against Caity or Pickles.

At 17, Simmers could have more than a decade at the top before we see the best of her, and the same applies to her peers. That’s a very expansive vista opening up, both for her and for women's surfing.

Though the CT career is now behind her, the expansive vista still exists for Kauian Malia Manuel. In her eponymous short we get the full art treatment from Maassen. To be frank the cut comes across as an outright homage and love letter to Manuel, full of brooding images of clouds, rain, silhouettes etc etc. It's sensual as all hell. Surfing is beyond a sport, according to Manuel, it's a dance with nature.

No-one could watch this gorgeous film and refute that. It's full to overflowing with a gentle, wholesome erotica, which is also a dance with nature. Unlike the raggedy, freckle faced urchin/punk aesthetic of Simmers, Manuel glides through the film as a fully-fledged Hawaiian Goddess.

If the slo-mo occasionally gets a little overdone, the surfing and variety of crafts and locations keeps the film balanced. My favourite image of the film was Manuel at home riding what looked like a substantial quad semi-gun, fully trimmed out on a solid Hanalei Bay wall being lip-groomed by tradewinds.

Seeing her post-CT (where she often struggled) on alternative equipment was something of a revelation. We knew she shredded from her early performances in Leave a Message but that somehow got lost in the yearly CT grind, which seemed to sap the creativity and joy from her surfing.

No danger of losing that here. Every shot, every wave is a joy to watch. The opening and closing sequences - Teahupoo perfection for the former, Indonesian tubes the latter - are pure fantasy stuff.

Is there a post-CT career path now opening up for Manuel as a globe-trotting freesurfer - a career option that has so far remained closed off to women? I'd hope so. I'd happily sit down and watch an edit like this every six months, or whatever she came up with. Female surfing at its highest level, on a variety of equipment, in perfect waves, presented as art, somehow feels very fresh; as innovative in its own way at the opposite end of the spectrum to Simmers presentation.

I'll happily watch Simmers' every heat now, for the punk turns and little stylistic flourishes that make her so fun to watch. The mini soul arches, look backs, and tube slouches in between shreds. The skate style which emphasises quiet hands instead of arm waving.

Simmers film, with girls surfing in amongst their male peers reflects a new reality, one I surf in every day. Girl shredders, completely unremarkable except for the surfing they do, mixing it up as both peers and equals in the lineups they grew up in.

We're not at the start of this journey, nor at the end - it still has a way to go before it diffuses through lineups worldwide - but it's now clear women's surfing is an unstoppable force. It's going to be very cool watching it evolve if these two films are any guide.

// STEVE SHEARER