Girls Who Surf™ highlights rad female surfers all over the world – exploring their passion for surfing and what it means to them. Meet Laura Quintana, a surfer based in Venice, California & listen to her story here.
Hello, my name is Laura and I’m a Girl Who Surfs.
Where are you from and how long have you been surfing?
I’m from Bedminster, New Jersey and I have been surfing for six years.
Why do you surf and what does it mean you?
I started surfing because I kind of needed a new sport. I was tired of running – I used to run competitively for a long time and I love swimming, I love being outside. I’ve made a career from that as an athletic model and I always thought surfing was really cool and I tried it and it was hard, but it was so much fun.
I have found such an incredible community where I live and online from and through surfing. I’m so grateful to have found it. All of my best friends now I’ve met through surfing, my boyfriend and I met through surfing. We started a surf wax company together, Saba Surf, hand poured in Venice. Get some! Use code: HOMIES. Yeah, it’s just a blast.
Describe your hometown and what it is like being a surfer there.
My hometown in Bedminster, New Jersey is just like a small town. Everything closes at 9 PM, it’s like a lot of horse land. It’s like an hour from the beach. It’s beautiful, but I’m assuming what you meant was where I currently live, which is Venice, California.
Being a surfer here is so easy. I mean, everybody around me surfs and we have so many beautiful local surf spots. I could walk to breakwater, it’s like a mile from my house or I could go surf El Porto, it’s like a 15 minute drive, cruise down to Trestles and have a San O Beach Day. Or go up to Malibu. Yeah, it’s easy.
What is your favorite local surf spot and why?
My favorite local surf spot is Topanga. I’ve been going there since I started surfing. So I know how the waves break on small days and big days. I like to sit a little bit north. I think it’s called Old Mans, and the beach there is just kind of small and quiet. It’s a good place to go and escape. Midweek, pack a lunch, bring a book kind of vibe. Also when you turn around and look at the land from the lineup, it’s beautiful. It looks like you’re not in California anymore. Sometimes I think it looks a little bit like Hawaii because the mountains will change color in the sunset. It’s just, it’s beautiful.
What do you love about your local female surf community?
What do I love about my local female surf community? I love that there is one. Women that I’ve met through surfing are all so welcoming. Like I said, my best girlfriends, Megan and Jay, we met through surfing. We go on surf trips together, now we’re going to Mexico. We are going to Costa Rica in a couple months.
My friend Lucy started this group chat of surfer girls. It was like me and six other friends and her, and within the span of a month, there were 50 women in this group chat, like maxed out. We couldn’t add anyone else. It was a mix of beginners and, you know, girls who were so good at surfing and we were all just like trying to link and paddle out together and it’s just so welcoming and fun to surf with girls. I’m not afraid when I surf with girls if you know what I mean? I feel like when I surf with my guy friends, they’re like, yeah, yeah, you have that drop and I might not versus when I surf with my girlfriends, they’re like, just wait for the next one. We still challenge each other but we’re all just synced on the level of safety, which is nice.
Even online, there’s such a big community of women who surf. For example, I hit up this girl who lives in Australia asking if I could send her some of our surf wax to try out. She was like, “Yeah! Also I’m planning this trip to the Mentawais with nine other female surfers, models, and content creators. And I saw your profile a couple of weeks ago and like, do you wanna come? You seem cool” and I was like, yes, absolutely. I haven’t met any of these girls before, but I’m heading to the Mentawais with them in three weeks for a two week surf trip on a 62 ft catamaran. And like that kind of like, that’s crazy. Like my parents don’t get it. They’re like what you’re going where with who, but that is just not only the power of social media but the power of women and community and surfing.
Watch Laura’s full episode below!
