Alana Blanchard was on her way back from a shoot in Tahiti, and she had a feeling, a fleeting hope, that she might be pregnant. With nearly two million followers on Instagram, Blanchard has become arguably the most recognizable woman in surfing; her career has flourished due in no small part to her modeling efforts which in many ways have overshadowed her status as a former competitor on the World Tour. While navigating a pregnancy alongside a prosperous modeling career might seem like a stressful proposition, Blanchard seems totally at ease entering a new phase of life. When we caught up with her at the 2017 US Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach, her boyfriend, professional surfer Jack Freestone, had just paddled out for his heat, and she was tossing around baby names. Currently, they’re still undecided on names for their baby boy.
“It’s definitely really hard to pick a name,” said Blanchard. “I usually pick the weirdest names for my animals, so I can’t think of a name for a human.”
They have a couple names up their sleeves, but, for now, they’re keeping mum.
And while her good friend Bethany Hamilton was seen charging Teahupoo and Pipeline with a baby in her belly and actually surfed up to eight months, Alana decided to stop surfing at four months.
“I didn’t really feel that comfortable,” said Blanchard. “A lot of girls do. They surf all the way to eight months. I felt stressed out about it.”
Blanchard announced to the public that she was pregnant at 20 weeks via Instagram, and she’s excited for the next phase of her life. With the baby due in November, she’s planning to lay low on her home island of Kauai – keeping active and healthy – until the big day. Then possibly planning to have more rug rats join the tribe. Come November, not only will she have a beautiful baby boy to join her young family, she’ll be able to surf again. Sounds like Alana and Jack have plenty to look forward to.
