A sun-drenched portrait of the young Hawaiian phenom. Photo courtesy of Cooler Mag
Alana Blanchard is one of a rare breed of elite female surfers, but the fact she has almost 670,000 followers on Instagram has probably more to do with her looking smoking hot in a bikini. We hooked up with the Hawaiian-born phenomenon to chat about being judged for looks, dealing with creepy comments and how the current crop of surfers are the best ever.
When I was first introduced to Alana Blanchard in 2009, at an ASP World Tour stop in Peniche, she barely registered on my radar. I was there to interview the mighty Steph Gilmore who was blowing up the women’s scene and ushering in a new dawn of punchy, progressive surfing. Then 21, she’d won two back-to-back World Titles and was about to score a third. In comparison, all I knew about Alana, who went off to shoot swimwear for a fashion mag while I spoke to Steph about Supertubos, was that she was the main bikini model for her sponsors and the only female surfer the guys in the office were interested in, for all the wrong reasons. If you mentioned her name, they wouldn’t wonder how she’d handle a ten-foot barrel. Their eyes would just glaze over and they’d head to their happy place.
“As I watched her surf a blinder against Coco Ho at the Roxy Pro Gold Coast, I’m reminded of what an awesome surfer she is.”
As I watched her surf a blinder against Coco Ho at the Roxy Pro Gold Coast (setting up a next round tie against Steph Gilmore which she lost; though to be fair the World Champ was on fire that day almost scoring a perfect ten for a tube ride), I’m reminded of what an awesome surfer she is and how uncomfortable I am with my shallow first impressions. Though in my defense, she wouldn’t have been the first girl to be sponsored on account of looking model-hot in a bikini rather than for her wave-riding prowess. When we catch up after the contest, I ask if she sometimes feels underrated as a surfer because people focus on her looks. She says, “I guess at times I do but all that matters to me is what my friends and family think so it doesn’t bother me too much.”
Image courtesy of Cooler Mag
She’s also humble and perhaps wise enough to acknowledge that modeling has helped her surf career. Growing up on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, she started surfing with her dad Holt (rad name) at four and was signed by Rip Curl at 14 for her talent but no doubt her looks too. My theory on why so many pro surfers are hot (with thanks to Malcolm Gladwell and his hockey players) is that when given the choice between two surfers in their early teens, the brand will always pick the more beautiful one. Once signed, said surfer will get access to product (and sometimes money) but more significantly mentoring by the brand and its older pro surfers, plus taken on trips which will make them a far better surfer than the original less-hot one. This is a kind of unnatural selection, which would be fine if it didn’t have the potential to send back the message (perhaps even subliminally) to young girls that you need to look good in a bikini to be good or, at the very least, enjoy surfing.
But back on point. Alana won the Cholos Pipeline Pro in 2007 and first appeared on the ASP Women’s World Tour in 2009 at age 18. She later dropped down to the Star Tour but is firmly back amongst the 17 best surfers in the world this year though her Wikipedia entry still describes her as a “professional surfer and bikini model.” I ask if she enjoys modeling. “I definitely prefer surfing, but I am thankful for what modeling has been able to do for my surfing career. A lot of times, I’m thinking about surfing when I’m modeling.”
She must have to think about surfing a lot, as alongside the more traditional lookbook shoots for her sponsors, she regularly posts her own shots on Instagram and clips on her Network A video channel, for which she is currently doing a web series with the Twitter trend-friendly title “Surfer Girl.” She has an insanely strong social media presence. The last time I checked, she had over 665,000 followers on Instagram with most of the pictures she posted getting a staggering 40,000+ likes and, of course, that’s a massive brand reach for her sponsors. Ker-ching! To put this in perspective, Steph Gilmore (the next highest female surfer I could find) has about 100,000 followers. Only one of Alana’s last 20 shots was scenic, the rest were of her either in a bikini, surfing or kissing her boyfriend–the ASP World Junior Surf Champion, Jack Freestone. No shots of crap sunsets or #bestbreakfastever for her.
I ask if she enjoys it. “I love Instagram. It’s fun and I think it’s important to be able to share snapshots of my life with people who are interested. It’s a cool way to communicate with them and I love photography so it’s a cool artistic outlet for me.” And what do the shots say about her? “They express who I am and what I am feeling at that moment. They show how blessed and lucky I am to live the life I am living and, in a way, it lets my fans along for the ride.”
