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Some of the comments she gets are amazing. Some are super polite: “You are so pretty Alana!”, “U r the best girl ever”, “Wow,” etc., but a good proportion mention what Tetsuhiko Endo, surf editor at The Inertia, calls the “most ogled ass in all professional sport,” with “Oooo datass,” and “Wanna bite your butt,” being some of the more printable examples. Some accuse her of being overhyped though they’re quickly shot down by other posters defending her honor. Does she ever find the comments creepy? “I get all kinds of comments. I think a lot of them are hilarious. People are people and react to things in so many different ways. I love reading comments.”
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We chat about surfing and I throw some stock questions at her: how high is the standard right now? “All the girls on tour this year are the best female surfers that have ever existed. I feel like everyone has learned and been able to progress from the girls before us and we’re now standing on the shoulders of the girls who came before us and trying to push the envelope even further.”
Does that mean it’s more competitive and less friendly? “No, the vibe is super friendly. We’ve all grown up surfing with each other since we were little girls. It’s amazing to be able to travel with this awesome group of fun chicks who all push each other to surf at a higher level.”
Who is her favorite surfer? “I love Stephanie Gilmore. I think she’s so amazing as a person and of course as a surfer. She is such a beautiful person inside and out.”
And if she could change one thing about the women’s tour? “Getting an event back in Hawaii would be top of the list.” She’s proud of Hawaiian heritage and still very close to her friends and family, including Bethany Hamilton. She was with her the day she got attacked by a shark and lost an arm. Does she still think about the attack? “It happened when we were so young, but I will always remember it. I almost always think about sharks when I surf but it was such a freak accident it’s not worth dwelling on.”
“The human incarnation of the phenomenon that is Alana Blanchard is definitely likeable and of course beautiful. More importantly she surfs super well and in big swell too. But is she good for women’s surfing? The jury in my head is still out.”
The human incarnation of the phenomenon that is Alana Blanchard is definitely likeable and, of course, beautiful. More importantly, for me at least, she surfs super well, and in big swell too, but is she good for women’s surfing? I don’t know. She posts naked, although not remotely trashy, videos and poses for Sports Illustrated and certainly gets the guys frothing, plus I don’t begrudge her the right to cash in on her, ahem, assets but is it a helpful message for female surfers, especially young ones? Or as someone who posted on The Inertia said, she is “singlehandedly setting women’s surfing back 40 years.” I don’t know. The jury in my head is still out.
What do you think? Leave your thoughts in the comment box below.
Image courtesy of Cooler Mag
Words by Sam Haddad, photography by Ellis Scott. All Instagram images from Alana’s account.
Editor’s Note: This article was first published by Cooler Mag here. Follow Sam Haddad on Twitter to keep up with what’s going on in her world.
