Last year, Caitlin Simmers bested some of her heroes to win at Supertubos. She was just 17 years old, a rookie from Oceanside, but it’s been readily apparent for a while now that Simmers is going to be a force on Tour for years to come — if she chooses to be.
I say that because Simmers did something rare a few years ago. After qualifying for the CT in 2022, she decided she wasn’t quite ready yet and put it off for a year. But even then, before she was competing against the CT’s finest, she had something… different. Something special.
“Caity Simmers is at the forefront of a generational movement of female surfers set to change the face of competition,” wrote The Inertia’s Joe Carberry for a profile film on Simmers. “Airs, barrel riding, rail work, this Oceanside, California native has it all, and a style to go with it unlike any we’ve seen in recent years on the Championship Tour.”
So far, Simmers has performed well at the 2024 events. As of this writing, she’s sitting in second place, just 55 points behind the rankings leader, Molly Picklum. She won the Lexus Pipe Pro, the first event of the season, then took fifth place at Sunset. But, as she showed last year, Simmers surfs Supertubos exceptionally well.
“With her pop-shuvits and gouging turns under the lip,” Joe Carberry wrote after her 2023 win in Portugal, “Simmers’ surfing was well above the rest of the women’s field.”
The MEO Rip Curl Pro Portugal kicks off on March 6th and has an open window until the 16th. It’s a good bet that Simmers will show up and throw down again. Keep an eye on the event at WorldSurfLeague.com.
Editor’s Note: Watch our film about Simmers here.
