The 2025 season is a big one for Peterson. Photo: Pat Nolan//World Surf League
Lakey Peterson is a household name in surfing. She was the first female to land an air during competition. She’s had countless career wins, including last year’s triumph at the Corona Open at J-Bay.
Like every other grom, Peterson grew up watching DVDs and VHS tapes of the greats. Specifically Kelly Slater and Andy Irons. Films centered around the competitive side. Spectators and judges certainly see those styles reflected in her surfing on the tour today.
“I always loved A Fly in the Champagne, which was a Kelly-Andy kind of movie,” she told me. “Maybe that was the competitor in me, but I also felt drawn to the storytelling. Also, Searching for Tom Curren is just like a classic film that everyone is in love with, especially his section at J-Bay. When I was younger, there weren’t that many female surf films. Now there’s a lot more edits and female films, which is really, really cool for the younger girls out there. But, when I was young, it was more just men’s films. So, I just watched those.”
Now, female groms (and surfers of any identity) can fall in love with a modern-day J-Bay surfing sequence from a high-octane competitor. But why did Peterson, the die-hard competitive surfer, make a film as opposed to compete, and how did she have the time to take this project on in the first place?
Lakey Peterson, of course, didn’t make the 2024 Championship Tour’s mid-season cut, essentially falling off tour. She did, however, receive a wildcard for next year’s CT. Peterson said this came with mixed, and heavy, emotions. Overall, receiving the wildcard felt not only deserved, but like a milestone for the years of work she’s put in on the tour in the past. “Not making the cut is a very dramatic thing, in the moment,” she said. “To get the wildcard felt deserving for where I’m at in my career and how long I’ve been on tour. It felt good to be recognized for the work I’ve put in over the last 12 years.”
Her brief hiatus from competition wasn’t all bad. It gave Peterson the time to take a breath: “I have my spot for next season. It’s been a blessing in disguise.”
“Originally, it felt bad to fall off, but then, receiving the wild card has given me time to really reset and have a break for a second,” she added. “I didn’t realize how needed it was until I actually had this time. I’m really thankful to the WSL and everyone involved with that vision, and I’m really looking forward to next year.”
One of the projects Peterson has taken on during her time off is filming a new edit. Peterson explained that without the cut, she never would have had the time to go on surf trips and “put the effort in that I would want to for something like this.”
“We were able to go to South Africa to film for it,” she explained. “We surfed J-Bay, which is awesome, and happens to be my favorite wave in the world to get to go surf. To do that without the pressure of a contest just felt so different and cool for me. It’s allowed me to work on my surfing and not be in a competitive mindset every week. It allowed me to try different boards and equipment and work on things that I’ve wanted to work on for a long time but never felt like I’ve had the time. That’s been really cool, too.”
The process of filming was mostly flexible to Peterson’s schedule and interests, making it enjoyable as opposed to challenging. Peterson brought her husband, Tom, with her on her travels.
Equally uplifting was the film’s director, Morgan Maassen, who shot and wove the entire project together. “It was just the three of us,” she said, “so it was just a small group, which is good for me. You can be so productive, and I could surf when I wanted and not feel like I had to go on somebody else’s schedule.”
The waves were on at J-Bay, and this was a blessing not just for surfing’s sake. “We only had a couple different time periods where we could have a trip,” Peterson said, “so it worked out perfectly, the way the swells lined up. All the filming felt organic and true to my vibe.”
As it turns out, Peterson and Maassen grew up just down the street from one another in Santa Barbara. “We’ve known each other for our entire lives, since we were super young,” Peterson says. “We went to grade school together. Having the same outlook on California and coming from the Central Coast… everything felt aligned on kind of that side of things.”
Although the process felt freeing, and much less structured than a typical competition for Peterson, there was still an urge to perform and get clips. “I could go surf when I wanted during the day. I didn’t have to get up and do the early surf and then do an afternoon surf and go to bed. I could enjoy the process. I could surf all day long and get tired. I wasn’t worried about competing, but also, I felt like, ‘I need to get clips today.’ It was a different pressure.”
Perhaps this is the mindset Peterson will take with her when she’s back on the tour in 2025. Right now, Peterson admitted she’s looking for the same motivation she had before falling off. But she’s not one to idly stand on the sidelines. She’s coming back with a personal project completed and the kind of soul surfing experiences that make freesurfers envious.
As far as the edit? Peterson said, “I just hope it inspires anyone who watches it to want to get out and go surfing and enjoy where they are and this beautiful life we get to live. I hope it shines light on how awesome the Central Coast is, and where I grew up in the Santa Barbara region. I owe so much to the surf community of Santa Barbara and the people around me. I really hope it highlights that as well and just shows how special it’s been, at least for me, in my life.”
