Skylar Lickle, at her home break. Photo: Amanda Beenen Cantor
Skylar Lickle was destined for a life on the water. Born and raised in Haiku, Maui, Lickle spent her childhood in and around the sea. Her parents moved to the island 30 years prior so her dad could pursue his windsurfing passion. He quickly made a name for himself in the windsurfing world as one of the pioneers of tow in surfing and became a regular in the lineup at Peahi.
Lickle spent her childhood playing on the shoreline, watching her dad drop into oversized waves from the bluffs above Jaws. Although she first tried surfing as a toddler, it wasn’t until she began kiting at age nine that she truly became enchanted by the sea.
Around the same time, she began standup paddling and soon became a competitor on the APP World Tour. A few years later, she started shortboarding competitively, entering contests through the MIL Surfing League.
In 2014, her dad bought a jet ski and she began towing into waves at Outer Sprecks, getting a taste for bigger and heavier waves. In 2019, she dropped into her first wave at Jaws and a few months later, she competed in the Jaws Big Wave Championships, placing ninth.
Lickle has been riding waves of consequence since she was 15. Photo: Amanda Beenen Cantor
Even though her performance at the competition wasn’t her best, Lickle was invited to the Queen of the Bay (which ultimately didn’t run due to conditions), was re-invited to the Jaws Big Wave Championships, and was recently asked to participate in the Red Bull Magnitude big wave competition.
“It felt really cool to feel like people were recognizing that I was surfing the big waves and they wanted me in their competitions,” says Lickle.
Lickle is a self-proclaimed nervous Nelly. Despite her comfort and skill in oversized waves, putting on a jersey sends her heartbeat through the roof, making it challenging to perform her best. When Lickle was accepted into the Red Bull Magnitude competition, it felt like a match made in heaven.
Unlike traditional contests, the Red Bull Magnitude took place over the course of three months. At the end of the competition period, competitors submitted their three best videos, which were then reviewed by a judging panel. Wave size, commitment/criticalness, consistency, and style were all factors that were taken into consideration.
After all the footage was reviewed, Lickle came away the overall winner. Maui’s Paige Alms landed best ride and best paddle, Maui’s Annie Reickert took home the award for best tow and people’s choice, and California’s Katie McConnell was named the rookie of the year.
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“It was so cool to see all the Maui girls on the podium this year,” says Lickle. “There’s something so cool about the female presence—what I really appreciate and what I really look up to these ladies for is that they’re very calculated.”
Something unique about the Red Bull Magnitude is that it’s a women’s only contest, something you don’t often see in surfing. It showcases the best women in the sport of big wave surfing and allows them to pave the way for future generations of women.
“Do I feel bad that the guys don’t get this opportunity?” says Lickle. “Sure, I think that they should get it too. But it’s so cool to feel special and really recognized and supported. [Red Bull] is making a huge conscious effort to supply us with everything we need to succeed, which is water safety and video content.”
Although Lickle doesn’t have many concrete goals when it comes to surfing, her plan is to keep improving with each session and each year. The twenty-one-year-old doesn’t feel a pull to travel in search of bigger and better waves—Jaws is her home wave and she’s content fine tuning her skills there. But if contests do come up overseas, she will answer the call.
