Jordy Miranda surfing while pregnant. Photo: Olivia Shaw
Surfing is a difficult sport under any circumstances. But surfing while pregnant is an entirely different beast. While many women, respectively, decide to opt out of surfing during their pregnancy, there is another group that won’t let anything stand between them and riding waves. We caught up with eight ordinary women and asked them their experience surfing while pregnant. Here’s what they had to say.
Alexa Marcon
Surfing while pregnant was a bit cumbersome at first — hauling around a big longboard, getting on a wetsuit with a big belly, and bruises from knee-paddling. But after a few sessions I started getting the hang of it, and really it was so nice to be in the water. I preferred using my soft-top, Catch Surf log, which was better on my knees than my longboard. The biggest challenge was learning where to position myself on the board to get into waves while knee paddling. I watched videos of Kelia Moniz as a pregnant goddess longboarding and nose riding with her big belly to get inspiration. It was also a challenge to learn how to pop up from being on your knees with a belly. I surfed up until seven months pregnant. I had morning sickness in both my first and third trimesters and decided I should take it a bit slower during my third trimester, so I just stuck with ocean dips and swims.
Jillian King Smith
Surfing with my first, I went out until eight months. I longboarded a lot. I was full of energy and was very determined. During my second pregnancy, I had a miscarriage and surfed a lot of December swell. I got pregnant three months later and it was the ultimate struggle to even get me out of bed, let alone teach students all day and take care of my three-year-old. I surfed my second trimester until six months and hurt my back, so I decided to take a break until six weeks postpartum.
Valerie Thatcher
I shortboarded until six months with my first baby and oddly I can’t remember how long with my second, but it may have been sooner because I got bigger faster. As I got bigger, I sank my board more and my belly mostly floated in the water as I paddled. I am 5’4” and I surfed a 5’6”. I stopped when it got too uncomfortable to paddle and pop up.
Maggie Rose Bove LaMonica
I moved onto body surfing after my first trimester due to worry about a wipeout with the board. But I body surfed until seven months when the water got too cold without a wetsuit.
Corina Weibel, making surfing while pregnant look easy. Photo: Callum Morse
Corina Weibel
I surfed through my whole pregnancy and just needed a longboard, not many people around, and tiny, small waves for the last couple of months. Paddling was tricky and not elegant. I paddled having only pressure on my knees and chest; I wasn’t the pretty kneeling paddler.
Jordy Miranda
Once I found out I was pregnant, I made it a goal to continue to do the things I love as long as my body would allow it. From six days in the gym to three swims or surfs a week, pregnancy has been such a joy. I ended up surfing until week 30. Where we live, there is a big, steep cliff to get down, which is one of the reasons I stopped at 30 weeks. I would only go out when it was 1-3 feet and made sure to always stay on my knees. I would paddle over waves on my knees and take off on my knees. They say your balance is off while pregnant, but I never felt more secure and steady. It’s almost as if my body knew I was carrying a son and to stay up no matter the cost. Pre pregnancy I started practicing knee paddling into waves which helped a lot. One of my favorite things about it was seeing people’s reactions as they saw me paddle out. It also increased my wave count because nobody could pass up letting a pregnant lady get the first wave of the set!
