by Riley Wasek
The Supergirl surf festival came to the Oceanside Pier from September nineteenth through the twenty-first. This marked the 19th annual occurrence of the event in the oceanside location. The professional surfers, live music, abundance of food, kiosks of all organic and environmentally friendly products, and lax beach atmosphere set the scene for the truly unique and special event.
The festival had musical acts playing the entirety of all three days. Notably including Lupe Fiasco, Plain White T’s, Artikal Sound, and my personal favorite to get to see, Hello Sister, as well as giving the opportunity for countless other local bands and artists to get to showcase their talent. Lupe Fiasco and Plain White T’s were the two closing acts of the festival, and were the most attended. The amphitheater was so packed with people during these performances that they had to close the entrance to any new people entering. People gathered by the side of the pier and some were even hopping the fences to get a chance to see these artists. When I spoke with one of the event officials and organizers, she told me, “One of the most monumental musical guests they ever had at one of their festivals was when we got Joan Jett to come and do an act a few years back in our Tampa Florida festival location– having such a high profile female rocker showcased how big the event had become”.
I spoke with Dave Langer who is not only a long time professional surfer in his own right, but was also at the festival working as Maya Gabeira’s jetski pilot and surf rescue crew. Maya Gabeira is a Brazilian pro big wave surfer who holds the world record for the largest wave ever caught by a female. Langer and a crew of two other people go out on big waves with Gabeira and rescue her on jetskis if she falls into the water. “Surfing saves lives”, said Langer when I asked him what the most meaningful part of the culture was. “I got into drugs at 18– and when I wanted to push my surfing to the next level, I realized I needed to be healthy in order to do that”. Surf culture, as well as skateboard culture, are unique and apart from other sports in the sense that most of the higher ups in these professions were child prodigies who received proper physical training for their sports from young ages, but were instead regular people who fell into the passion of it.
The event is all about women’s empowerment and representation within the sports industry. In addition to surfing, competitions are also held for women’s volleyball, soccer, flag football, skateboarding. There are also free classes of women’s yoga and dance. As well as an all-female art exhibit. Sofie, who was working as an event organizer gave me the rundown on the laidback and cool professionalism of everyone who worked and competed there “Everyone deeply cares and is highly professional about what they do, but at the same time never seem stressed and just take things one step at a time”.
“To all the people who did not attend, make sure you come next year” -Sofie [Supergirl event organizer].
