It was my sister Em who posed the question; "Shall we join the Water Women Camp Out being organised by Surfers for Climate?". It sounded pretty doable. It was only 40 minutes away at Flat Rock Tent Park just north of Ballina with a pretty awesome break offshore. And yes, I could bring all the gear.
The car was packed to the gunnels with my 3m canvas bell tent, blackened billy and a quiver of 7ft, 8ft and 9ft boards. It was almost illegal so I went to back roads to join 100 other water women descending on the grounds.
Surfers for Climate were celebrating a win with the banning of offshore oil and gas drilling in NSW, and Interim CEO was at the outdoor reception desk when I arrived. Everyone got a cool towel, a cap, sunscreen and a map of the grounds. Number 31 camp site had our name on it.
Located just south of the "Village" and west of the incessant ocean, it was a ripper. The brush turkeys, however, were just something to be aware of. Before long that settling in sound of hammer hitting metal rang out across the grounds as I pitched the tent, strung up the fairy lights and headed to the kitchen where Bundjalung native food queen Mindy Woods was creating magic.
As a fire wench from way back I was naturally drawn to the fish wings slow roasting over a pit fashioned from a four gallon drum. These offcuts are often discarded but they have so much meat on them and when cooked just right are beyond delicious. Pip Sumbak from Pips Plate was in charge here and I made myself useful by bringing up an armfuls of logs. One of those wings was going to be mine! I would also save some for Em who rocked up at 10.30pm after traversing 3 states that day for work.
The following day we join Florida-born local noserider Lauren Hill for a brilliant workshop called 'Carving Our Stories In'. She held up surf magazines plucked at random from a newsagency and asked how many stories by women were between the covers? Pretty much zero to none she confirmed. Even today, nearly 45 years on from their brutal exposure in Puberty Blues, men still dominate the surf media landscape. It was a wake up call to fill the void with female surfer joy.
Humpback whales were breaching just off the point but I didn't want to miss 'Surfemminism for Intergenerational Climate Action', an interactive workshop led by Professor Krista Coma, who had come all the way from Houston Texas to be part of what she called "an historic event". Krista established the Institute for Women Surfers and she presented with former Northern Rivers local and academic Rebecca Olive, who wrote an essay for the catalogue of surf art exhibition I curated at Hazelhurst Regional Gallery back in 2010 called 'WaxOn'.
It was super cool to reconnect with Rebecca and other women like the legendary Pauline Menczer who was there to talk about her new book, Surf Like a Woman. Pauline grew up on the streets of Bondi, one of two sets of twins with three brothers. She ripped on the pro world surf tour and led the campaign for equal waves and equal pay by for women surfers by staging a sit down demo mid comp on the shores of Jeffreys Bay, South Africa in 1999.
This pivotal moment is documented in 'Girls Can't Surf', a documentary compiled mostly from Pauline's own archive of video footage.
After an in-conversation session with Pauline in which we heard about her incredible battle to overcome chronic arthritis to win the 1993 World Title, big wave rider Laura Enever took to the stage to introduce the Saturday night movie Undone.
I'd seen Laura earlier in the evening coming in around the back of the Blue Zone where we were all waiting impatiently for pizzas and drew her into the fold. It was cold! We sat next to each other during Pauline's talk when heavenly Love Byron Bay chocolates were handed around to get us all in the zone. Noone told me how tight I had to buckle in for the screen journey across the Nullarbor and other parts of the planet where Laura was documented surfing some of the deadliest wedges around. "Gnarly" doesn't do it justice.
Sitting around the fire later that evening, a young woman told me about her new status as a "victim survivor" of a cult. Her parents were Pentacostal pastors and she was a child pastor who was abused by another insider. But she has emerged from her ordeal as staunch and empowered as they come, ready to join the movement.
Someone slipped a set of headphones on us and we got up and danced in a silent disco - 'Sistas Are Doing It For themselves'. Of course! There under the Southern Cross, the Dark Emu, with the waxing moon in the west, welcomed here on Bundjalung country, I realised that this is it. These are my people, my sister's people, young old, crusty, crisp, we have the power to shift the system towards a better world for all.
Since this event Em has held a Trivia Night for Surfers For Climate in Bondi which raised $6k matched dollar for dollar through the generosity of donors and a packed crowd of 75 people including Tracks Editor, Luke Kennedy. Let's hope the Water Women can convince him to get with the program of change too?!
Listen to my radio interview with Caitlin Fine from Surfers For Climate.
And read this testimonial from my amazing 59 year old sister Emma Schofield:
I took up surfing later in life about 3 1/2 years ago and became really aware of Surfers for Climate when I attended a Car Park Cinema event they ran in Manyana on the South Coast last Easter.
The event included the screening of short films about surfing and kelp restoration both of which really spoke to me as a surfer and ocean lover. As my son is a marine biologist working with the Great Southern Reef Foundation in giant kelp restoration, I was so interested in the big picture of protecting our oceans and how everyone can get involved in this movement at some level and across different platforms.
I then attended another SFC Trivia Night with the Manly Women’s Surf Society at the Harbord Hotel as I have a surfer friend who is a member of that group. Again, inspired by these fabulous informative and fun events, I thought I could possibly host an event in my own Surf community in Bondi. In June Surfers for Climate put a call out to anyone who was interested in hosting a Trivia event to celebrate World Ocean’s Day/ Month so I put my hand up. I then reached out to some friends I surf with at Bondi and they were keen to jump on board.
In the meantime, I headed north to the SFC "Water Womens Campout" at Ballina which was a weekend full of inspirational and empowering workshops for women, amazing talks and film screenings which took things to the next level in terms of what I wanted to achieve with the Bondi event.
We managed to involve loads of local businesses who donated fabulous prizes to our fund raising raffle including Lets Go Surfing, an institution in Bondi who were keen to get involved and look at possible partnerships with SFC. The event was a huge success, we had a full house at Curly Lewis Brewery and people went away saying that they not only had a fun night but that they actually learned something and were looking forward to getting involved in future events. This was exactly the outcome we were hoping for.
I am grateful to SFC for giving me the opportunity to collaborate with them and contribute to the movement. I believe that a lot of people do care about climate change and the health of our oceans but they just don’t know what to do about it. When given the opportunity they dive in!
