Anastasia Ashley, while not in the top 17 caught mainstream media attention with her pre-heat twerking at the SuperGirl Pro in Oceanside. While surf fans were watching Malia Manuel and Paige Hareb put on a display of top-notch surfing in sub-par waves, the rest of America caught the action a couple days later – not the surfing action, but Anastasia’s pre-heat action.
Why? Women’s surfing is a strange beast. The prior generations with surfers like Pauline Menczer, Layne Beachley and Frieda Zamba just had to do well in contests to (barely) survive as a pro surfer. Today however, it takes competitive savvy, a powerful frontside hack and maybe a stylist. Add a viral YouTube clip and one’s tube prowess quickly takes a backseat to their, uh, backside.